I need sleep. I believe there’s a reason why 8 hours of sleep is the recommended nightly dosage–because otherwise my mind turns to mush, I say stupid things before I’ve had a chance to think them through, I type incoherently, and I tend to stumble when I walk, thereby forcing others to believe that I am not, in fact, sleep deprived, but drunk.

I don’t enjoy being tired. It’s just that I love being awake and “on” so much. I love spending as much time with my friends as I do taking a class or researching stuff online. I love to read and write and watch television and movies. However, by the time I’m done with the doing, it’s nearly 1 am…and I wake up at about 6 for work. That’s only 5 hours of sleep, not taking into account being awoken in the wee hours by the high-pitched sounds of a fire truck roaring past our apartment, or by one of our three cats jumping on the bed somewhere between 2:45 and 3:30 am.

This has been going on consistently for two months and I’ve now developed a fantastic eye twitch. For two months. Here’s what causes eye twitches:

“It appears most eye twitches are harmless, involuntary spasms of the tiny muscles surrounding the eye. Some causes are fatigue, squinting a lot, consuming too much caffeine, or working in a less than ideal visual environment, e.g., staring at a computer screens for long periods of time. Just like a muscle spasm at any other part of the body, an eye twitch can mean you’ve taxed your muscles and need to relax them.”

So, I’ve decided to give myself a much-needed break from everything in September:

• I’m not going to go out more than once a week.
• I’m not going to stare at the computer or TV screen for more than two hours at a time.
• I’m not going to call my friends after 9:30 pm.
• I’m not going to eat after 8 pm.
• I’m going to spend 10-15 minutes before bedtime winding down.
• I’m going to put all things work-related out of my head before walking into my apartment.
• I’m going to learn to say, “I’d love to, but I can’t.”

Now that it’s out there, I have to follow through.