When I graduated college, I knew that my free time was largely going to be a thing of the past. I'd had it largely cushy time-wise for the four years I rose through the levels. I was planning on fast tracking my way through my second degree the way I had my first, but the fact was, with no math under my belt since high school, I had to take eight semesters of classes thanks to prereqs. However, because I had a degree under my belt, I didn't need any core classes. So there I was, scratching for credits just to be a full time student, and coasting through four years with lots of free time to compete.
It was great, I'll admit it.
As I said, I knew when I became a Real Person and had a Real Job, that all this free time would go away. The days of thinking that an 8 am lesson was early in the morning would be over. And sure enough, when I started having to wake up five days a week at 5:30 am, I thought it was rough.
I got used to that.
Then I started getting up at 4:45 am, and I thought it was rough.
I got used to it.
Then Dante arrived, and my energy levels plummeted.
I haven't figured out how to eat yet to keep my energy up; I bounce between starving and lethargic. Some weeks I mainline coffee all day and sometimes I'm bouncing off the walls from too much sugar. When Dante wasn't here, I was able to eat right after work....now I go from having lunch at 11 am and then not eating anything else until dinner at 8:30 pm.
So there's that to figure out.
I still can't quite get the knack of going to sleep prior to ten or eleven either, which means I end up running the day on five to six hours of sleep per night, which is not really enough for me. I've been trying hard to go to sleep earlier, and to make an effort to make sure to get at least one long night of sleep every weekend.
I'm slowly becoming acclimated to my new schedule of working, riding and/or trailering out to lessons/gallop, then possibly running. For the first time since Dante has arrived, I finally feel under control again. After two plus months of working and riding, my body is hopefully calibrated again.
From here, onwards and upwards!
(Dante being his beautiful self at a Stephen Bradley lesson this spring.)
I used to work in DC and live in North Potomac, and my horse was in Poolesville, so I know this routine well. It sucks to get home late and be starving - you don't even have the energy to eat. I dealt with this in two ways - first, I brought snacks with me to eat in the car on the way to the barn. I realized that I was often starving when I got to the barn and didn't have much energy, so I couldn't give my horse a very good ride. I started eating a granola bar and some carrots and a piece of fruit on my drive out (I saved some carrots for Cash, natch). Then when I got home, I always had pre-prepped single-serving food that I could heat quickly. Hard boiled eggs, steamed veggies, a good hearty soup - anything I could just grab out of the fridge and either eat right away or heat and eat. I usually did my food prep on the weekends so I'd have enough for the whole week. You can freeze lots of stuff and then just grab something and heat it when you get home. While dinner was heating, I'd pack my lunch for the following day.
ReplyDeleteAnd I feel your pain on the early mornings. If you're a snooze-button user, you might try to get away from that. There are a ton of studies that show it really screws up your brain chemistry and makes you groggy longer. If you just set the alarm for the real time you need to get up, you'll get more good sleep. And we all know how precious sleep is!
And Dante looks fantastic! So shiny!!!
Knowing your eating habits, I think there's a lot of room for improvement to fix your energy AND be really simple and easy. You and I fall in similar traps (mine is hummus, yours is cereal!). This should be easy to fix with a little thought.
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