Stress in the World, The 4:00 mystery

I snapped awake this morning at 4am and had a hard time getting back to sleep again.

Later, I talked to one of my closer biznik friends, Will Wright - a Kink-friendly Lawyer in Seattle, and he told me that four o’clock is a time that is known for it’s relationship to stress. Apparently, there’s some documentation and many cases where 4am is the time at which that many people afflicted with stress, would waking up. 4 am would be when they got up, regardless of how much sleep they have had or when they’d gone to bed.

Upon reflection I realized that I had booked 4 mighty weighty and rather diverse events all in the same day.

I did a chair massage gig at the Bank of America in the Columbia tower today. Part of their “being a ten” promotion to say “thanks” to their customers. (They must have hired a few smart and connected people to make this little shin-dig happen, especially considering it was BOA which is a huge, corporate-type, god-only-knows-what-the-ceo-does-in-his-closet sort of company) The comforting feel of the event was a pleasant surprise.

I get a bit anxious before chair stuff gigs of the time. Get there early to make sure I know the lay of the land and how to position myself. I also always get reminded of what marketing materials I have not yet discovered I need to create.

There’s a concert I’m going to tonight at the Moore.

I was scheduled to see my dentist at like 8am. (…?!)

And I had to have a very deep and challenging conversation on the phone with one of my clients.

Oh! I was also going to meet with my organizer assistant to create system of filing, delegation and discovery.

Dude.

I mean, sure, I guess I could do all these things in one day. I am sure that are many people that could just breeze thru a day like that. But I really wonder how good it is for us.

I think there was a reason I woke up at four.

I also think there’s no mistake that Will would tell me that “4am snap-awake” is an indicator of high levels of stress.

I got really tired today.

Oh, did I mention that they tested the fire alarms in my home (very loud… :() this morning during the last hour of sleep I was getting? 4 times, I was jolted awake! Oy.

No wonder I’m tired. I’m glad to report however, that I am in good spirits. I think that stress is what many things are called. During exercise, we stress our muscles to grow and shift and change them for better. I feel that this day was stressful in a way that built my mental, emotional and public-self-presentation muscles. I don’t remember getting upset that much today at all. Just tired, really. A bit annoyed when I realized I’d left my planner at my office and my wallet at home this morning. (Can anyone just say… “Mercury retrograde!”) It’s good to be in good spirits when I know I would have been a stress monkey during the same sort of day in the past.

Evolution! I think that’s why I scheduled so much heavy stuff today. Figured I was all tough and could handle it all perhaps. I think it was a mixture of moxy and a bit of me making choices without fully acknowledging their stress factors.

So I guess this is where the sage wisdom comes in!

People – relax and don’t over book yourself! Listen to your body and slow down when it seems like your body is needing to slow down.
And don’t have the day I just had. Have a way better one. Get a massage. That always helps.