It’s amazing to see what a proper night’s sleep and getting up at a reasonable hour can do for your day. Lately I’ve been pushing myself to shed my college-style sleeping habits and get up like a real person would and I’ve found that it makes my day a great deal more enjoyable. I’ve been told by numerous people that getting more than 8 or 9 hours is, ironically, counter-productive for your day, but not until recently have I come to see the truth—at least here at Wake. (Obviously I have had obligations in the past that forced me to wake up early so this is nothing new to me, but never particularly at Wake, when there is always something to do and pressure to stay up late.) My next goal is to start waking up perhaps even earlier and getting a solid jog or work-out before class. I’ve been doing really well about exercising lately and can visibly see the benefits of it for physical and mental health.

            Also, instead of going to sleep watching TV and dragging out my evenings without purpose, I have switched to reading a book which puts me to sleep much faster and also is much more interesting. Right now, I am on page 160 of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Hopefully about 50 pages a night will have me done in a little over a week.

Took some melatonin before I went to sleep last night. It’s labeled as a natural promoter of sleep. It certainly knocked me out—but too much. It ended up being the worst nights sleep I’ve had in a long time. I woke up at least 5 or 6 times soaking wet from sweating and had terrible dreams. I couldn’t differentiate between my dreams and when I was awake in bed. It felt like inception. My conclusion is if you’re already tired do not take melatonin; it will ruin your sleep. (I was late for this class)

Starting to read the WSJ each day. It’s crazy how dangerous the rest of the world is. Lucky to be living the American Bubble. Mad World.

 One-handed pull-ups are very difficult. 

I've been to a few Pilates classes at home but went to my first Pilates class today at the Robinhood YMCA and I was pleasantly surprised. The Pilates I have done in the past have been on a machine, which although I enjoyed, was pretty different to what I did this time around. It was almost closer to a yoga sort of Pilates--definitely a good thing. The whole exercise was based on the control of your breathing and so I immediately thought of this class (I don't know why...). It was in a dimly lit room that almost made me feel like I was in some cave. The gentle, yet effective, exercises, combined with the awareness of your breath has a very calming sensation. At times I felt like I could fall asleep--that is, if my abs weren't in pain. I prefer these this type of relaxed and concentrated core exercises as opposed to just regular lifting. I feel like I'm helping out my whole body rather than just a few specific muscles. There's also something about yoga, Pilates, etc. that help me become more at peace with everything--both while in the process and afterwards as well. I intend on going to a hot yoga class next tuesday where the temperature is apparently set at over 100 degrees. I'll let you know how I do.  

being nice

One trait I admire from certain people is how they always interact with others in such a polite manner. Obviously I'm not talking about friends, but acquaintances and strangers definitely apply. There's always that person who you meet and you see each other again and both know that you met but don't say anything. Boom. End of relationship. That's what I do more often than not. I don't do it on purpose, but I would just rather not have an awkward conversation with that person. So what I tried to do today was acknowledge and speak to those people. Some of them were caught off guard, but others seemed to very happy that I had said something. It just goes to show that maybe they feel the same way, and you should just go for it. You never know when you might find a good friend.

bike again

Went with the bike again. This time my first class was at 2 so it was nice out. I want to stick with it, but we'll see how the early mornings go. Sometimes it's a little too cold and I'm a little too tired.