Tiresome Tiredness: Why are we tired at the worst times?

It’s the middle of a glorious day. You have more high-energy fun than you can possibly imagine. Everything seems to be going well, when suddenly, a sneaky faint fatigue seeps into you. At first, you ignore it. The minutes pass. It gets stronger and stronger till you finally call it a day. You crawl into bed wondering about all the interesting things you are going to miss out on.

Sounds familiar?


I remember a time when I could party till 5:00 am and go to work at 9:00 am.

 

Now, almost like Cinderella without the glass slippers and pumpkin coach, I begin making my goodbyes at 11:00 pm, so I can reach home, brush my teeth and switch off the lights by 12:00 am. I have no clue who allowed this tiresome tiredness into my life. I never invited it and I can’t figure how it managed to make a crack in my limitless enthusiasm.

 

Before, making five different plans with ten different people was routine. Yes, let’s catch up for pizza, then we can go to John’s for a drink, post which Iswar is screening his film, but we may have to leave early as it’s Deepa’s birthday and I promised Gautam, we’d drop in for a bit.

 

This was a normal agenda on a Monday.

 

These days my evening entertainment seems a bit easier to navigate, "I can’t come out now, I have already worn my pyjamas.

 

The worst is when I am on a holiday and the lethargy hits. The first two weeks are fuelled by an energiser bunny-like adrenaline rush, and then without warning, I walk into a blanket of fatigue.

 

Added to my acute need to stay in bed is the heart-breaking realisation that my time here is finite. My holiday will end soon, and I am wasting precious minutes reclining on a pillow to get my strength back.

 

At one point, I wondered whether I was sick and did all the prerequisite tests. The doctor pushed up his specialist spectacles and said, “Everything is normal. You are stronger than a horse.”  

 

Then, casually he dropped the card of a friend of his in front of me. When I saw the word ‘psychiatrist’ on it, I didn’t pick it up and with an equal breeziness, I thanked him and walked out.

 

Read more: Charming to strangers, a monster at home

 

I’d like to know how come one never gets tired when one is bored. When there is absolutely nothing to do, my energy levels peak and I bounce off the walls dying to do something, anything.

 

I sometimes wonder whether this tiredness is an evil conspirator. Is it something, hired by ‘they who destroy a good time’ to come only when we unsuspecting mortals are having fun? Is it a silent force of satan unleashed to suck out the happiness of moments? Could it be a grand game to take over the earth by weakening its inhabitants’ power to enjoy?

 

Or, is this what they call ‘age’?

 

 

'Still Figuring It Out’ a funny, sad, questioning take on adulthood will appear every Saturday on Asianet Newsable. Arathi Menon is the author of Leaving Home With Half a Fridge, a memoir published by Pan Macmillan. She tweets at here. The views expressed here are her own.