I’ve gotten into something of a winter funk. It started out with the aforementioned really awesome stomach bug that left my innards out of sorts and me curled up in pain for a week, and continued into a solid week of pouring rain in LA.
Rain in L.A. somehow seems much more depressing and draining than rain anywhere else, probably because it’s always sunny here and the change of pace is so much more severe.
So between the illness and the rain, I’ve been tempted many times these last few weeks to just curl up on my couch and sleep the day away. Some days, I manage to fight the urge and actually get up and get a load or two of laundry done.
But more often than not the last couple of weeks, Chaplin will jump up on me, and either curl up between my feet or on my chest. The power of a sleeping cat is utterly ridiculous when it comes to draining me of any ability to stay awake. He’s like a purring hot water bottle.
I can sleep 10 hours a night and if I don’t snap myself out of it, I’ll still nap another two hours with the kitty. Which is exactly what happened last night and this afternoon.
I’ve mostly only been getting out to go to the gym recently, and I think I need to make sure I keep changing things up a bit more in order to prevent myself from literally sleeping my life away.
The first thing I need to do is get back to dragging myself to the gym in the morning rather than the afternoon – I always have way more energy after the gym, and am consequently way better at fighting off cat-induced sleepiness.
I also think I need to increase the time I spend away from my apartment, even though it may increase the danger of me spending money. That’s been my primary unemployment excuse for never leaving the house: Staying in is almost always cheaper than doing anything other than bike riding outside.
I’m at the point where I’m so averse to spending money that I can’t really bring myself to go to the local coffeehouse or sandwich shop and gank their wifi just for a change of scenery, because I’ll be tempted to at least order a hideously overpriced beverage if not a sandwich that costs more than I have budgeted for my entire day’s worth of meals.
So I think it’s time for me to hit up my friendly local parks and maybe go sit and get my reading-learning done out by the ocean when it’s a smidge less windy than it has been. Maybe I’ll even break down and go to a library.
The fact that it’s supposed to pour again all day tomorrow (well, today at this point) means that at least the “go outside more” part of this plan won’t start until Wednesday, but I think putting my finger on the problem will at least help me address it.
Oh man, I know what you mean about all of that. At least you’re taking classes… I tried to do that and didn’t even get into any of them. So now I’m trying to teach myself how to be a science writer. Oh and I spent the entire month of December thinking I wanted to go into nursing. At least you know what you want to do! 🙂 I was really happy with myself last week, because I went to the gym 7 days in a row, which is incredible for me (usually it’s like 3-4 times) and that helped my productivity tons… but then I stayed up until 3 on Sunday night, so i was sleep deprived on monday and did nothing except read a novel all day. I think it’s allowed, sometimes. Just make sure you’re working 5 days a week. The problem with being unemployed is there’s this tremendous guilt 24/7 to be doing something and there’s no such thing as a weekend. But it’s probably healthier to take a few half-days completely off… I love working in coffee shops too. I usually buy tea, because it’s cheaper. I don’t really need it, but for 2-3 hours of getting work done (rather than futzing around my apartment) it’s totally worth it, and keeps the coffee shop people happy. Or at least, they haven’t kicked me out yet (they want you to buy one thing per hour, but I don’t think anyone really does that!) And yes, I’m de-lurking myself now. i rediscovered your blog a few months ago. 😛
I’m actually studying stuff on my own now – trying to teach myself what I can. This is part of the problem, because I don’t have any deadlines I have to work against, so the urgency of needing to get anything done is kind of sapped.
But yeah, exercise does at least help with getting the blood and motivation going, which is why I’m thinking moving my workouts to the morning may help.