The siesta / the coffee nap

Today was an 8/10 day.

I had a productive morning of work, and a good round of ankle exercises, stretching and wobble board (~4 mins nonstop). Then the boys and I went for a brisk walk in the woods. The wind was blowing from the north, so the wheat husk didn’t bother me much on the walk today. Did a few more stretches on return, then the boy and I had lunch.

If the day had ended there, it’d have still been a 6/10 day¹.

Lunch was two courses—a toast with egg mayo and some bhaji (minus pav), and two pieces of oven cooked chicken fillet. It was heavy. By the time I finished lunch, made and drank coffee, my brain was shutting down and eyes were closing. I put on British F1 practice session on the TV but could barely keep my eyes open.

With the boy snuggled up next to me, there was no point fighting the sleep. So, I set an alarm for 15 mins later, took off the specs, and lay down next to him on the (sleep corner) of the sofa. 15 mins later I snoozed the alarm. 9 more mins. Next time the alarm rang, I was already partly awake. I stayed on the sofa, enjoying the boy’s hug, and read the latest Stratechery article (It’s about Shopify—one of the new tech companies I quite admire). By the time the article finished, I was wide awake, full of energy and raring to go.

If the morning work session was productive, the evening session was doubly so. I wasn’t just getting a lot of work done, I was even enjoying it—both the work and the feeling. It was awesome. I took a break midway to walk around a bit. I also cut and diced some apples during the break—treats for me and the boys. Then it was back upstairs for more work. Finally, I had to stop working and tear myself away from the desk at 19:30, an hour after my ‘stop work’ alarm.

R had gone to get the cold pizza for dinner, so the boy and I spent 10 mins walking around in the backyard—smelling the flowers, the clean breeze, and making sure I achieve my step target.

It was a good day.

I’ve read a lot about the power of an afternoon nap. I have also read about how a short nap after coffee boosts the effect of the caffeine. Today I combined the two, and boy, was it awesome. That 24 mins post-coffee nap kept me motoring for almost 5 hours. More siestas, ahoy!