The thing about fatigue

Here’s the thing about fatigue: often one doesn’t feel it until they get a moment where they have nothing to do.  

I most certainly felt that this weekend.  On Saturday, my day started at 6:45 AM.  I woke up this early to get some homework done before 2 hours of tennis practice.  After, I spent an hour doing English homework, talked with my parents, showered, went to dinner, walked downtown, played piano, returned back to my dorm to finish music homework, then went to bed at 11:05 PM.  

You’d think Sunday would be better.  I’m sitting here and it’s currently 3:20 PM.  My day started at 6:20, when I woke up to get ahead on math homework.  Then I went out for a run at 7:35, and returned at 8:30, in which I got ready to attend the greenlight4girls event on campus, which I’m writing a News article about.  Then I ate brunch with my friend at 11, did some more math homework, interviewed some people at the end of the greenlight4girls event, and returned back to my dorm.  It was 2:30.  I started doing laundry and vacuuming my room.  

While I was waiting for my laundry to be finished, I suddenly felt like I could take a break.  As soon as that break began, I felt an instant fatigue.  I was both physically exhausted and mentally exhausted, which I had not felt minutes ago as I was scrambling to do my laundry and clean my room.  As soon as I let myself relax, I felt the fatigue.  

I guess one of the things about stress and work is that it keeps me from feeling tired, even when I really am.  Even on the weekends, I just get into this habit of waking up before 7 AM.  My body simply doesn't let its guard down.  This afternoon, I let myself take a 20 minute nap and when I woke up, I was much more refreshed.  In the future, I plan on practicing this more often.  When I have the chance, I’m going to stop working, and ask myself how I’m feeling.  If the instant response is “tired”, I know I need to stop and take a break.  Even a 10 minute nap will go a long way.  When I wake up, I will (hopefully) feel more refreshed and be able to complete my work faster.  But yes, here’s the thing about fatigue: stress and work can hide it.