After being home for three days, I'm actually at work today. Being at home for three days has really increased my appreciation for work. I'm still feeling a bit sick, but I'm getting by. I do like my cats, but it's nice to be among society today.

Today, of course, is the first day of November, which means it's the start of NaBloPoMo, which means I'll be around here more than usual. I'm also starting, today, to work on getting myself back into a steady routine. It's something I'm really bad at, but recently I've learned that it's crucial for my physical and mental health.

One of the things I've let slide is my sleep habits. Several months ago, I read and took the advice in this article about how to become an early riser. I couldn't believe how well it worked and how much better I slept after changing my routine. Being someone with a history of multiple sleep disorders (don't get me started on how terrifying sleep paralysis* can be, or the nightmares/anxious dreams that have me waking up in a cold sweat almost every night), I never realized how much better I would feel if I just got better quality sleep.

But ever since Brad's injury kind of upset the natural order of things in our household, I've let my sleep habits slide more and more. And I haven't been exercising, which makes it worse. I'm sure that my lack of routine has made my current malaise that much worse. So today I'm trying to get back into the healthy routines it's taken me so long to figure out. Let's hope it helps.

* There's a dearth of information on the internet about sleep paralysis, and on the whole, I've found it to be self-contradictory. There's a short article on Wikipedia , if you want a basic idea of what it is. There's a pretty good article here that describes some of the sensations accompanied by the experience. The experience was so terrible for me at first that until I learned what it was, I really thought I was going crazy.