divine angst

How do I know I’m exhausted (other than the general malaise)?

My right eyelid has started to twitch. This has not happened to me in YEARS. Any suggestions on what I can do to make it stop?

One of the things I am forgetting to do this semester is take care of myself. I’ve gotten sort of complacent, as far as sticking to a schedule for getting my work done, and the result is that I am exhausted.

It’s funny, because I’ve actually been really good about getting my reading done during the week, at school, so that I don’t have to read at home. I absorb more of the material that way, so it’s been beneficial to my understanding in class. What I haven’t done is also make myself do my other work during the day at school. Other work like papers, research, and outlining. And because I don’t have to do my reading when I get home, I tend to forget that I have that other work to do at home, and just don’t get it done on time. Example: last night, I watched House and some ice dancing before I picked my computer up to finish the paper that was due this morning. Once I got going on it, things were great, but by 11 pm I was so sick of it, I couldn’t look at it anymore. I got up this morning to give it a once over, fixed the few things I could (while noting that my transitions were awful in places and, in other places, totally nonexistant) and lamented the lack of time to fix the other things. I turned it in, and then I turned myself in. I slept for another hour and a half.

I’ve just been less motivated to get things done first. Delayed gratification isn’t working for me–I want to vegetate before I do work, and that just doesn’t work. I have a week to work on my next graded assignment (as well as an ungraded assignment that I haven’t finished the research for), and after that, two more weeks to finish my big legal writing assignment for the semester. All the while, I have musical rehearsals, all the regular meetings I usually have, and bodily functions like sleeping and eating to take care of.

I keep trying to remind myself that I need to rest more, that I need to exercise more, that I need to eat better and drink lots of water. And if I do those things, I will have more energy and a clearer mind, and will be better able to stick to a schedule. I think it’s just that getting started requires so much momentum, and I just don’t have it right now.