Jan 17 2008
In the beginning…
“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” –T.S. Eliot
I had a hazy memory of the above quote in my head when I searched for it tonight, something like “A beginning is an end of something, always.” At first I did not see how it is relevant here. Welcome to my new, public “writer’s blog”, a space I hope to fill with the interesting writerly musings of my fascinating brain, as well as updates and announcements about my published work.
I didn’t think anything had to end to create this beginning. Looking more closely, all I see is the end of writing in obscurity–a willingness to shed the anonymity of silence and extend my voice to a wider world. So I suppose this web log begins where silence ends.
“There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth…not going all the way, and not starting.” — Gautama Siddharta
Here, we’ve started; so take my hand, and let’s follow this road, see where it leads–it looks like a wild ride!
I’m looking forward to the journey — what’s over that next hill? Let’s find out together.
I am very much looking forward to all of this. Yes indeedy-do.
Reading your words, as always, with avid interest and enquiry…
I noticed in your description that you sleep much less (2-4 hours so) then I do.
Do you feel worse or better through your day? If I sleep under five hours, I walk through the day in a sort of haze, irritable and with no patience for anything or anyone, and an almost pained queasy feeling in my stomach and head demanding me to sleep.
@Illidan : The 4-6 is the current range, but a lot of whether that’s enough sleep depends on the other parts of my life. If I am sick, or emotionally “fragile”, or recovering from intense physical effort on a particular day, I’ll sometimes need as much as 7 hours. Much more than that and I usually feel a bit fuzzy-headed from too much sleep. At the other end, 4 is definitely a hard-limit minimum for feeling like I’m functioning fully; less than that and I do experience some of the hazy, not-100% mental states–even down to the nausea if I stay up too late. And I have certainly found that not being well-rested contributes to how easily irritable I am, and seems to also make it harder to keep the “world filters” up that allow myself to healthily interact with others and my environment.
I’m still learning the fine details of my daily rhythms, but generally I prefer being a slow awakener, gradually ramping up the energy throughout the day and staying up fairly late-night. However, thanks to several years of on-call jobs, among other reasons, I can bypass that and go from 0 to 70 as soon as the alarm goes off if needed, though I’ve found that on those days I usually have less easy access to the more creative daily pursuits, and stay more in “getting things done” mode.
Edit: I also enjoy naps, and find that an hour or two when the body asks for it keeps the day’s energy flowing for longer than without a nap. However, my current workday isn’t (yet) as conducive to a mid-day nap as I would like, so I try to stay nearer the 5-6 hours sleep per night, for optimal rest.