That Tired Moment

Since I was so tired at work – and didn’t want to actually do work, I’m going to write this.

There is always a moment – and it first started in school for me, when you look up at the clock and realize – I can’t believe it’s only been an hour.


You don’t know if you’ll make it through the rest of the day with how slowly time has passed during that first portion of it. It seems like lunch is even weeks away. And then, the yawns start to hit you. You try to hold them in, not look tired. But it’s too hard to resist. You start to crash. All you can think of right now is that warm comfy bed. Waiting for you back home. The place you left so you could pay for the place that you left.


You think about the night before. About how you either shouldn’t have stayed up as late as you did. Or how you wish you could’ve gotten more sleep – or hadn’t been woken up so many times. Maybe how many times you tossed and turned throughout the night, trying anything to put yourself to sleep. But it’s no use. You know that tomorrow will be a disaster.


So you try different things to break you out of the eye droop.


-You get up from your desk and go for a walk. Maybe some physical activity will get you going. You roll your chair around hoping to stretch out your body.


-On your walk you run in to friends/coworkers that you don’t mind chatting with. Or that make you laugh. At this point noticing someone’s new haircut might keep you awake.


-You snack. You drink coffee. This is why corporate America is so fat. Because we’re so tired. From eating so much to keep us awake. Because we’re so tired.


-You drum on your desk. Tap your feet. Hum part of a song that’s stuck in your head.


-You constantly check your emails. Hit "Send/Receive" twice in a row to make sure that someone didn't just send you something in that millisecond between your slow double click even though you have "Send/Receive Settings" set to "Check every 1 minute(s)". Anything to read – surf the internet.


-Daydream. Placing yourself far from your cube – only in your thoughts though.


But what if all of those don’t work?


You go in to the stealth sleep mode:


-Fake itching/rubbing your eyes so you can close them for a few seconds.


-Acting like you’re stressed (you might actually be) and patting your hair down or rubbing your own neck while closing your eyes and letting out a deep sigh. Putting your entire face in to your palms while you rest your elbows on your desk, therefore covering your entire face and giving you the ability to close your eyes.


-Leaning your head against your hand and facing away from the aisle/other cubes to get some shuteye.


-Cupping your eyes like your own personal binoculars for your monitor. But not really, you don’t need a set of binoculars to see 2 feet in front of you.


-I swear some people sit on the toilet, lock that stall door and fall asleep.


-You might even head out to your car, tilt your seat back and pass out there. Yes, you might.


Sometimes I think one of my bigger fears is to become narcoleptic. During a meeting I was involved in last week - not really involved, just sitting and nodding of...I mean my head - there were a few times where my eyes took too long to blink (seriously) and my head bobbed and felt like it was headed straight for the desk in front of me. You know when you fall asleep in the car but your head isn't resting on anything? And how your neck suddenly relaxes and timber there goes your head? Yeah, that's what it felt like.


So being a narcoleptic who freaks out about falling asleep. That would be terrible. But at the same time, if I was able to randomly fall asleep I would probably feel much more rested.


That being said, I can't wait to get in to bed.