Dreams, dreams and more dreams.

A cold wind blew through the house last night, since I left the windows open. I actually closed the window when I woke up, and put on a tshirt, as a chilly 15'C breeze has me shivering thismorning. It's a rainy day and I am awake way too early, although it must be healthy to go to sleep at midnight and wake up at 6am.

For a long time I would stay up until 3am but have recently been 'letting myself fall asleep', a luxury I can only enjoy some days. Naps during the day, whenever I feel tired, are required when my body says I am tired. There's no use sitting up on the computer when I am too exhausted to pay attention to videos (mostly clickbait these days anyways) or win rounds of the games I play. Instead, I have been dreaming.

Some nights they are vivid, other nights the memories fade as soon as I wake up. One thing I know for sure though is that I am dreaming again, and that must be a good thing. Either because I am actually reaching alpha waves, or that I am working out unresolved subconscious issues. I wonder why certain people show up in my sleep, and others might not, but since I don't fully recall the plot it's hard to speculate.

Plugging my phone in, and placing it away from where I can reach it helps, and turning off my computer whenever I am finished doing whatever task I am working on, are two important ways to improve sleep. Spending all day and all night on the computer or phone can't be good for you. When I picked up these stylish David Beckham glasses this summer, I opted for the expensive UV filter. They are stronger than most blue-light blocking lenses other people have, so much so that outside seems dreary grey sometimes. I lift my glasses up and the sky turns from pale to blue, but that is probably a good thing. I spend a lot of time looking at screens.

I am also taking L-Theanine in the morning-- two is often too much, just the well-tested dose of 250mg is enough. 500mg can make me feel overwhelmed or emotional, and to balance it out I take 500mg of GABA before bed. I did last night, and slept deep enough that my dreams faded quickly. I wonder if, on nights where they are vivid, I forget. Or if it's just a roll of the dice, and dreams are intermittent.

I will have to start tracking my dreams more closely and keep a journal, if I can remember to write down whether I have them or not, whether I remember to take GABA before bed, whether I can name the people, places and events of my dreams or not. These clues might reveal something to me, or not. Usually, what happens in dreamland stays in dreamland.

The next missing key in my routine, is more exercise. I think I am lazier than I have ever been, barely even walking to the YMCA this summer like I intended to do daily. I suppose there's no good reason why I shouldn't thismorning. Maybe if I get dressed and go for that 20 minute adventure, when I return I will be ready to make breakfast. It's certainly better for me health wise, than getting sitting at the computer, but I am 'grinding' for Gold 2 rank today before work.

Really I should be 'grinding' for personal health goals, financial goals, and personal achievements. Gamify my real life and try to improve all my stats. Intelligence, Endurance, Stealth, Charisma, Initiative. I used to run a lot, it would be great to increase my endurance enough to be able to again. I read a lot, but I would like to write more. 1, 2, even 5 or 10 books published would be great. Attend more events, I haven't gone anywhere or done anything important lately, other than for work.

Saving an extra $1000 or $5000 would also be great 'achievements' to unlock this year, it would definitely make the new year less stressful to have some more cash in my pocket. More valuable than buying tickets to concerts or junk Electronics for the holidays. Consistent journaling would also be sometime I can do that would help. #GamifyLife

At least we have Hive, and that encourages us each day to write, and reach for our goals.