Everything old is new again…

Bedtime.

The ended games and broken rules of childhood versus the sweet sinking of adulthood as you close your eyes and finally, finally sink into your pillows and pull that comforter over your head. As a kid, bedtime always got pushed back, again and again, for one last page, one last page until I was forced to put the book away and turn the light out. Adulthood has followed a similar pattern: one last addition to tomorrow’s syllabus, one last paper to grade, one last dish to clean, blanket to fold and, as always, one last page.

As my mother is no longer standing at the foot of the stairs policing my pre-bed habits, I’ve decided to start doing it myself. And so: bedtime. It’s retro. It’s cool. It’s somewhere between ten o’clock and ten-thirty, depending on whether tomorrow is a school day or a gym day.

I’ve lost a bit from this new procedure. My evenings are much shorter. I am behind on the lives of some of my favorite television characters. I have to balance my school prep time a little better, and dinner has become a far less elaborate affair.

The gains have been more substantial. Since Sunday night, when the new plan was implicated, I have far more energy, I have time for the gym before work (except on school days), my skin is better, and my appetite is smaller. Also, I have this increasing feeling of me time, the idea that work is no longer the exact center of my day (and every time I think this, especially at the gym, I get a vision of CJ on the treadmill during the Pilot, before she falls down…and I hold onto the elliptical machine for dear life).

I know as the semester grows busier and more stressful, it will be harder and harder to stick to this new habit, but I’m going to try. I think it is possibly one of the best decisions I could make for my general health and well-being.

Through the Wind and the Sand

Blogging to you from a rainy morning in the Outer Banks...but it looks like the sun is about to come out, so I don't think this post will be too long.

I only have a couple more days at the beach and then I'm back into the rat race of sitting at a desk, pretending to work for my father. It looks like I'll be at the family company slightly longer than anticipated (when doesn't this happen to me?), as I'll be staying on for health insurance purposes while I (drum roll please)...

Work my new job as an Adjunct Professor of English at a local community college! (and the crowd goes wild- go ahead) Everything is official now, I only have to go in next week and fill out the paperwork. I have my textbooks and a sample syllabus to reference as I create my own. I'll be teaching two sections of English Comp for very little money...but it's getting my foot in the door, and it will let me see if this is something I actually want to do with my life.

In other news, I haven't had a single drop of caffeinated beverage since I've been at the beach. I figure lazy days when very little is required for me is the perfect time to attempt to go cold turkey. And since I never actually have to be awake, I've been experiencing very few symptoms of withdraw. The ultimate goal is to get to a place where I'll drink caffeine under certain circumstances of extreme exhaustion, but I won't need it to start my day.

And now I'm going to go lotion up for another day of unnecessary baking on the beach. There's a hurricane (Bertha) heading for Bermuda, so the waves will probably be pretty decent.

Resolutions

Okay, it might be a little late for a New Year's resolutions blog for a couple of reasons. A- It's already January 7th. B- Perhaps one should give up on writing resolutions blogs by the ripe old age of 25.

But I like New Year's resolutions. In fact, I think they're the best part of the holiday. We don't need to be weighed down by our past mistakes. We've learned from them and now we have an entire clean, fresh year to put that new knowledge to use. Okay, hopefully, we have more than one clean, fresh year stretching out ahead of us. But you know what I mean.

New Year's resolutions provide hope and motivation. For those of us struggling through our twenties, they give the idea-- or at least the illusion-- that this year, this year will be the year we get it together. This year we will deal with our body image issues. We will read more and watch less. We will, of course, drink and spend less. Save more. Find satisfaction in job and love. Express ourselves creatively. Make better choices. We will become closer to our ideals of perfection, even if none of us are quite sure what that ideal actually entails.