Although it is not unusual for me to wake during the night, and perhaps get up and read for an hour, last night’s experience was out of the normal and quite startling. Although I had managed to fall asleep after going to bed I awoke at around 1.00 am in a heightened state of alertness. My mind was racing with the thought of things that could be done in connection with my planned exhibition in Ilkley. Clearly my visit to the gallery had had a remarkably stimulating effect, and I was going over in my mind the list of potential pieces I might display there, and how they might be presented.
This was completely ridiculous, of course, because the exhibition will not open until the middle of April! Nevertheless, I think that my body was so full of adrenaline that there was no possibility of my getting any further sleep until I had got out of bed and done something to dissipate the energy that was driving my system. After about an hour at the computer, listing potential items for display, I was able to get back to bed again and fell asleep.
The episode was quite out of my normal experience, and really rather uncomfortable. It was the classic “fight or flight” condition that is usually associated with an excess of adrenaline–both unnecessary and difficult to respond to. Quite clearly it was a measure of the extent to which I am involved in and committed to this particular exhibition.