House of Pearlman

I’ve wrestled with sleep my whole life.  When I was 9 or 10 years old, it wasn’t unusual for me to go to sleep around midnight and sleep until 1 or 2pm the next day. In college, I’m not sure if I ever went to sleep before 2am. John Pinto and I would have a tradition of brushing our teeth after everyone else in the dorm was asleep. Several years back, I tried out (with some short-term success), Polyphasic Sleep, which “allows’ you to get as little as 2.5 hours of sleep per 24 hours. And, now, with Oscar in the fold, I can’t seem to sleep past 6 or 6:30 (not because he wakes me; I’m usually up first). I then take a nap sometime during the day. If I get up super early (it’s 3:40am) right now, I tend to take a nap in the morning, around 9, which is fine Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, when Oscar is in Preschool and Allison’s out of the house.  The time I go to bed varies widely.

I think the reason for all of this – or the excuse, depending on how you look at it – is that I’m constantly thinking of ideas. Things to do with my business; music thoughts; thoughts about family. And it’s very hard for me to shut off my thinking and go to sleep. So, when I am asleep is usually when I’m too exhausted to think.

The net result is that my availability, physically, mentally, and spiritually, for Oscar and Allison, is uneven. I’ve let my brain run the asylum, as it were. That’s really not fair to them and it’s cause for much upset.

Another thing that I’ve noticed recently, is that I like to work (think) when I get up from sleeping. This goes for nighttime sleep and for naps. Sleep usually has generated ideas of some sort, that I need to work through. Well, as you can imagine, that becomes a problem if I wake up when other people are awake. Disappearing (mentally or physically) doesn’t go over well. It seems, it’s the days I wake up amazingly early and get a good amount of work done before everyone else is up – those are the best days. When Oscar and Allison gets up – if I got enough sleep the night before and if the work I’ve just completed has been productive – I’m mentally available.

I’m planning on unschooling Oscar, especially if Allison ends up getting a job. This is pretty likely, since she’s been away from something for herself for a long time. So, I’m going to, at least, address the issue of sleep. I’m notoriously bad at keeping anything resembling a regular schedule, so success seems unlikely. Nevertheless, the freedom of my time is going to quickly evaporate. As Allison likes to say, I need to think more efficiently.

I’m considering getting up really early every day (I’m guessing around 4am). If I can force myself to get up that early for a few days, I may be able to settle into a rhythm. This would force me to go to sleep earlier.