How strange is this?
A few hours ago I posted a lament to a lost post that disappeared when I hit some as-yet unidentified button on my laptop.
Well now, just as mysteriously, the post has reappeared.
So here is it, about 5 hours late (it is now 1 p.m. here):
Bon jour class.
Hubby is sitting here in the living room with a few minutes to spare before he leaves for work (it is 7:10 a.m.), so he is on Duo Lingo, the free on-line program for teaching oneself a foreign language, as he is preparing for our increasingly likely trip to France at the end of June.
So bon jour.
Back to jr, and aujourd'hui (today):
An average Wednesday, Hump Day, for jr, it seems, lies ahead.
Those keeping track (i.e., none of you , but I'll tell you anyway) may wish to note that I opened the David Burns book, The Feeling Good Handbook, recommended to me by Sober45, as my bedtime reading last night, and flipped to Chapter 9, Why We Procrastinate. Looks like it has some right-on perspectives, insights, and exercises that may come in handy to yours truly.
But it was after midnight, I had been up since 5 a.m., so I got only as far as the first paragraph or 2 before I flipped off the light and actually slept pretty much through till 6 a.m. today. My sleep patterns are still all over the circadian rhythmical map on this, my Day 35 of sobriety, but 5.5 hours of almost uninterrupted sleep last night was gratifying, and may be a sign that I am headed for normal sleep soon. I am lucky enough that given my self-employed schedule, I can catch cat naps during the day if needed without
Sleep unaided by an artificial sleep-aid, I might add.
But I will also add (I don't recall seeing this mentioned in my travels on SR) that a week or two ago, when I was more troubled that my newly-active ethanol-free mind simply would not quiet down to allow me to doze off, I ventured to my local pharmacy and perused the sleep-aid aisle, looking for something (non-alcoholic) to "take the edge off."
Mindful that I do not want to start on a road of substituting dependence, or even reliance, on one artificial substance (a sleep-aid) for another (ethanol), I wanted to tread warily down this path.
LSS (long story short): I picked up the generic version of one of the over-the-counter sleep-aids (which, btw, is the exact same chemical, in the exact same concentration, as certain common over-the-counter allergy meds), and popped one or two of the pills that night, and it did help me string together a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.
I have intentionally stayed away from using it again so far, because, as I said, I am leery of developing any kind of new substance dependence as my brain adapts to the extended absence of its former daily ethanol bath and regular infusions of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (you know, pot).
But I have seen a lot of posts by peeps dealing with sleep issues, so I thought I'd mention that the otc sleep-aid, used occasionally and judiciously, might be something to consider.
I don't think this post crosses the boundary into the (appropriately) forbidden territory of giving medical advice here on SR, but if the moderators disagree, they should of course delete (and please let me know).