When I'm exhausted, in the middle of the day, I don't nap. I lay down on the couch in front of the tv, something I've either already seen or don't care much about and in minutes, I'm out. I also never with music or anything else, I prefer the silence. And when I can't have that, because I live with an aging mom and her aides, I put my headphones and on listen to techno. Loudly. It's my white noise. I'm frequently alone, and rarely lonely. I have trouble reading these days because...so exhausted all the time. Two pages and I'm asleep but I know exactly what you mean. When I was reading Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn, narrated by Lionel Essrog, a PI with Tourettes, I found myself thinking in Tourettes fashion when I wasn't reading it....
I watch a movie almost every evening. I sit on the sofa and cuddle with my dog. I often fall asleep on my sofa and I sleep surprisingly well, given that my 90 pound dog takes up a lot of space! I often am surprised to wake up at 6 am with the TV and lights still on! So I brush my teeth, take my evening meds at 6 am, and go up to bed for real and sleep a few more hours. Not ideal for sleep, but the movies and dog are so comforting.
BTW, I recently watched "DTF St. Louis" on Prime. DTF is a dating app for married people. You'd expect it to be superficial, but it's really about complex relationships between 3 people who care about each other. Much of it focuses on a wonderful close, platonic friendship between 2 straight men (I wish more guys had friends like that!) The acting is fantastic, David Harbour and Jason Bateman in particular. It's written with fantastic character development. It's sort of a murder mystery, too, with a surprise ending. I recommend it highly! (Especially fans of Bateman!)
When I was growing up the tv was on most of the time. I continued that for a while, but quit years ago. I also love to read and the Doerr book was memorable! I read a variety of books and especially love reading at bedtime. I take my magnesium and melatonin, hop into bed, and when I get too sleepy to read it’s lights off. I use some favorite YouTube channels on my phone for background while I get cleaned up in the mornings, and while cooking a meal. I put YouTube on the tv in my sewing room too. Escape to the Country is my favorite show to watch while I walk on my treadmill. I’m pretty sure the distraction from negative thoughts is playing a role.
Not every book, podcast, movie, or TV show can enrapture me like that, but some of them can. I find it to be most intense with books, maybe because you build the world inside your head.
When I lived alone, I often turned the radio or TV on for "background noise," for company. But never right before bed, when I prefer to read or do sudoku.
My husband can fall asleep in front of the TV, but I need silence. I don't understand how he can drift off with the sound blaring, but he manages!
I have always lost myself in books since I first learned to read. I spent a lot of time alone as a child and love my time alone now. I still live with my husband but even still there is a tremendous amount of quiet. He doesn't hear well and I admit I get tired of repeating myself. Not sure if I am avoiding loneliness now but I am definitely avoiding the hellscape that is our world at the moment. Also, my work is very emotionally draining so I find an escape is relaxing and healing. We watch a lot more tv than I would likely watch alone. I prefer a book (paper or audio- I love an audiobook as I can do the mundane tasks while being entertained -looking at you laundry!) or some sort of crafting if left to my own devices.
I didn't know how I was going to cope after cataract surgery -- I have ALWAYS read a book to fall asleep but I couldn't read much after the surgery (they did my good eye first, so I just could not focus until both eyes were done). But...I started listening to audiobooks. I download them from the library with my Libby app, and I set the timer for 15 minutes. Mostly I am asleep before the timer goes off...if not, i can add more time. I have different audiobooks on there for when i wake up in the middle of the night -- usually some non=fiction, not-too exciting books to fall back to sleep to. It has helped with my anxiety so much!
Ooh, one of my favourite books! And thank you for the reminder; I’m struggling with loneliness this week and had forgotten how reading can take me out of that
The TV is usually on, but I don't watch very much of it these days, and I seldom nap/fall asleep in front of it. I do like to read a chapter or two of my latest book in bed before I turn out the light. I have a couple of podcasts I will listen to occasionally (and others I've bookmarked as ones I'm interested in), but I don't listen to them a lot. I find I have to sit and LISTEN, I can't multi-task, as some people seem to do -- because otherwise I suddenly realize we're 20 minutes into the show, and what was it they were saying??
Yes, me too. I'm reading a wonderful (long) book right now called "The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny: A Novel" by Kiran Desai. The author said it took 20 years to write. I'm definitely enjoying it, and I also read the All The Light book and felt the same.
I listen to audiobooks when I'm doing chores--inside or outside--and when I'm driving. It makes the chores something I look forward to, an incentive, if I can have someone reading me a story. while getting things done. And it makes the journey more enjoyable when taking long trips or even trips up or down the coast or to Eugene.
While you were going through your hospital crisis, I had my sister visiting. I drove 444miles two days in a row to pick her up and then again three weeks later at the end of the visit. She is in her second year of a Lewy-Body Dementia diagnosis, so she doesn't drive any more or take planes or trains by herself. Which is why her son drove her part way and I drove part way to make the exchange. We met in Williams, CA, and spent the night before heading back. She lives in Bakersfield, which is 800 miles away. We had a wonderful visit, but I felt like a tour guide as we played tourist, caregiver to remind her of numerous things throughout each day, and big sis throughout. We had a wonderful time, but I was exhausted afterwards and behind my schedule of stuff to do. Finally, catching up.
So glad you are home and recuperating. I know I'm way late in offering, but is there any way I could help you at this point in your recovery? Just let me know. I'm not planning on any trips until October, when I go down to see my sister. I visit her every April, October, and December and have for decades. That is one reason we are so close as sisters.
When I'm exhausted, in the middle of the day, I don't nap. I lay down on the couch in front of the tv, something I've either already seen or don't care much about and in minutes, I'm out. I also never with music or anything else, I prefer the silence. And when I can't have that, because I live with an aging mom and her aides, I put my headphones and on listen to techno. Loudly. It's my white noise. I'm frequently alone, and rarely lonely. I have trouble reading these days because...so exhausted all the time. Two pages and I'm asleep but I know exactly what you mean. When I was reading Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn, narrated by Lionel Essrog, a PI with Tourettes, I found myself thinking in Tourettes fashion when I wasn't reading it....
I watch a movie almost every evening. I sit on the sofa and cuddle with my dog. I often fall asleep on my sofa and I sleep surprisingly well, given that my 90 pound dog takes up a lot of space! I often am surprised to wake up at 6 am with the TV and lights still on! So I brush my teeth, take my evening meds at 6 am, and go up to bed for real and sleep a few more hours. Not ideal for sleep, but the movies and dog are so comforting.
BTW, I recently watched "DTF St. Louis" on Prime. DTF is a dating app for married people. You'd expect it to be superficial, but it's really about complex relationships between 3 people who care about each other. Much of it focuses on a wonderful close, platonic friendship between 2 straight men (I wish more guys had friends like that!) The acting is fantastic, David Harbour and Jason Bateman in particular. It's written with fantastic character development. It's sort of a murder mystery, too, with a surprise ending. I recommend it highly! (Especially fans of Bateman!)
When I was growing up the tv was on most of the time. I continued that for a while, but quit years ago. I also love to read and the Doerr book was memorable! I read a variety of books and especially love reading at bedtime. I take my magnesium and melatonin, hop into bed, and when I get too sleepy to read it’s lights off. I use some favorite YouTube channels on my phone for background while I get cleaned up in the mornings, and while cooking a meal. I put YouTube on the tv in my sewing room too. Escape to the Country is my favorite show to watch while I walk on my treadmill. I’m pretty sure the distraction from negative thoughts is playing a role.
Not every book, podcast, movie, or TV show can enrapture me like that, but some of them can. I find it to be most intense with books, maybe because you build the world inside your head.
When I lived alone, I often turned the radio or TV on for "background noise," for company. But never right before bed, when I prefer to read or do sudoku.
My husband can fall asleep in front of the TV, but I need silence. I don't understand how he can drift off with the sound blaring, but he manages!
I have always lost myself in books since I first learned to read. I spent a lot of time alone as a child and love my time alone now. I still live with my husband but even still there is a tremendous amount of quiet. He doesn't hear well and I admit I get tired of repeating myself. Not sure if I am avoiding loneliness now but I am definitely avoiding the hellscape that is our world at the moment. Also, my work is very emotionally draining so I find an escape is relaxing and healing. We watch a lot more tv than I would likely watch alone. I prefer a book (paper or audio- I love an audiobook as I can do the mundane tasks while being entertained -looking at you laundry!) or some sort of crafting if left to my own devices.
I didn't know how I was going to cope after cataract surgery -- I have ALWAYS read a book to fall asleep but I couldn't read much after the surgery (they did my good eye first, so I just could not focus until both eyes were done). But...I started listening to audiobooks. I download them from the library with my Libby app, and I set the timer for 15 minutes. Mostly I am asleep before the timer goes off...if not, i can add more time. I have different audiobooks on there for when i wake up in the middle of the night -- usually some non=fiction, not-too exciting books to fall back to sleep to. It has helped with my anxiety so much!
Ooh, one of my favourite books! And thank you for the reminder; I’m struggling with loneliness this week and had forgotten how reading can take me out of that
The TV is usually on, but I don't watch very much of it these days, and I seldom nap/fall asleep in front of it. I do like to read a chapter or two of my latest book in bed before I turn out the light. I have a couple of podcasts I will listen to occasionally (and others I've bookmarked as ones I'm interested in), but I don't listen to them a lot. I find I have to sit and LISTEN, I can't multi-task, as some people seem to do -- because otherwise I suddenly realize we're 20 minutes into the show, and what was it they were saying??
Bedtime stories
Nope. Been meditating and Journaling over 30 years.
The woman I have become and the woman I will become is a fascinating human.
Books-no TV
Yes, me too. I'm reading a wonderful (long) book right now called "The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny: A Novel" by Kiran Desai. The author said it took 20 years to write. I'm definitely enjoying it, and I also read the All The Light book and felt the same.
I listen to audiobooks when I'm doing chores--inside or outside--and when I'm driving. It makes the chores something I look forward to, an incentive, if I can have someone reading me a story. while getting things done. And it makes the journey more enjoyable when taking long trips or even trips up or down the coast or to Eugene.
While you were going through your hospital crisis, I had my sister visiting. I drove 444miles two days in a row to pick her up and then again three weeks later at the end of the visit. She is in her second year of a Lewy-Body Dementia diagnosis, so she doesn't drive any more or take planes or trains by herself. Which is why her son drove her part way and I drove part way to make the exchange. We met in Williams, CA, and spent the night before heading back. She lives in Bakersfield, which is 800 miles away. We had a wonderful visit, but I felt like a tour guide as we played tourist, caregiver to remind her of numerous things throughout each day, and big sis throughout. We had a wonderful time, but I was exhausted afterwards and behind my schedule of stuff to do. Finally, catching up.
So glad you are home and recuperating. I know I'm way late in offering, but is there any way I could help you at this point in your recovery? Just let me know. I'm not planning on any trips until October, when I go down to see my sister. I visit her every April, October, and December and have for decades. That is one reason we are so close as sisters.
Judy Fleagle