Lately I’m learning that a pretty reliable indicator of a prolific blogging day OR a no-blogging day comes down to the amount & quality of sleep I had the night before.

For example, last night I slept pretty well. I woke up a bit early, and felt “ok”, but then managed to go back to sleep. (My records show that trying to fall asleep again is almost always worth a try because of the mood and resilience boost.)

And true to my past experiences, some minutes later, I awoke in a very pleasant state. Not much blogging was done today. In the morning, I was pretty much resilience personified. Tasks, goals, plans—it all seemed very approachable. In the afternoon, when in theory I was somewhat less rested, I drafted something that seemed a bit embarrassing, but I never hit Publish. Which is funny because I’m pretty sure I would have hit Publish on less sleep.

As another example, take June 4 and June 6, days on which I wrote six blog posts each. That’s a pretty big frikkin’ deal around here.

I went back to my journal from those two days. And there it is again: On those two days I didn’t really get terrible sleep, but I didn’t exactly get great sleep, either. You might say that a particular mental-physical state was reached. (I think of it as a “spiky” state.)

So, especially in the extreme cases, this pattern seems reliable so far.

Also, the state of my “rested condition” varies throughout the day, depending on things like naps and work conditions.

This may be the very reason why I’m blogging right now. Earlier it held no interest. But right now? After a long day of work? Welcome to the spike zone.

Reconciliation

What’s interesting to me is this duality-lens: Who is that prolific blogging person? the…uh…blogstrovert? Who even is that?

Well, it me! At least from one perspective—the simple one. But we can juggle multiple perspectives and models here, no prob. So: It also not me.

You see, I worry a bit about leaving that person behind, or mishandling their needs. Mostly their needs are: A voice, an opinion. But also, some fun. Oh and some insights, shared. Some experiences, shared.

We can call this ESFP stuff, or ENTJ stuff, or ENTP stuff, or extravert stuff, or extrovert stuff, or whatever. But also, the depth-oriented side of this process is important. The side that doesn’t really think in categories. The observant, analytical side of the process thinks and feels in depth.

So I guess I look forward to exploring from that POV, to see what can be learned. How does sleep affect an interplay of different perspectives, judgments, and life experiences? This is really cool to me.

With that said, I’ve strapped on El Sleepo, my smart watch. I went without it for a while, but it’s back, with a Snoopy watch face, and it’s ready to measure my sleep again. To dive in, reengage, and gather additional observations. I hope to emerge with some more insights, be they intriguing, powerful, funny, or even completely in line with your expectations as an astute readership. ;-)

Filed in: Rest /21/ | Essays /52/ | Sleep /10/ | Energy /120/ | Therapeutic Practice /144/ | Productivity /119/