I woke up feeling groggy. No connection to the texting, I'm sure.
Instead of feeling bad about that, I felt guilty about all I didn't accomplish the night before. Every day, I need to bring a change of clothes, makeup, lunch, reusable containers, coffee, and book for the metro with me to work, and I swear, getting it all into one bag takes more time and brainpower than packing for a two-week trip. This experiment provided the perfect reason to pack this bag the night before work rather than the morning of.
Did I end up making use of the time? Of course not.
This morning I couldn't find the undershirt I needed for the dress I planned to wear, so I had to swap outfits and repack. I left for work running late and with dishes in the sink. I blamed the eight minutes of yoga.
Tuesday night, I tried a different approach. No internet after 10 p.m. meant I couldn't save my freelance work until after a Netflix break, which meant I needed to do it as soon as possible. Since I needed to work out and clean my house, I preferred to do that while I could still listen to music.
Instead of seeing the night as an expanse where I could get anything done, preferably later, I felt the urge to get everything out of the way right away.
It worked a little too well. When 10 p.m. rolled by, I didn't want to stop being productive. Instead, I just pushed my bedtime back by an hour. Mistake No. 3.
Maybe out of guilt for changing my bedtime, I started in on all of my least favorite tasks.
Normally, I hate blow-drying my hair at night even though it saves time in the morning, but Tuesday night I actually did it. Then I packed my bag and made coffee for the next morning before realizing I still owed myself an hour of tech-free time. I had, of course, been texting friends all the while.
I decided reading would help me wind down after all of that productivity. Even though I silenced my phone, I felt phantom vibrations coaxing me to check for messages. I noticed a dripping sound coming from the shower, but resisted the urge to search "leaky faucet fixes." I wondered if morning workouts burned more calories than evening workouts, but didn't Google. Eventually, I fell asleep.