After going YEARS without having a good night’s sleep, I’m happy to report that I think I’m finally starting to get past my chronic insomnia.

I was a bit worried about the effect daylight saving time would have on my body, but so far, so good.

I’m being more strict with forcing myself to go to bed by 10:30ish, and it’s really helping. I’m automatically waking up around 6 a.m. or a little sooner, but as far as I know, I’m sleeping through the night.

I’ve been doing a short exercise routine during the day, and I hope to add to that. I think even a 15-minute ab workout is helping me.

Finally, the biggest thing: I stopped worrying about sleep. I had read some literature suggesting that if you’re worried you’ll never get a good night’s sleep, you’re probably right. It’s better to have a positive attitude about it instead.

So, after implementing those things in my life (and praying hard about it!) I feel like I’m on the path to great sleep every night.

It’s nice to know that there’s probably not anything physically wrong with me that caused my sleep issues!

Some of you might know that I have had trouble with sleep for the last, oh, five years. Basically, all of college and then some. I kept zany hours working at the newspaper (afternoon-past midnight) and had some morning classes. Not good.

I’m trying to get back on a normal-person schedule. For one, I don’t feel productive when I’m up all night and sleep during the day. Two, it’s not good for your health.

I’ve been working hard to wake up and actually get up during the morning, and go to sleep before midnight. It’s been a struggle.

I’ve imposed a new rule on myself: No computer or TV past 8 p.m. I think those devices just keep me wired, and make it hard to shut my brain off at night. Plus, I get distracted and carried away, and the next thing I know…it’s really late.

Second, no caffeine. I haven’t been drinking coffee or colas lately anyway, but when I do drink coffee, it’s decaf.

For the last two nights, I’ve gone to bed at 10 p.m. That’s unreal at how early that is for me, especially when 2 a.m. or later was a previous bedtime.

I’ve fallen asleep OK, surprisingly, but I’m now waking up during the night. Last night, I woke at 1:30, and went back to sleep. I woke again at 4. I went to the bathroom and tried to sleep, but I don’t know how deep of a sleep that was. I finally got up at 5:15 and had breakfast. I was wide awake at that point, though still tired.

I hope to stay productive all day. I might end up taking a nap later on, though I’ll try not to since I tend to take long naps, rather than the suggested 20-30 minute one.

If I can get on this routine, I think I’ll get a lot more done and feel a lot better.

The next step: Adding exercise to my day.

Thank you to everyone who reads my main blog! On Tuesday, we saw the most unique visitors in one day that we’ve ever seen: 1,985. This comes about a week after passing that 1,000-visitor mark, so it’s really neat that it’s growing so quickly. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Yesterday, I went to my new Bible study. It was great! I liked the leader and the topics we’re covering. Yesterday, one topic we discussed was being homesick. Whoa. When I saw that written on the handout, I almost started to cry. “Homesick” has been how I’ve felt off and on since June.

Things are getting better, though.

My husband and I are starting to think we might be in Pittsburgh for awhile–at least longer than we originally thought (12-18 months). It might be better for his career if he stayed in the Pittsburgh office, as opposed to being transferred to another location.

While we would like to live closer to family, it might not be the best option for our little family of two.

For one, we’d have to start all over in a new city–knowing no one, likely. Two, we don’t know if he’d like his job there, and we don’t know if we’d like the new location. Nothing is definite–we could end up moving this year, or our children could be born here (I’m not pregnant.)

So, we’re going to try to plant some roots in Pittsburgh. If we’re going to be here awhile, it’s probably for the best that we become Pittsburghers, you know? While I wish that we were closer than a 7-9 hour drive from our parents, I’m glad that at least we are able to make that drive.

We’ve found a potential church home. As I mentioned earlier, I joined a women’s Bible study. I met some great gals yesterday, and two of them will be meeting me for lunch today. Hooray! They each moved to Pittsburgh from other parts of the country a few years back, and know exactly what I’m going through. What a relief to know I’m not entirely alone.

…wasn’t so bad for me!

Did you see this story in Time?  I hope the day wasn’t horrible for everyone. That’s pretty bad–when the entire nation has a bad day. Ya know?

My day was good. The sun was shining most of the day, I got a decent amount of stuff done, and made a little money. I had a hot cooked dinner. My husband and I have our health. We don’t have any major worries. Life is good.

Here’s to a great week! Hope you’re well, reader in bloggyland.

I really neglect this aspect of my blog too much. I just never know what to say about my personal life, I ’spose.

Here’s an update on things:

I’ve been doing my Bible reading plan (see previous post) for a week now. It is going really well–it doesn’t take much time, but I really spending time reading and thinking about the Bible.

We went to a new church last Sunday and will likely return this weekend. It’s called Orchard Hill  and is a non-denominational community Christian church. It’s huge! I’m used to churches of like 150 memebers or so–this one has so many that it needs parking lot helpers. Whoa.

We haven’t been to a non-denominational church before, but I chose it because it has many opportunities for women’s Bible study and other times for fellowship.

I hope that through church, I can gain some friends in Pittsburgh. So far, I don’t really have any here.

Anyway, we enjoyed the sermon and though the music was not what I’m used to in church (it was a rock band), it was a good experience. The band is actually really good, and they did a rendition of the song from like the ’80s, called “Kyrie” by Mr. Mister. It was impressive.

So … that’s how my spiritual life is going.

On the homefront, things are going well. Being married is so incredibly wonderful–way better than I could have imagined.