I couldn’t sleep last night. I spent my waking, horizontal hours attempting to figure out why. I didn’t figure it out; all I could do is speculate. This affirmed what I’ve thought since I was three years old, that life is a science experiment.

Science has always been too absolute for me. I’ve always looked for ways to get around it. Speculation has always been the first in a series of steps. I eschewed the hypothesis when I was in the seventh grade. Just seemed to narrow a premise. Then, in high school, I got to thinking about it. Hypo means sub or below and thesis is the main idea. So a hypothesis is an undeveloped main idea.

Alys sleeping

So the lack of sleep – I couldn’t get back to sleep thinking about why I suffer from insomnia. I came up with some things that I am going to act upon. This thought came about because earlier in the evening my friend Bill Schmidtkunz sent me an email making note that most people are not very aware. I contend that because they are so unaware, they waste valuable time. I am pretty good at using my time wisely, but I can do better. Sleep time is very valuable. I don’t want to continue to squander it. So I am going to make a few, ahem, lifestyle changes.

I have already begun doing breathing exercises. They sure did not work last night, but I will try other breathing options. Another thought I had was that I have been at the computer too late. So I am going to do other things in the evening. This is actually a good idea since I spend, each night, an hour dithering around on the internet. I will instead spend my evenings doing inside house chores, check my email in the morning and call it good.

Next, and Pete will attest to this – I don’t drink enough water. This is most true when I am out and about, with the horses. I am planning on putting a water bottle on the steps of the tack room (Pete just rebuilt the stairs) and make sure that I drink in between doing horsey things.

Oh, yeah, I am going to put less salt on my food, and if Pete hops on board with this idea, eat earlier in the evening.

None of this is going to be easy. In fact, it will all be quite difficult. I did get off to a good start this morning, (it is now 3:06 p.m.). I took the dogs up to the bench, and I rode Tinni on the Tin Can Trail.

The problem, of course, is that I have far too many animal responsibilities to get all that I want to get done and also writing-related responsibilities. But if I do the above listed things, I will sleep better. And if I sleep better, I will cease to think about how to go about solving this problem.

This is not going to be easy. But it would be harder to give up the finer things of life, cigarettes, bacon, and coffee included. The plate is actually pretty clean but could be cleaner.

Next: 263. 9/22/20: The World Turned Upside Down