A year of four days

Sunrise this morning from my bedroom

Last Friday was my the one-year anniversary of working four days a week. Already! Even though I've been doing it for twelve months now, it still feels like a novelty - a bloody fantastic novelty. I'm not sure it will ever stop feeling novel. 

I'm much happier in general (only partly due to working less), I'm happier at work (not that I was unhappy before) and my relationship with my boss is even better. I don't really miss the extra income - starting a shopping ban a few months after dropping back to four days is a big factor in that. 

I haven't done any of the things I thought I might do with the extra day back at the beginning - finding a new job, studying or doing volunteer work - but that's OK because I'm very content with the way things are. I have no plans to look for a new job for the foreseeable future - I'd only consider leaving for another job that was also four days a week anyway. I'm not ruling out volunteer work or study at some point, but for now I'm enjoying the extra 'me' time and the chance to rest more.  

Most of my Fridays are spent going to appointments and running errands, which sounds dull but because these were things I used to have to cram into lunch breaks or after work, or sometimes take time off for, my working days are now more relaxed. 

Most of my Fridays also feature an afternoon nap, or at least a lie down. 

In other news...

I had a routine follow up angiogram yesterday to make sure the procedure back in December fixed my abnormal brain vein, and I got the all clear. Yay. I still get some migraines triggered by other things, but way less than before. Who would have thought having a DVT would turn out to be a good thing? (My abnormal brain vein was found because my neurologist ordered an MRI after I told her I had a DVT.) 

What I've been doing

Portarlington

I've been a bad blogger again. It's not that nothing gleeful has happened; I've just had so little energy for the past few weeks that most days I'm basically only working, eating, and sleeping. 

Luke and I have done a couple of nice day trips on weekends (Port Arlington and Noojee), but they depleted my battery and there was no energy left over to blog and post photos (except to Instagram because that's quick and effortless).

My current malaise is frustrating because I feel as if I'm doing all the right things to boost my energy  - I'm eating better; I'm getting up earlier and not rushing to get to work; I'm walking to or from the office every day and I'm racking up 10,000 steps nearly every day. And you know what? I FEEL WORSE! I'm physically and mentally exhausted, and I have constant stiffness, aches and pains that seem to be getting worse as I go along. It's not fair.

On the way to Toorongo Falls near 
Noojee, Gippsland 

But enough woe-is-me. I'll see my doctor soon, and in the meantime I'll keep doing what I'm doing because I'm really pleased with how well I'm sticking with my habits. Some of the exercise habits have fallen by the wayside for now because of my lack of energy, but I'm going great guns on some of the other habits.

I'm particularly pleased with my efforts at getting up earlier. Since I started, I've been getting up five minutes earlier each week, and this week I'm rising at 7.25. This gives me enough time to get ready at a leisurely pace and walk to work (also at a leisurely pace), arriving about 5-10 minutes early. At the moment I'm leaving the house only about five minutes later than when I was getting out of bed - or even earlier, since I'd got in the habit of staying in bed until 8.10 at the end of last year.

I'm simultaneously loving and hating being an earlier riser. The moment my alarm goes off I think, "Ugh, I can't do it today. Just one more snooze," but then I just do it and get on with things. I suppose I hate that moment, but I love everything that comes after it.

I'm still surprised I've managed to do it so easily. I love my bed  - ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT - and even when I'm feeling OK, I do not like getting out of it. Previous attempts at getting up earlier - even just 10 minutes earlier - have failed miserably, but I wasn't giving myself 'gold stars' for effort on those occasions. Those gold stars (ticks, whatever) are magic.

Eventually, when I'm getting up early enough, I want to start doing some stretches  - maybe some exercise - in the mornings, and I'm thinking about bringing my starting time forward to 8.30am so I can leave at 5.30pm instead of 6.00.

Betty the boat at Portarlington

The other habit I'm totally acing is walking to/from work. I started off walking home from work, but for the past two weeks I've been getting up early enough to work in the mornings. I much prefer the mornings - a walk along the river is a pleasant way to start the day, especially compared with cramped public transport; it's cooler and has that nice new-day freshness about it; I don't have the aches and pains that come with sitting at a desk all day; and the time I arrive at work isn't dependent on the trams running on time.

Since I'm doing well at walking to work, I'm also reaching my daily goal of 10,000 steps. The trek to work accounts for about half of that, and even on the weekends I reach my goal most of days.

Other habits I'm doing well at: 

* not complaining on social media (this is really hard some days);

* no negative comments on social media (debate about politics is allowed, just politely); and

* flossing most days (no more lying to the dentist!).

Habits I'm doing just OK at: 

* not eating gluten. Initially I was hopeless at this - I love bread - but I thought it might be why I was feeling so bad, so I stopped a couple of weeks ago and I've been doing a good job of sticking to it. But if cutting gluten out is actually making a difference to how I feel, it's happening at a glacial pace;

* reading before bed every night. Some nights I'm just too tired, which is a decent reason except...

* ...I somehow manage to stare at my phone instead of sleeping, so that's another bad habit I'm not doing a great job of overcoming;

* no extreme napping. Again, as I've been feeling wrecked lately, I don't feel bad about resting when I need to. Some days I just lie down, sometimes I nap for an hour or so, but other days I sleep...and sleep...and sleep.

Fuzzy caterpillar near Noojee

Lunch, more money, no nap

Fence cat thinking about jumping onto my head

I enjoyed hanging out with my friend and her two boys (9 and 6) today. We had pizza for lunch, which the boys generously declared the best pizza ever, followed by ice cream because the salami made the little one's mouth burn. They make me laugh. 

I dropped into work afterwards to pick up my salary review letter because I didn't want to wait until Monday. I was hoping for a pay rise, but not expecting one. I did get a small increase though, which I'm happy with. 

I came home and got into bed to read (Meghan Daum's Selfish Shallow and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids) and most likely to have a nap, but somehow I didn't end up napping, which I'm both pleased and disappointed about. Pleased because I'm trying to nap less, but disappointed because I love naps.

Off to Woods Point tomorrow!

No nap, productive, not giving a crap

Tiny fungus growing under an overhanging 

rock in the garden out the front 

I'm doing a great job of not shopping (go, me!), but I'm not doing as well at breaking my habit of sleeping too much on weekends. I napped Friday and Saturday afternoon...if sleeping for several hours can still be called napping. 

In my defence, I've been feeling poorly, but today I managed not to get back into bed at any stage, despite really, really wanting to. I want to be able to get a good night's sleep tonight so I forced myself to do stuff around the flat instead. I've had quite a productive day. I even did a little mending and some ironing.  

I love this response to the stupid idea that there are things women over 30 shouldn't wear.  I love seeing all these women dressing however the hell they want. 

It's Sausage Sunday! 


       

November: day 29

I was out of bed before 11.00 this morning, an uncommon event lately. Sunday seemed much longer.  

What did I do with my extra Sunday hours? I sorted out my all my socks and tights. Got rid of holey, saggy ones and put like tights with like (winter ones, lighter ones, patterned ones etc) so it's easier to find the ones I want in the morning rush. My life might not be sorted, but my sock drawer is. 

I did other things, of course; none of them exciting. Unless you consider a late afternoon nap exciting.