Blog Post No. 518
A friend of mine shared a great concept with me regarding last week’s post about Everyone Being Tired. He put it in a succinct and catchy phrase, too. He said he likes to “Earn the Tired”. While he’s been going through the same fatigue that it seems everyone is, he finds when he’s tired from work (be it physical or otherwise) the next morning doesn’t hit so hard. Not only was it nice to have an conversation based on something I’ve written, his comment made me think about what I’m doing (or not) to earn the tired.
I’m not a scientist. I say that not because I think you’ll mistake me for one, but because I’m naturally not someone who takes notice of things around me. Maybe it has something to do with writing, but I’m often in my own head in day-to-day life and even when I’m out in the world supposed to be experiencing things. I know some folks who are really good at keeping track of things like how what they ate made them feel a certain way or how when they do a certain thing it makes their back hurt. Then, they act on that information by either changing their diet, not doing the back hurting thing, or taking that information to a doctor.
I might be off work again soon and I don’t know for how long it will be. Hopefully the time off will help kick start me back on the Invasion Novel edits. I really need to get over the hump on that one. I’m so tired all the time from the state of things at work. And from being an adult in a world seemingly crumbling. That’s the thing about the world, though. If you get out of your own narrow perspective, you’ll see a lot of similar events have happened many times over. We’re not that special.
This is going to be another post about the day job. I know that I’ve talked a lot about it in the past year or so, but part of writing is all the stuff you do that allows/prevents you from writing. I have a day job to pay for general living expenses since I’m currently not making any money writing. Having expenses paid for by having a job that’s not nine-to-five allows me to write. On the other hand, the job is sometimes more than nine-to-five for weeks at a time and while I’m at work, it’s not always easy or advisable to not do work stuff, so it also prevents me from writing.
I used to be a night owl. Throughout my childhood, I always had trouble falling asleep. I’m a light sleeper, too so any other activity in a house full of people older than me, would wake me up. I remember listening to my old tape player, setting up stuffed animals on my bed, and playing pretend long into the night. By the time I was in high school, I would usually get five (or if I was lucky) six hours of sleep a night. Like a classic teenager, I would stay up late (past my super early bedtime) and struggle with getting up in the morning. 
Back when I was in high school, a good night’s sleep was a solid six hours. If I managed five, I was good to go. Sure, I’d struggle to stay focused, but high school Ben didn’t really care about things like that. To be fair, most of it was probably my fault. Drinking pop too late, watching TV until my parents forced me to bed, listening to loud music all night, leaving important things (like homework) until the last minute (or to be honest, unfinished). And, who knows what else I could have been doing to contribute to the issue. The fact was, though, that I struggled to sleep, and it didn’t seem to be detrimental to anything (except for my attitude if you ask my parents). It was just the way things were and I thought that was part of me forever. (Except for on the weekends and in summer when I’d sleep all day). 
Ben Van Dongen 