All of the changes and hard work have suddenly caught up with Attila and I. We are tired! Attila was transferred to another plant, in the same city where he was working before Christmas, as of Monday. It is like starting a new job all over again, all new people, all new tasks. He is adjusting well, but he feels a bit worn down. He is working straight nights, at least for now, and now works 8 hour shifts. We need to adjust to the change from 12 hour shifts to 8 hour shifts. This first week will be the roughest, as we struggle to adjust sleeping hours. Next week should be a bit better, and a bit better every week after that. Apparently the company moves people around their various plants to best accomplish most needed tasks.
My sleeping patterns are completely disrupted. I slept but two hours last night, arising in the middle of the night, frustrated and awake, to do laundry in order to keep myself occupied. I napped for about two hours in the afternoon, but I still feel like I have been hit on the head with a rock, which is how I feel when I am extremely tired. I have my fingers crossed that I will sleep well tonight.
Attila took an extra nap today as well, adding two hours to his “night’s sleep”. I think he is past the peak of tired now, and from here on every day will get easier. The hope is that by next week the chaos of change will begin to settle into a pattern for both of us.
The weather has warmed considerably, and it is 1C out there as I write, 9:30 p.m. I managed to get out for a walk this afternoon, and because the temperature was above freezing, my knee functioned without complaint. Today was my yoga class, and despite feeling like I had been hit on the head with a rock, I took myself off to do yoga. I always enjoy it when I get there, and today was no exception.
The happily ever after is, after all, full of ups and downs and all arounds. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
1°C
Date: 9:00 PM EST Wednesday 6 January 2016
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 102.7 kPa
Tendency: rising
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: 1.2°C
Dewpoint: -5.3°C
Humidity: 62%
Wind: SW 16 km/h
Quote
“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”
Anne Bradstreet
1612 – 1672
Maggie, I’m wondering if, after the initial settling in, it will get easier for both of you if Attila is on a consistent 8-hour shift, even if it is the night shift. I know that the older I get, the less tolerant my body is of changing sleep patterns.
Consistent shifts will be great for both of you. Glad you were able to get to yoga. My body is letting me know that something is going wrong, but it is happening ever so slowly that I can deal with it for now. Eventually it will mean hospitalization but that will be well down the road . Enjoy the walks and your new schedule , I am enjoying my new life here.
I have just discovered Melatonin. Plain old melatonin pills (a bottle has 270 capsules and only one per day is required (3 mg each). These are instead of my usual Advil PM aspirin I’ve always taken for sleeping. The Advil just wasn’t working at all but the melatonin are! I am so happy about this. I read that melatonin is required for sleep and as we age.
Is Attila getting near retirement age by any chance? If you can prepare and save up enough, retirement can be very nice indeed once you’ve lived a life on the work-a-day roller coaster.
“The happily ever after is, after all, full of ups and downs and all arounds.”
Wow. Perfectly said.
I hope eventually Attila’s employers will see what a reliable, hard worker he is, and want to keep him badly enough to set him on a regular daytime schedule … better for both of you, all around. That’s my prediction, actually, with fingers crossed.
Wendy, we are hoping that eventually he will settle into a consistent location and shift. Apparently though, the company moves people about when they feel it is necessary for production, so this might be an ongoing situation. One of the reasons Attila would like to work the 12 hour shift, is that there is no mandated overtime, and his time off work would be secure and known in advance. It is early days yet with the company, they seem happy with Attila, and we have our fingers crossed that the moving about will settle down eventually. One advantage is that Attila is getting to see the different departments and plants, so that he will know where he wants to be when the time comes to settle into a position.
I have never been a good sleeper! Insomnia plagued me almost all my life, with brief interludes where I could get enough rest. I come by this honestly, my Mom doesn’t sleep a lot, and never did.
My ability to sleep at night is a tenuous and precious thing, and like you, a change in sleep patterns is not well tolerated.
Lee Ann, sorry to hear your body is slowly letting you know something is wrong, and I hope the hospitalization you refer to is in the very distant future!
I am glad to hear that you are enjoying your new life, after your retirement and your move!
Bex, I had heard that Melatonin works well to promote a good night’s sleep. Isn’t that great that it works for you!! A good night’s sleep is such an important part of feeling good.
Nope, Attila is nowhere near retirement. This is the first circumstance we have encountered, when our age difference has been a disadvantage to us. He has almost 12 years to go before he can consider retirement. It will go quickly, and I have my fingers crossed that my health holds out until he gets there!
Kate, consistent day shifts, with weekends off, that would be a dream come true! We have never experienced that. A great prediction!
So far Attila is doing well at his job, and I think they are beginning to notice that they have a winner on their hands. Hopefully that will lead to a more optimal work situation for him. Everywhere else he has worked he has been promoted within a few years, so we shall see what happens in this job.
I hope that things will settle and Attila will be allowed to stay in one place with a standard schedule. You can get use to almost anything, as long as it’s consistent. But continuous change, not so much.
I never realized that Attila was younger than you, Maggie! My ex was 13 years younger than I, though that wasn’t that much of a difference when I around 40. DH, OTOH, is only 4 months younger than I, which turns out to be good as we’re both experiencing slowing down as we age at the same time.
Hope you’re getting some better sleep. I have nights where I have trouble sleeping too, and can sometimes be up until 3 or 4AM. Makes for a tough day the next day, even though I don’t work outside the home.
Teri, I agree that one can get used to almost anything if it is consistent. Case in point, after three fitful nights after Attila began this new shift experience, I began to rest more easily. Two nights wasn’t enough time to adjust, but it seems that five nights is adequate to make the adjustment.
The age difference is something we seldom think about, but as I have reached retirement, it has given us a few challenges to face. I forget how old I am a lot of the time, because Attila is still dealing with a “younger” set of issues, like working full time. There are few assumptions about retirement that apply in our case.
I am finding it much easier to deal with the aftermath of a sleepless night, now that I am at home full time. I can usually recover within a day or two. When I had to get up and work all day, after not having enough sleep, it was brutal. I did it, but often I got over-wound to the point where I would lose the next night’s sleep as well, and so it would go until a day off, then I would crash.
DH gets very little sleep during the week. He insists on staying up until 12:30 to 1AM and then gets up just before 7. Sometimes he’ll nap in the evening but otherwise I don’t know how he does it. Who can figure men. 😉