Make room for the wind down...

"The wind down," is a tricky little paradox.

Everyday I am exhausted from studying 6-10 hours.
But,
no matter how tired I am,
no matter how late at night
and how much I desparately need to sleep,
and no matter how many chores I should otherwise be doing,

I always make room for "the wind down (twd)."

TWD is just your randomn assortment of light diversion and noncommitted amusement, such as web-surfing, blogging (yes, you've caught me winding-down right now!), watching bad TV, and flipping through clothing catalogues.

TWD is like a necessity, a normal bodily function, like peeing. In fact, it's almost exactly like peeing. See, when your mind concentrates intensely for x amount of hours, it builds up a commensurate need to dispense with mental toxins in the same way that peeing lets your body release its chemical toxins. Good water, nutrients, and studying goes IN, and bad liquid, toxins, and unproductivity goes OUT.

I used to try to fight TWD by promptly turning off my laptop and turning out the lights. But that is as futile as fighting the urge to pee. You just wind up not being able to sleep.

So now, starting from tonight, I've decided not to fight it any longer. No more feeling guilty. Everyone needs a little downtime. See? Now I can sleep soundly.
Goodnight.