Context: I currently have a back injury and as such my sleep schedule has been destroyed. There are days that I simply cannot get comfortable no matter where I sit/lie.
The other night I was restless and couldn’t get comfortable but was feeling tired. I wanted to brew myself a cup of tea but as luck would have it we had run out of fill-able tea bags. I pulled out the metal tea infusers and found that due to an improper cleaning at last use and who knows how long they had been sitting idle they were absolutely disgusting. Some had mold spots and one appeared to be rusting (how aluminum rusts I don’t know).
I REALLY wanted my tea so I busted out my cleaning tools and got to work. She woke up to use the restroom and heard me in the kitchen and made it a point to call me out for being weird and that no one in their right mind would be doing what I was doing.
Is that a fair assessment? I only spent about 50 minutes cleaning them.
Out of context, that’s not normal.
In your context, there is no normal, but your actions were rational.
Hope you recover quickly, friend, and get the cup of tea you deserve.
Yeah it’s not “normal” in the sense that it’s probably only happened a couple of times in history, but there’s nothing wrong witht he though process. Although 50 minutes to clean the infusers is a real long time, but if you had no other option, might as well
Depending on how nasty/corroded they were, I could see spending that long at it. Especially using 3am logic.
Daytime logic may have been “I’m going to clean one, and order more teabags and a new strainer right now”.
So you’ve stumbled into ADHD through the side door eh?
Chronic pain actually can cause similar symptoms to adhd lol
Yep from reading other replies that looks a bit like that 🤣
It may not be normal necessarily, but it’s completely understandable. You wanted a comfort while you were uncomfortable, and you were willing to work for that comfort.
Fifty fucking minutes of cleaning for a cuppa?
I do all sorts of things at 3am too, thanks to my awful circadian rhythm. As long as it wasn’t you who woke her, you can do what you want. Awake is awake, no matter the time of day. Just be mindful of your surroundings.
I may or may not occasionally get super fixated on tasks I’m doing. The only reason I know it was fifty minutes was because I listened to the entire Sleep Token album “This Place Will Become Your Tomb”.
You can bet your ass that those steepers are nice and shiny clean.
Ever been diagnosed with ADHD?
Nope, my family was never really financially stable and we lived next door to a nurse (extreme luck) for small cuts and bruises/illnessess, so the only time I ever actually saw a doctor was for wisdom teeth and a freeway speed car accident that broke a bunch of my bones.
I only recently at the young old age of 32 got insurance that actually covers anything, but old habits die hard so doc visits of any kind are kind of taboo in my brain.
Fair enough. Sucks that we live in a society where we can’t get healthcare by default.
Anyway Hyperfocus is one of a number of ADHD symptoms. I got diagnosed in my 40s
Avoiding docs is one major reason my friend died recently in his 50s. Undiagnosed blood pressure and cholesterol led to heart failure.
It’s hard to break those habits for sure.
It is not typical, expected behavior by most peoples’ standards, partly because the majority of people at that time of night are sleeping.
You’d be hard pressed to find support for this as being normal behavior. What’s important is whether or not normal matters? If it’s considered criticism, why? Is she being awoken by your behavior? If so, then that’s probably warranted. Otherwise, if it’s just a characterization of what you’re doing, so what?
Tbh, if it was my partner doing it, I can see myself saying that even if it didn’t cause me to wake up. Only, its not to criticise, but just to tease them.
I mean there is being restless and there is being loud and starting a project at 3am.
I’m not saying you’ve done a bad thing here but yeah you are blurring trust line of weird behavior.
You have autism. It’s cool though. Keep doing your thing.
Is that why I find this completely relatable? From the description it sounds totally normal
You are not in a normal situation so how can it be normal? Normal activity if you’re awake. And you’re awake.
It’s not normal, but it’s not not normal.
When you need tea, you need tea.
The truest of all statements.
I’ll avoid the word normal, but definitely not something most people would ever do. (It’s the sort of thing I might do though.)
Obviously I don’t know the details of your back pain, but I would caution you that doing stuff like that (focusing intently on something in front of you, possibly bending over slightly, for an extended period of time) is probably not good for your back.
Lack of sleep can make you do weird things. It’s not keeping anyone wake, it’s not hurting you or anyone. Enjoy your tea.
A dremel is not a quiet tool. Don’t they spin at some obscene RPM?
Depends, some have adjustable rpm. Still they usually aren’t to quiet, but when the partner doesn’t wake up by the sound, I see no problem.
If you have back pain this may not be the right activity for you. Scrubbing g while bend over a sink. I don’t care about the time but the activity doesn’t help your injury.
Absolutely understood but when you are uncomfortable sitting in any position, or lying down, again, in any position, sometimes standing is the only option.
It probably would have been weirder if she came out and just saw me quietly standing in the middle of the room.
May I suggest light yoga. Something like sun salutation I have back issues too and this have helped a lot.
Nobody in their right mind would be awake at those times… when the body would cooperate.
My wife goes to the attic to do the laundry when she can’t sleep. However, I sleep trough anything (even when they blown up an ATM on the parking lot behind the house) so I’m fine with that.
That your wife found you cleaning after she woke to go to the toilet, I see no problem. Having back issues keeping you awake isn’t normal and on the pther hand, when you look around at what is ‘normal’, would you want to be like that?
Maybe next time skip the powertools, but enjoy your tea when you can’t enjoy your sleep.
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Really not much to say. The window of the bedroom was open and the wall with the ATM in it was in a straight ling about 50m behind the house. The 1st thing I noticed about the attempt to steal cash from the ATM by blowing it up was when the police was at the door the next morning asking if I heard something. I slept trough it all. (and still I wake up when one of the cats is about to throw up)
