Adaption & Understanding

Well, I've been on this polyphasic sleep thing for a while now. There are sporadic fluctuations in sleep times. I've had two sinus infections which necessitated that I sleep more, but I've always taken my naps and I'm starting to feel a sense of normalcy.

It's kind of weird having so much time in the day. I don't feel like a superhuman or anything, rather that my life has expanded. I'm pursuing goals that I've wanted to since I was a kid! I'm knitting, writing, practicing penmanship, and teaching myself how to code; and that's not even all of it.

But something else has happened as well. I'm beginning to notice just how limited my life was before adapting to this schedule. I used to wake up (slightly late), cook breakfast, and rush out the door. Work was slightly satisfying, but I felt a slight sense of helplessness, as if I were stuck and the choice I made to become a mechanic was a terminal one. When I got home from work I felt lethargic. My wife would have some chore or something which needed to be done, but I hadn't the strength or motivation to do it. I'd watch a couple of hours of television, then hit the sack, only to do it all over again. Weekends were a hazy disappointment at best. I had so many things on my plate that I could never tack one goal down. I'd get depressed and end up not doing anything at all.

This isn't to say that simply adopting a polyphasic sleep schedule was a magic bullet, but it acted as the catalyst for monumental change at 1% daily. Let me iterate. As I started my quest into night consciousness, I found that without a task or goal, I simply went back to sleep. I'd just drift off. So, very quickly, I started pursuing very simple goals. 15 minutes of penmanship practice. I've always wanted to be a really good penman, so 15 minutes was nothing; especially at 3 in the morning. Having completed that task and bathing in the glow of endorphins, I started to complete knitting a simple scarf that I had been trying to finish for over 6 months (I'm not a very good knitter, but I enjoy it as it helps with stress). 30 minutes out of the way, I'd drink some coffee and read. I completed 7 full books while on vacation in Italy, so in hopes of continuing, I started checking out e-books from the local library's website (something I had time to teach myself how to do as I had no idea).

Then I had an insane idea. I've read about all the great polymaths like Leonardo deVinci and Benjamin Franklin. I wanted to learn a college level skill on my own time without paying for it. Enter computer programming. I started with Codecademy. After completing what I wanted to in the free section, I started searching for ways to network. My thought was to motivate by immersion. I attended a few meetups with javascript developers and obtained a fantastic resource: freecodecamp.com. Now I spend the time knitting, practicing penmanship, and learning how to code all before I go to work in the morning. By the time I start working on my first car, I've already completed multiple goals. I'm actually attaining my dreams.

I'm not in a rush, but I am on a quest. 1% daily is all I want. In time, perhaps I'll achieve Franklin status. If not, at least I'll be able to knit one heck of a scarf.

Diet and Sleep

So for the past two days I've found it to be a monumental challenge to wake up in the morning. This morning was the worst I've felt since adopting a polyphasic sleep schedule. I was unsure as to why I felt so terrible at first. I was able to get my checklist completed for the morning, but my mental clarity was atrocious and my allergies were even worse. I had a headache, and even after taking ibuprofen, it didn't subside. I almost fell asleep driving to work this morning too!

So after reviewing what could be causing these symptoms, I've found that for both days, I've eaten a heavy dinner (last night was sweet and sour chicken from a local chinese joint). It makes sense, because my body needs more rest to digest heavy food like meat and processed foods. When I was still in the navy, I went raw vegan for 13 days just to see if I could (I love meat by the way). I lost 10 pounds without even exercising and my mental clarity was the best I could ever remember. However, the mental challenge was extremely difficult. I would have continued, but I just loved hamburgers too much.

So here's my plan. I want to continue with my sleeping schedule, but to do that, I need to adopt a new, lighter, diet. I really need to lose a few pounds anyway, and since I'm familiar with raw veganism (at least somewhat), I'm aiming for that. What I need to make me stick to it though is a cheat meal every now and then. I'm unsure how to schedule a cheat meal without suffering for it, but I would imagine it to be sometime in the morning or afternoon. Absolutely not at night!

I'm really excited to see what my new diet will do for my waking up abilities, but with two completely new lifestyle changes, it's going to be quite the challenge.

Day 5 of "Everyman" Polyphasic Sleep Schedule

Alright, so I'm going to let the cat out of the bag now that I feel at least somewhat adapted to my new sleeping schedule. I've tried twice to adapt to a polyphasic sleep schedule and failed twice. My wife thought I was on one of my crazy adventures and so she insisted I go to bed. That, and trying to fight my own internal clock proved too much. Both times were the exact same way. I didn't even last the night.

However, I just went to Italy. I always do a lot of reading on my vacations, and one of the books I read was "The Integral Trees" by Larry Niven. Essentially, humans have adapted to living within a smoke ring within a gas torus. Pretty heavy duty thinking. I occurred to me that the battle wasn't so much physiological as it was psychological. If something is all you know, then what else is there? But one the candle has been lit, an entire realm is opened to understand and partake of.

I made a plan to adapt to polyphasic sleeping as soon as I returned from Italy. The reason I chose such a time was due to the already occurring 6 hour jet lag that I had to endure whether or not I chose to adapt to polyphasic sleep.

The jet arrived in Washington D.C. at around 2 P.M. I felt like crap due to the amount of turbulence. Anyway, we took a taxi (also excruciating) back to my in-laws place to crash for the night. Keep in mind that to me, at that time (at around 4 P.M.), it felt like 10 P.M. The fridge at my in-laws broke, so we had to clean, sanitize, and deodorize everything before actually relaxing from the trip. Couldn't have worked better for me though, because 10 P.M. is the time I start waning in lucidity. Having to exert that much energy combined with the time differences masked my internal clock. By the time we were actually eating dinner, it was around 6 P.M. We watched an episode of Game of Thrones and at 8 P.M. we went to bed. Honestly, I was attempting to stay up, but was unable to as it felt like 2 A.M. to me.

I woke up at 4 A.M. and made some coffee. Slightly disappointed with myself, I was determined to (as I thought) try again. But I don't think that I was trying again, because, as I see it, going to bed at that time threw a third wrench in the works, thus enabling me to start sleeping from a clean slate (so to speak). I attempted naps at both 6 A.M. and 12 P.M. I was unable to sleep during both times. We left D.C. at 3 P.M. and didn't arrive home until almost 7 P.M. This put me in a pickle, because I was driving and missed my nap by an hour. I let my wife go into her sister's house and I attempted to nap in the car (again, no sleep). Then we drove home and unpacked. At 11 P.M. we went to bed. I set the alarm for 2 A.M. and actually woke up!

When I got up, I read books. I had no schedule or to do list written out, but I knew I needed to keep my mind occupied, so I drank some coffee and read until 6 A.M. It was the same for 2 days; reading only to keep myself awake.

At that point I decided that I needed to accomplish some goals. I came up with a list of things I wanted to do, but never "had the time for." I didn't want to overburden myself with any one thing, as mental stress would make me regress into old habits. So I mixed as many quiet activities as I could. Knitting, penmanship practice, and learning computer programming were a few of the things I decided I would get better at 1% everyday. It has worked marvelously!

Now its day 5 and I feel great! While I'm not sleeping through my naps completely, I have attained about a 50% sleep rate and am having dreams during them. I try not to drink coffee or alcohol 3 hours prior to any nap. I've found that if I drink anymore that 1 beer during any waking period, I feel absolutely terrible, although I've still been able to adhere to the schedule. I've also found that as my life is structured around 4 appointments everyday, I'm less prone to wasting time doing nothing. The way I see it, if I'm fighting to stay awake for more hours of the day, I owe it to myself to do something worthwhile during that time.

Sleepy

I'm about to go to bed. Need to write something to finish off my checklist for the day. So, here goes. "If you want to settle a dispute, inquire at the town of Abel." A quote from something I read in the Bible this morning. Thought it was deep. I'm currently driving Dave's Jimmy and he has been driving my truck. It wouldn't turn on. I went over to his apartment after work and found the coil plug lock was broken. I already saw that and attempted to fix it with dielectric grease, but I guess it didn't hold enough. Going to have to find another connector and splice it in tomorrow if I'm able. That's about all I have strength to write at this moment. Peace.

June 2, 2016

Haven't written anything in a while. Just got back from Italy. Beautiful city. People work half the amount we, as Americans, do. Read 7 books altogether on my vacation. Something turned on inside of me after finishing The Integral Trees by Larry Niven. When I was a kid, I spotted the same book on my step dad's night stand. I read the synopsis; about a people living within a smoke ring within a gas torus. I had no idea what the heck it meant, but it intrigued me for some reason. There have been numerous books like that. I've seen them, they've piqued my interest, but the light didn't illuminate, and I continued wasting my life by shoving food down my throat while zoning out in front of some worthless, recycled plot on the television. I guess it's been about two years since I've felt a hunger growing in my soul for literature (or some form of mental growth). Before I left on vacation, I finished the novel Dune as well. I seem to remember one of my brothers having that book at some point.Very enjoyable. My job is dead end. All jobs are dead end. My life is dead end. No one cares what you think, say, or do. All they care about is if you're interested in what they're thinking, saying, or doing. That only lasts so long before the recycled plot rears its face and you're thinking about running into the car in front of you because it's driving 15 miles below the speed limit. For a long time I've wanted another person to take interest in what I'm interested in. It never happened. Best I could do was hang out at 3 in the morning with a fanatic that wanted to buy toy light sabers and chase demons out of the church with them. Funny, I still think fondly of him. I need to keep learning. Just finished Fight Club. It's got a point. At lunch, everyone watches real estate shows and talks about how they want to buy a house; just need to get their finances straight first. Then what? Work even harder? Stress more? So you can sit your fat butt on the sofa after 12 hours of grueling work and zombie out in front of another episode of NCIS while choking down another cheeto? "You are not your job." I'm looking for an answer. Not that I think I'm going to find one. I think I already have. I'm sleeping 4 hours a day. Need more time to do other things aside from work. That's it for now.

Rising Hope

The sun rises on a cold and frosty morning
It brings hope and joy that illuminates the inky world of the unseen
A circle in a circle
Spinning and twisting in its flight of beauty
Casting a fever on winter's desolation
Showing the path
Pointing the way
Telling us it's okay
She'll be back tomorrow

A Great Idea

Many times I've found that I have a great idea, way of living, or change of pace that would allow me to strengthen my beliefs and become a stronger man. I have tried these ideas and attempted to incorporate them into my life, however, only to find that after a short while I've reverted back to what I once was. For a time I was vexed at this, unable to grasp exactly why I've been unable to permanently employ my idea. But upon much reflection of the various tried and failed attempts made on my part, I believe it to be for lack of fellowship. For instance; rendering my own lard from scraps of fat that were going to be thrown away and using it for cooking and making my own soap seems like a frugal change of life. Not only that, but I also know what exactly is going into my product vice buying these things at the store and being ignorant of these facts. But when everybody else in the house is disgusted by the fact that I'm cooking with lard and look down on it like an inconvenience, it quickly becomes much more difficult to continue with. This is just one example of my failed ideas and why they do in fact fail. So, my new great idea is to find other like minded individuals who share in my eccentric thinking and are willing to share their own great ideas to keep mine alive. No man is an island.