• the217
• Life
• Foundations of fatigue

Every so often, I find myself answering a particular question in a way I wish I wouldn’t. The question is, “How are you doing?” The answer is, “Actually, I’m a little tired.” First of all, I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t care all that much if someone told me they were tired, so why should I assume they would care about my fatigue? Second of all, when I say, “I’m a little tired,” I’m actually saying, “I’m not going to be putting much effort into this evening or this conversation.” I just assume it’s nothing but laziness on my part. I could probably come up with a better reason, you know, if I wasn’t so tired. It might be better for everyone if we simply kept the status of our energy level to ourselves unless there’s a really good story that goes along with it.

It turns out I may be being too hard on myself. There was an article on lemondrop.com last week about everyday things that are energy zappers. I’d always just assumed it was too little sleep, too much work, a poor diet, a general bad attitude or possibly everyone else pissing me off just a little too much. I’m still convinced all those things aren’t helping in any way, but after I looked at the list, I suppose I can now grudgingly blame some other factors, even though I really don’t want to.

The first thing they point out is that I may be checking my e-mail too much. Apparently e-mail addicts have a 10-point crash in their IQ. I can’t afford to be losing too many points on that IQ to begin with, but in this case, I’m actually alright. The e-mail thing still hasn’t become second nature to me, so I almost have to force myself to remember to check it every so often. In all fairness, I’d probably check it more if any of it were ever all that interesting. E-mail isn’t making me tired. It’s mostly just making me bored.

Procrastination is another big energy sucker. Oh, see, that’s why I’m tired. Common sense tells you that if you’re putting off something, that shouldn’t make you tired, but not doing something gives you far too much time to think about it, and that can really wear on a fella. I used to say I work well under pressure but don’t require pressure to work well. Actually, I heard someone else say it and then I started saying it, but whatever. It was a nice slogan, but it’s simply not true for me. I can dick around forever on a project, but I never really focus on it until it’s time for it to be done. At this point, I work my sack off and usually manage to finish at least three to five minutes before the deadline. I’ve decided to find this charming, but it really bugs the crap out of me.

Drinking too much can also make a person tired. Huh, well, that makes sense. If that’s the case, though, I suppose I will just have to live with being tired from now on. Really, it seems like a miniscule price to pay comparatively. Taking a lot of allergy medicine and antidepressants can also suck some energy. I’m not 100 percent sure what allergies I have and fear that if I get tested, I might turn out to be allergic to alcohol or something, so I’m going to let that ride. I don’t really need antidepressants either, so long as I can keep drinking.

Evidently, a cold sore or a breakout can also make a person sluggish, supposedly because they spend too much time worrying about how they look. Well, anyone who has seen even a small portion of my wardrobe knows personal appearance isn’t high on my list of burdens, so I’m cool there.

Being outdoors too much also doesn’t help with the energy. The smog and ozone levels are higher on hot summer days, and that can really wear a person out. That sucks, but at least it gives me a reason to finally put that futuristic dome over my entire house and yard. It might not help, but you’ve got to admit it’s pretty cool.

Well, as it turns out, too much indoors is also not a good thing because if you spend too much time in air conditioning, your body produces more heat and that also makes you tired. No indoors or outdoors? It’s appearing my lone option to fight fatigue may be to put myself in some sort of suspended animation machine for the next 50 years. Carrying a heavy purse can also contribute to wearing down. Fortunately, this hasn’t came up in my life yet, but if it ever does, let’s all just assume I’m really, really tired and not thinking straight. It’s that and nothing else. Seriously.

When I look back on the list, it occurs to me that maybe I should be all that tired. I suppose it’s just something to live with these days. Sure, it’s really hard to get up in the morning, but on the other hand, it’s super easy to fall asleep virtually any place or anytime. Still, even then it’s not a quality kind of slumber. I know I’m tired when a large majority of my dreams involve me doing the things that are making me tired. The more I think about it, the more that suspended animation thing is looking pretty damned good.