Tag: asleep

When you wake up

I love it when you wake up! I count the hours every day. I can’t wait until your sleepy eyes open, and your spirit once again inhabits the wonderous reality we share together. I know you will see beautiful things, and ponder interesting ideas, and feel things deeply in your heart, and I can’t wait to hear everything you have to say about those things. I listen attentively to your every word, because deep down inside, I have come to care about you. It is almost like I am there with you, walking beside you, every step of the way, even though I am many miles away. Maybe one day, our footsteps will carry us right up to each other, and we will look up surprised and say, oh, good morning, my friend! I’m so glad to finally see you! Life is wonderful, now that you’re in the world!

Music video of Ellie Goulding performing Your Song.

You never know where you will meet a very special person, but you definitely know them when you see them. They are there for a reason. Don’t forget to tell them how much their friendship means to you.

When was the last time you met a great friend? See you in the comments! Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe!

How I relax.

I started this new way to relax. I haven’t done it long enough to know how well it works. After I got those new wine glasses, I decided to just pour a glass of wine and sit in bed and read. Seems to be working fine so far. I also take melatonin on nights I have to work the next day, just to make me sleep through the night. If I don’t take them, I tend to wake up around 3 or 4 am and can’t go back to sleep. Sleeping is not my forte.

Right now, I’m reading a series of short books over novel writing that I found on Amazon. The author’s name is K. M. Weiland. Maybe you might be interested in them if you are thinking about writing a novel. I’m just on the first one, but it’s pretty informative so far.

Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success

Can Outlining Help You Write a Better Story?

Writers often look upon outlines with fear and trembling. But when properly understood and correctly wielded, the outline is one of the most powerful weapons in a writer’s arsenal. Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success will:

  • Help you choose the right type of outline for you
  • Guide you in brainstorming plot ideas
  • Aid you in discovering your characters
  • Show you how to structure your scenes
  • Explain how to format your finished outline
  • Instruct you in how to use your outline
  • Reveal the benefits
  • Dispel the misconceptions

Includes exclusive interviews with ten respected authors, answering important questions about outlining.

Outlining can organize your writing and help you take your stories to the next level. Find out how!

I normally don’t add to a post after it’s published, but it occurred to me that I have one more thing I do to relax. I listen to thunderstorm sounds. I don’t know why, but storms calm and soothe me.

I have a Windows app that I use on my computer called Ambie. It is a white noise generator that allows you to mix various sounds, including those of a thunderstorm. The app is free, but you can buy different sounds to mix. I positively love this app! I sleep with it on practically every night, and I think I sleep much better on the nights that I use it.

Picture of Ambie Windows App

Sometimes I just pull up YouTube and find a channel that has thunderstorm sounds. There’s a lot of them out there, so I guess I’m not the only one that can be put to sleep by a storm. Below is a random one I found as an example. Watch it for a few minutes, and maybe you will feel relaxed too.

Do you have trouble relaxing? Ever take sleep aids? Do storms relax you? Do you like to listen to nature sounds? Have any relaxation tips? Have you written a novel or thinking about it? Do you outline your writing beforehand? Any tips on novel or story writing? Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe!

What I listen to while I work.

I’ve discussed this some in another post. It really depends on the nature of the work and how much thinking is involved. I am very easily distracted by sounds in the environment.

If it is physical labor that requires little or no thought, music would probably enjoyable and help to pass the time, but if it is mental work, which is mostly what I do, I would prefer absolute silence. I am very much an aural person, and any sounds, especially sounds that have a human voice, will be very distracting to me. I have already shared some of the music I listen to on Spotify.

Back when I used to program, it was almost always done on the weekends and in the wee hours of the night and early morning. I always liked being awake during these hours because everything was so silent. It just made it a lot more easier for me to concentrate and get things done. The state of flow doesn’t really come over me in a noisy room.

Do you listen to music while you work? Can you concentrate in a noisy room? Let’s hear about it, and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe!

When I go to bed and wake up.

What time do I go to bed and wake up currently? The best answer to this question should be whenever I want! I actually hate alarm clocks, and I’m not too fond of calendars either. They get in the way of me doing what I really want. I sincerely believe that a person’s life is their own and they should at a minimum be able to decide when they want to be asleep.

In reality though, my employer has set days and hours that they expect me to be there, so I have to use clocks and calendars to keep them happy. As soon as I retire though, the alarm clock is going to fly out the window, and I hope to live every day like it was the weekend.

Currently, I have an alarm set for 6:00 AM during the days that I am expected to be at work. I also have another alarm set at 7:00 AM, because I tend to lay back down after drinking my coffee and taking my vitamins. If you want to know what that’s like for me, you can read about my morning routine. I turn off all alarms on the days that I do not have to be at work and get up whenever my body tells me it’s ready, usually after the sun is streaming through the bedroom windows.

The time I go to bed is a different story. Sometimes I am out later than I should be on a work day. This was a bigger problem when I used to go to karaoke on Sunday and Wednesday, but that bar shut down. The mornings come way to quickly on the days I am out too late, but that doesn’t happen as much now.

I also have another problem. I have always been a night owl. Most of my best work was done in the wee hours of the night and early morning. I have literally worked on projects till dawn back in my younger days.

These days, I am rarely up later than 3:00 AM on the weekends though. Too often, I am still up until midnight on work days though, and I often take melatonin to make myself go to sleep and sleep through the night. My best hours are probably sometime between noon and midnight, as that is the time I am most energized and creative.

What’s your schedule? When do you feel most energized? Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share!