Mine is my left eye. When I’m getting rundown, the lower lid starts to twitch. Not super dramatically (you’re probably not going to notice it on a Zoom call) but much more subtly (if we are face-to-face, you will NOT be able to stop glancing at it).
Don has taken to calling me Lissa “Left Eye” Lopez lately. (God bless his sense of humor.)
This little sign, thankfully, is designed to catch my attention. It says, “Melissa, seriously, we’re not f*cking around anymore…get some more sleep.” It comes AFTER the first sign that I’m overtired, which is “waking up angry.” (If I am going for my morning walk and I start my day by ruminating on things or people that piss me off…I know I probably should have stayed in bed a little longer.) The second sign is bedtime tears. If I put the kids to bed and come out crying (not because they have misbehaved but rather because I am overwhelmed by how beautiful they are and how fleeting time is) then I also need to take the hint and get to bed myself.
Thankfully, the left-eye twitching does precede a few other issues that come afterward if I’m not careful…the ones that point out that I am *chronically* exhausted, like heart palpitations and anhedonia and depression.
Why is it that when our bodies try SO hard to tell us things, we often try even HARDER to ignore them?
My left eye has been twitching for a couple of weeks now, and my goal is to make it go away before the baby is born, so that I can give him/her/ME the best possible start. I’ve been nesting and listing a little harder than usual lately, and therefore bedtime has been creeping from 9:30 to 10:30, which isn’t doing me any favors. Combine that with 2-5 trips to the bathroom every night, and sleep is diminished. My beloved 20 minute power naps have become a rarity as I am trying to get everything buttoned up tight at work before I go.
For years, I’ve had an awesome morning routine, but I’m beginning to think that my evening routine is the one that needs help. I’m not really sure how much I actually accomplish puttering around the house after the kids go to bed. Sure, I pick up toys and clear clutter and fold laundry and make more of my endless lists…but I’d probably be better served by showering and popping in bed with a book to wind down. The toys and the laundry and the lists will be there, forever, either way. Right?!?
So this week, I hereby declare that I am going to try really, REALLY hard to get to bed earlier.
EXCEPT…that it’s March Madness. God bless you, Michigan. Fingers crossed that the game starts on time tonight.
Do YOU have a tell (or series of them) that lets you know your body is in serious need of a break? What is it? (Or feel free to tattle on your sig oth…you might know better than they do!)