A Therapeutic Shot

Although it's been several weeks now since I've imbibed coffee, I decided today to indulge in a cup again in an effort to reestablish a more regular sleep pattern. For some time now I've fallen into the habit of sleeping for about four hours during the day and another four hours at night. The two periods are widely separated. 

The problem has become more acute of late as I seemed to be sleeping far more than I should be. I woke up today about 1am and normally I would have slept or still be sleeping now at 2pm. Instead I decided to drink a cup of coffee in an effort to stimulate myself to stay awake until after dark. By the time the caffeine wears off, it will hopefully be around 7pm to 8pm and I can sleep for eight or so hours and get up around 3pm to 4pm.

Balzac's work habits were legendary. He wrote from 1 am to 8 am every morning and sometimes even longer. Balzac could write very rapidly; some of his novels, written with a quill, were composed at a pace equal to thirty words per minute on a modern typewriter. His preferred method was to eat a light meal at five or six in the afternoon, then sleep until midnight. He then rose and wrote for many hours, fueled by innumerable cups of black coffee. He often worked for fifteen hours or more at a stretch; he claimed to have once worked for 48 hours with only three hours of rest in the middle. Source.

That's the plan anyway. I can only wait and see what happens. So far the caffeine is kicking in and I'm feeling "stimulated". I'm ready to write that novel that everyone has inside of them. I can understand what propelled Balzac, an inveterate coffee addict, to write as prodigiously as he did. The danger is that I'll revert to my previous addiction, a problem with every addict. While I'm tempted to indulge in an early morning cup of coffee on a regular basis, I certainly won't go back to drinking tea for the remainder of the day as I used to do. I'll stick to water.

Health-wise I seem to be OK but I find myself thinking that every twinge or pang is the harbinger of my demise. It's remarkable that my body has held up for this long (almost 74 years). I was watching a video of a young woman living in a van who a couple of years before suffered some health crisis that required the removal of her entire large intestine. She needs to use a colostomy bag for the rest of her life. It made me realise how fortunate I was to have enjoyed good health for so long. My only health crisis occurred in late July of 2016 when I needed to have my gall bladder removed. Hopefully my next health crisis will be far off and will be my last.