From Amanda's very early writing (1990s to early 2000s), shared as it was originally written.
Tired at the end of the year....
Well, it's nearly December; twelve months from the last time most people had a holiday - and we're tired! But we don't realize just how tired many of us are - that fatigue forms a baseline to which we have adapted.
We forget what it's like to wake up with energy; to feel enthusiastic about the day - or anything in fact! We have very thin patience, a low tolerance level, we are easily irritated and are snappy much more than normal. But we think we are just fine! In our minds we are the same understanding, relaxed , caring and sensitive individuals we are when we return from holidays. Ha Ha!
It's not until we return from holiday that we have some form of insight into our current perpetually tired state. Why not realize it now - take a step back and recall your last holiday and what you were like when you returned. Did you feel different from how you feel now? What were those differences? If there are substantial changes,
of usare you doing enough during the year to minimize the creeping fatigue syndrome?
If you are attacked every day by pagers going off; mobile phones ringing at all times; 60 or more email messages accosting you each day and the alarm jangling you awake daily then it's on the cards your nervous system is shot! It needs peace and quiet to recover. Lots - at least three weeks in a row - if it hasen't had a chance to recuperate on a regular basis during the year!
And what about your sleep patterns? Do you sleep like a baby every night waking refreshed and alert and optimistic? Or have you had trouble falling asleep regularly or do you wake up routinely in the wee hours and stay wide awake until it's time to get up when you immediately feel exhausted and ready to collapse into a coma! This state soon leads to chronic sleep deprivation which creeps up on us and we forget how good it feels after a great , deep sleep. Accumulated stress, amongst other causes, can lead to these poor sleep habits - so stress busting throughout the year is a smart strategy.
wethis high level ofa , with no phonesespecially
I never realized how much the telephone stressed our nervous systems until I had a two week holiday in unit with no telephone. At that time, I had a car phone that didn't come out of the car, which was the only phone (other then public phones ) to which I had access. I was actually quite concerned about how I would cope - how would people find me in event of an emergency! Two days into the holiday I found I wasn't rushing down to the car so often and after another two days , I forgot all about it!
When I returned home, for the first few days every time the phone ran I jumped about three feet! Yet, by the end of a week, my nervous system must have been on pink (as opposed to red) alert constantly , because the phone would ring and I didn't jump any more.
We only have to look at the impact of this when we are in coffee shops. A mobile phone rings and twenty people jump and lunge for their pockets or handbags! This chronic excitement of our nervous systems is exhausting.
We are also accosted every moment by noise from traffic, radio, computers and TV. This noise assaults our nervous systems as well.
We need to be aware of all these external electronic and internal mental stressors that attack us during the year; of the sleep deprivation that accumulates and realize we are tired. So at this time of year, we need to be gentle with ourselves; to rest a little more; to actively seek peace and quiet
our nervous systems arefrazzled(Our nervous systems recover during deep sleep. ) Our nervous systemschronically and jaded
; to listen to gentle ,soothing music; to say 'no' more often and to plan a decent (meaning at leat three weeks in a row!) break - one that allows our frazzled nervous systems to recover.
Then plan a strategy for 'nervous system recovery' breaks during the year, so that by the end of 1998 we are not exhausted, irritible and unproductive, but calm, relaxed and happy.
