I am surprised how well I do when travelling to all the countries around the world, being able to adjust to the different time zones, without jet lag. I could be eight hours different if I fly from the UK to Malaysia or China, two hours if to Turkey, one hour if to Italy or Spain, yet I can usually function well and get a normal nights sleep. Perhaps it is some of the ways I approach my international travel. I set my watch to the time zone I am travelling to as I approach the departing airport, and put myself in the time frame of that country, thinking about having dinner, even if it is breakfast time, thinking that it is time to go to bed, when perhaps where I am waiting to board the aircraft people are just getting up after a nights sleep. I tend to arrive the day the course or training I am about to give is to start, or the day before. After the course has finished, I try and take the next available flight to my next destination. I have found that as soon as I “get on stage”, my mind I so focussed on the task of training, my mind and body has no time to consider tiredness, fatigue, jet lag. It is after the days course has finished that I feel tired, and thus I get a good nights sleep. Other tricks I have found useful, is not to eat on the aircraft, but wait until I get to the destination, and eat the appropriate meal for the time I arrive. On a long haul flight, say the UK to Malaysia, about twelve hours in the air non stop, where I will need to have food, I presuppose that I am already in my destination time zone, and make the meal I am to eat the appropriate meal for that time. And so it was on this trip to Malaysia. Last Monday I was in Italy, having just finished co-delivering a Society of NLP Master Practitioner, travelling on via the UK with a few hours stop-over to Malaysia, arriving late Tuesday evening, to deliver Wednesday morning a workshop on NLP. At no time on Wednesday in the workshop did I feel any fatigue. It is only now on Saturday that I feel tired, but that is I think due to the fact that I am staying in an apartment on the 26th floor, and me and heights do not get on. I am not phobic anymore about heights, I would say not happy about them. Also my brother and sister in law are gravely ill, and every move they make in the next bedroom during the night, keeps me awake, wondering what is happening, being ready to react to any situation which may need urgent attention. So, I lie awake, listening to every little noise, my mind too active to switch off until after prayer time at 5:30am, only to awaken at 8:30 as visitors descend upon us and a new day starts. Why do we need a good nights sleep?
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