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🧵 Thread (31 tweets)

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

So many of us are sleepwalking through life - it's not just that thinking is hard (which it is), but that it's even harder when you're tired

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

So then managing your energy levels is one of the most critical things. People are dramatically different in how effective they are at this

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

Thought that arises: "the central challenge of adulthood for me has been really all about energy management". That's my bottleneck it seems

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

So... what are the components of energy management? The variables are known: sleep, hydration, diet, exercise, relationships, stimuli

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

What does it mean when these variables are configured suboptimally? Sleep is the big one. Why live in constant state of sleep deprivation?

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

Variables affecting sleep: sleep hygiene (bedroom conditions), stimulant consumption (caffeine), diet, exercise, stress, distractions...

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

I actually think the physical stuff ("make sure your room is dark, don't bring phone to bed") is the easy part. The hard part is conceptual

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

(Suddenly reminded of a quote from Steve Vai, guitar virtuoso. I paraphrase: the only thing holding you back is the way you're thinking)

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

So the interesting qn is: what is the story we have in our heads around sleep, energy? The deep underlying belief abt what it's all about

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

I was telling a friend yesterday - I suspect I have a "poverty mindset" when it comes to time and energy: https://t.co/TzS51JGf3K

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

"If every day is going to be overwhelming and exhausting and full of distractions and missed obligations and deadlines, how can I sleep?"

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

I know how ridiculous that sounds on paper, intellectually, but I suspect this is how my subconscious thinks about time+energy. V low-trust

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

(I do intend to fix this, and have been working on it for years. It's harder than quitting smoking or social media.)

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

It's interesting to think abt how things like this shape who I am as a person. Eg I'm obsessively curious about the inner world's of others

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

A big part of this is because I often feel like functioning in normal human society requires more effort for me than for other people

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

That's a very naive, solipsistic and ignorant worldview. So I try to falsify it. Been 10+ years. Insufficient data for meaningful answer :p

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

I often ask friends to introduce me to anybody that they think is similar to me. Oddly, in 10+ years, no close matches. I can't be unique

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

Part of my motivation to build a large body of written work online is really to use it as a beacon to attract people similar to myself

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

I sometimes entertain the thought that chronically sleep-deprived people are choosing (semi-deliberately) to handicap themselves voluntarily

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

I should answer my own Qn: I think my underlying belief is that sleep has to be either earned (hard day's work) or succumbed to (exhaustion)

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

A funny thought I often had at night is – "I could go to sleep but I'm being productive now and I don't know if I'll be productive tommorow"

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

Having a healthy sleep schedule means knowing to quit when you're ahead + knowing when to cut your losses.

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

My people: we're rarely ever ahead, so when we are, we feel compelled to extract and exhaust every last quant of energy we have. Oh, its 4am

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

And those are the good days! 😂

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

Choosing to go to sleep early almost sounds like a selfish, arrogant proposition to my subconscious. "Like, who do you think you are?"

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

I'm getting a mental image of an exhausted, sleep single mom guiltily trying to take care of her adorable but rambunctious kids

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

she's moderately good at her job but she's often distracted and lost. she tries to spend time with the kids but is absent-minded

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

she shd take some time off for herself, but her heart races at the thought of the piling deadlines at work, and the kids' appointments, etc

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

When I look at this picture from a distance, it becomes clear to me that she needs to be kinder to herself, and she needs to get some help

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

she feels guilty abt being a single mom to begin with + her mind is full of reasons why she doesn't deserve help (so many have it worse!)

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5/22/2017

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 8 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

Her wakeup call will probably come when one of her kids gets pissed off with her, or gets hurt, or in trouble. Maybe. Hopefully.

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5/22/2017