Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Thinking Too Much Can Be Bad For My Health

It's 6:10 am and I should be in the pool right now ... but I'm not. It's a crazy thing what the mind can do. I was looking forward to seeing friends once more and getting back into the water, but that's going to happen on Thursday instead of today. I awakened after about three hours of sleep and simply couldn't get back to sleep at all. Finally giving up after 45 minutes of tossing and turning, I went downstairs and worked on my computer for two hours. Close to 3:00 am I went back to bed, but I was cold, finally pulling the afghan over my quilt before finally getting back to sleep. 



I could not shut down my mind last night. I was thinking about
my procedure to get into the pool quickly, how I would have
to remember this and that, worrying about whether I packed
what I needed to wear, etc. I was a mess of thought and sleep
eluded me. 



Of course I originally had my alarm set for 4:00 am, but decided that four hours of total sleep would be completely ridiculous. So I reset my alarm for 5:30 am and actually got almost 5-1/2 hours of sleep by the time I awakened again, five minutes before my alarm was due to go off. I'll be tired today, but I won't be a zombie. But that later time also meant no swimming today. 



When I awoke at midnight and couldn't get back to sleep, after
trying for 45 minutes. I gave up, got up, and relaxed at my
computer for more than an hour instead. I don't function well
on minimal sleep, though, so I'm switching tactics and moving
the pool to Thursday. 



I decided, in the middle of all of the angst and anxiety about returning to the gym, that I'll go over there tomorrow on my day off to get a look at what they've done for the locker rooms and social distancing. I plan to only swim, not do any floor exercises or use the bikes, but the locker room can be a crowded mess, and people won't be wearing masks when they leave the showers heading to their lockers. At least, I don't think they will. Taking a look will help calm my subconscious anxiety, I think. 



I will explore the new (old) terrain of my gym tomorrow, when I'm
not in a rush, and make sure I know how they've set things up
in our "new normal". I'll feel much more prepared, then, to
actually go to the gym on Thursday for a swim. 



On a positive note, my dental appointment went really well. The new location is very nice, and I set up our next two appointments already - SCORE! It was great to see familiar faces, and to see Dr Pham once again, because I suspect she'll become our dentist once Dr. B retires. After more than 20 years of horrid dentists, I feel very fortunate that I found a good one who has repaid my faith in his care with minimal dental work and lots of thorough cleaning. Sometimes things just work right - LOL. 

I'll be back tomorrow. I think I need some breakfast and some serious tea. Have a great day and I'll be back tomorrow. 




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