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Monday, February 05, 2007

baby, it's freezing outside

-12°C
FEELS LIKE -23°C
WIND 35 km/h W
GUSTS 44 km/h

This morning my alarm yelled at me to wake up.

Having barely slept the night before, I could hardly handle the thought of dragging my body to my early morning English class.

Outside my window the wind howled and snowflakes flung themselves in every direction. Needless to say, I put my tired head back under my covers and fell back asleep.

Life changes when it gets this cold. I avoid walking outside, I forget fashion altogether and bundle myself like a snowman, and I find myself leaving my heels safely tucked away in my closet to avoid icy accidents on the sidewalk.

I stay alive with the blue skies and sunny days. The snow shines and glitters in the sun, making chapped lips and dry hands worthwhile.

And I can always count on the warmth of good roomates, hot meals infused with spices, interesting classes at school (that I manage not to sleep through), and as a single girl in the city, the gaze of a beautiful stranger can warm me up anyday.

I've even decided to continue spending my weekends in the heat of the restaurant as a hostess, under the agreement that I'll be trained as a bartender in summer and that I work one less night a week.

January was bitter cold, but if I have anything to say about it, things will start to heat up this month.

cold canadian geese
lone ranger

3 Comments:

Blogger YY said...

Oh Gill,

I cannot remember how it feels to be out in below zero weather. Though the Canadian geese seem happy enough. Glad you came to a decision about the job and hope you are a peace about it. Love you, your mama

8:41 AM  
Blogger laceybediz said...

Wow-- it sure does look cold out there..but beautiful!

Okay here's some tips:


I am not sure if I can attribute it to one major change. By any chance are you an O blood type? (if so, I can tell you more about that later).

I think, calming down and finding peace of mind was a huge part, because I used to lie awake and think and think and think. But, also, diet is really important. Take out all stimulants for a while and see what that does (coffee, green tea, sugar...) Also, try keeping a "diet dairy" Write down everything you eat and when and how it makes you feel--- and sometimes you can link it to certain foods (it is amazing the effects foods can have on you that you would never even know.)

Another thing that has helped me is getting up and not just lying there. People used to always tell me that would help, but I never did it. But, now if I can't sleep, I get up and do something for 20 min and can then go back to sleep. I used to just lie there all night tossing and turning.

Also, things with energy really effect me, if I sleep in a room with a computer, tv, cell phones, and things that are on-- I have no idea why-- but I get buzzed off it.

Running also helped a lot. And I really like Kava Kava tincture, it is an herb used in the south pacific that really, really chills you out.

And I think the beginning of my road to sleep did start with accupuncture-- the more regularly you can get it the better. In Chinese Medicine it is called Yin Deficincy-- it is where you "qi" rises up towards your head at night-- keeping you awake. So, the needles and herbs they give you will bring your qi back down.

Also, I eliminated major unhappinesses like quit my corporate job and started to travel and such... I seem to sleep really well when I am happy.

Oh and also, homeopathics-- you can get them at your health food store. It is a form of medicine from India-- they are little tablets and they should have them for sleep-- those seem to help a lot.

Well-- I hope all that helps!! If you have been taking synthetic, western pills for a while, it may take your liver a while to detox (which can be keeping you up as well)

Ciao
lace

4:44 PM  
Blogger laceybediz said...

oh, I just remembered something that really, really works... I can't believe I fogot this one! Those rain making noise machines... it eliminates sounds and such that keep you awake, but what I found is more of a Pavlovian-mind thing. See, if you turn on the machine that makes the "rain" sound every night when you go to sleep, eventually your brain gets conditioned to the fact that that sound is to be equated with sleep. And for me, it drowns out my thoughts. If I were to tell you one thing that really worked-- this would be it. It has become such a fixture in my life, I didn't even remember the importance of it! heh!

1:27 PM  

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