Sittin’ In A Window…

So the biggest challenge thus far has been deciding when, exactly, to do what with my day. While I did come to write a book, I also wanted to recommit to exercising and above all else, physical therapy. Add in a hope to “listen to my body more” (I have no idea what that means but a lot of very “centered, shakra-like” people are saying it these days) and you have my current existence in China. That whole body listening thing has manifested itself in the form of not setting an alarm. Ever.

I despise the sound of that horrific contraption and, before coming to China, I only EVER once did not set an alarm. Junior year of high school. Last night of the fall play. I was exhausted, slept til’ 3pm and felt incredibly guilty about it. Hence my dilemma – I hate the sound but I hate oversleeping. Still, I’ve miraculously discovered that your body does in fact wake up when it is no longer tired. That is currently happening at 8am if I hit the hay around midnight. Every night I coach myself into believing that it’s ok. “Don’t worry, you’ll wake up. You need the sleep. You’ll have time to get everything else done tomorrow. I promise.” Needless to say, I can’t help but feel slightly insane for promising myself it’ll be ok if I don’t set an alarm. It’s definitely a goal to release that demon (another thing those centered shakra-like people say) before I get back to America.

I digress. Anyway, I’m up at 8, check email (only doing that twice a day, which is another area of high stress. “What if someone sends an urgent email, blah blah blah.” One more said demon), eat a banana, go for a run, shower, do physical therapy while watching myself on TV (apparently I am the spitting image of Matthew Fox on Lost, at least according to the Chinese girls who come up to me on the street with pictures of him on their phone saying, “Lost. Lost. Are you lost?” Where to even begin on that one), then settle into my perch and write.

I have literally put my desk in the windowsill, so I can stare out into the depths of the city in between jotting down notes on electronic paper (that’s slang for Word). It’s going well, as I do believe the right environment makes a huge difference. Let’s just hope my brain starts connecting all the dots soon. Otherwise, it’s going to one spastic journey.

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Kyle Taylor