Sometimes We Have to Choose

All day every day we make decisions. Like, what are we going to wear or what are we going to eat for dinner? Life can be overwhelming. When life is overwhelming, even the smallest decisions can be tough decisions. Sometimes I scroll on Uber Eats for a couple of hours before I decide what I want to eat for dinner, and by the time I officially decide, I’m no longer hungry when it finally arrives. On the podcast, we talked about the decisions you have to make in life like sometimes you have to choose between brushing your teeth or taking a shower, and I’ve never felt that statement so hard until this year.

The evolution of my school year starts promisingly. I’m usually at school an hour and a half early and I leave an hour and a half later, mainly because there are so many things that I need to take care of at the beginning of the year such as unpacking my room and making lesson plans. I need that extra time. As the school year progresses, I begin to wake up later and arrive at work later. When November comes, I have to begin making those tough decisions. For example, do I park in the parking lot that I have to pay for, or do I leave the house earlier and park in the parking lot that my school pays for? Is that $12.99 worth arriving at work 10 minutes earlier? I suppose it depends on how late I am running. 

Last year, I had it down to an exact science. If I left the house at a certain time on certain days, I could walk into work and clock in right on time. However, if I pushed the envelope, traffic was not so kind when it came to my careful calculation. This year, so far, I have left the house early enough that I don’t have to pay for parking and I can socialize a bit before I jump right into teaching class.

Another morning-time decision I wrestle with is the decision to wear makeup or not. A lot of time those ten extra minutes of hitting snooze are the difference between looking professional and looking like a zombie. Oftentimes, I would take my makeup to work and do it in the bathroom between classes just to feel normal for the day. A lot of times, I never got around to doing my makeup. When I lived farther away from work, I had gotten into the habit of doing my makeup in the car or on the train in the mornings. Is the extra sleep worth it? I thought so. However, I tend to feel better about myself when I wake up in time to take care of things around my house and at school instead of rushing out of the house.

Finally, as the school year progresses, one of the biggest decisions that I have to make is whether to eat breakfast before school or not. Breakfast is the best meal of the day. In fact, I could eat breakfast food at any time of the day. In my years of teaching, I’ve never been able to wake up early enough to eat a full breakfast before I make it to work. I usually eat my breakfast in small bites throughout the day until it becomes my lunch and not my breakfast. One of my goals through PowerSheets® this year is to not hit snooze as much. Let’s face it, sometimes we have to hit snooze. I hit snooze a lot. So far, I haven’t met that goal.

Ultimately, my decisions boil down to sleeping in and getting up when I should be getting up in the morning. If I weigh the options, getting up when my alarm first goes off seems like a healthier and more productive choice, and it is something I’m working on being consistent about. 

I want to hear from our readers. What are the major decisions that you have to face in the morning? Have you set goals to alleviate those decisions? As the year progresses, do you find it harder and harder to make it to work on time? Let’s continue the conversation below!

Self-care to Prevent Headaches

Hey everyone, Christen here! If you listened to the podcast yesterday, then you are up to speed on our discussion this week regarding migraines, and you will have heard my take on migraines and headaches. During the podcast Amber and Cindy explained what their migraines were like and how they cope with them. I had mentioned that I rarely if ever get headaches. 

I feel really lucky that I don’t have that issue! It seems that I skipped out on getting frequent headaches. When I do manage to find my head feeling painful I can reason with why I had a headache, as mine are always self-induced due to lack of sleep and eye rest.

Since I work at a computer all day, play games, and read eBooks on my phone as well as binge watch on Netflix, it is common for me to get eye fatigue, otherwise known as eye strain. I also have a sensitivity to light and have allergies, so having eye discomfort can be a daily occurrence for me, and too much time in the sun will cause photokeratitis, a condition where the UV rays from the sun cause symptoms much like a sunburn.

To make matters worse, because I am a glutton for punishment, I tend to keep myself up way past my bedtime because I am enjoying my book or a particular show. When I wake up the next morning after a screen-viewing marathon, I will notice my eyes are very dry and will have a tight pulling sensation. It will feel like there is sand under my eyelids, and sometimes they will sting or feel warm under my eyelids. Overhead lighting and the sun will be exceedingly bright, and as the day passes, I find it more and more challenging to keep my eyes open. I will also have issues with watery eyes, which makes it even harder to see and focus. Taking a nap or resting my eyes will usually cure this pretty quickly.

If there are a lot of extra activities that go on beyond my normal routine, I don't ease up on my screen time, though, or take time for a nap. I enjoy the time away from the hustle and bustle when I am engrossed in a novel, or teaming up with my friends online to play a game. I make sure to have room in my busy schedule for screen time, even if I am exhausted and stretched too thin. I continue this same behavior for days on end, until I just crash and burn because I can barely hold my head up. Ultimately, what stops me like a brick wall is the headache. 

After pushing myself to the extreme, I will suddenly have a headache. When my head starts to hurt, then I know I am done for the day.  It’s not often that I let it get that far, but today, I can say that it has come to that; I noticed that I had a headache when I was at work today. I had headphones in and I was listening to a call. There was someone else in the office with me today, and it felt like they were yelling - my ears were so sensitive (I work in a call center, so it can be overwhelmingly noisy on a regular day). I know that my headache was induced by lack of sleep, as I have been keeping myself up too late these past couple of weeks. I have lots of fun things going on throughout the week in addition to working countless hours of overtime. On top of that, I still have a home to maintain, so I have been overdoing it. 

I want to be careful, though, not to push myself too hard; I need to make sure to schedule self-care time for things like sleeping, meditating, creative/art therapy, and personal care. If I skimp out on my sleep, my personal care time gets cut short, like my skin care routine for example. There has to be some type of balance.

Other areas of my life can be impacted negatively from lack of rest. It is not healthy for the brain or the heart to get partial sleep. The body and mind need that time to recuperate, rebuild and process the day. Not getting enough sleep can lead to heart disease, depression and obesity. My family can also feel the side effects, as our moods change when we are not rested. Your manifestation power is compromised and your ability to perform tasks at work can be similar to someone who is intoxicated. When you put it like that, forgoing a few hours of sleep just to read another chapter sounds like a horrible idea. 

Do you have something that you do that keeps you up at night, or things that you sacrifice sleep for? What do you do to overcome this? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below, or be sure to check us out on our Facebook chat group MMC Chat.