Wednesday, October 9, 2013

When The Alarm Doesn’t Work…



My schedule on Tuesday was one that no one who values sleep would look forward to. After getting off from my night shift I was going to change and head to the office with the goal of getting there around 10:00 AM. I was going to leave around 2:30 or 3:00 so that I could sleep for a two to three hours before heading off to the lodge for a 7:30 meeting. If I was lucky things would go quickly and I would be able to catch another hour or two before heading back to work at midnight.

Well… that didn’t happen. The day started off in the right way as I got to work about 15 minutes early and starting addressing a few things on my list right away. However, by the end of the morning I was in the midst of pitching and the schedule was looking optimistic to say the least.

Having found a good point to take a breather in the middle of the afternoon I got in the car and headed back to the apartment. Maybe the schedule could be redeemed…. My mind would have none of that. Throughout the drive home I kept thinking about whether I was missing emails and who I needed to follow up with right away.

By the time I got to Bala Cynwyd, I was wide awake so I went into the office, got my computer out, and started sending out and responding to emails. I thought I had only stopped to work for a minute or two but when I glanced at the clock it was already 4:30 and my energy immediately left my body as if carried off by a sudden breeze. It was time to sleep so I set my alarm for seven, got into bed, and said good bye to the world within a minute of my head hitting the pillow.

The next thing I half remember is my wife coming home around eight, saying something about missing lodge, and reaching for my phone which had not moved since I fell asleep. I don’t even remember if I responded. Fortunately, when she reached for the phone she reset my alarm so that I could get up for work in another three hours. I hate missing meetings but sometimes your body simply vetoes your plans and that was the case last night.

It was probably the best thing for me but it still annoys me that I wasn’t able to pull through this week without any alterations to my schedule. At least now it’s a short term problem as my last weekday shift is tonight. Finally, I get to live, work, and feel like a human being again. Something I have been looking forward to for a long time.  

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