October 23, 2023
I sometimes wonder whether reading is the cause of my insomnia. Reading is often what people do to help them fall asleep, but in my case, it wakes me up. I can’t remember the last time I slept past 5:15. That feels luxurious. Getting out of bed at 4:30 feels normal—but it’s not by most standards—and even though I can’t go back to sleep, I still need that pot of coffee first thing to cope.
I think I wake up because I feel I need to get reading before it all starts. At 4:30, the house is quiet. Everyone is asleep, including the cats. I can just sit and read, undisturbed. I have time to myself. For an introvert in a job that requires constant human interactions, sitting with myself might be more refreshing than eight hours of sleep. Sometimes, I wish I had both.
I read about all sorts of things, mostly geeky nonfiction and nerdy novels (not enough novels). Reading exposes me to ideas, but I can seldom remember who said what, or even what those ideas were specifically. Maybe sometimes I remember enough of a quote to be able to look up the…