But I Smile Anyway…

“Tired, but not the kind of tired that sleep fixes.”

Maureen Johnson

Sorry, Spidey, I wasn’t yawning at you. I’d never be that rude!

But honestly, I am reaching that level of exhaustion now, the one mentioned in the post title.

Exhaustipated.

Seriously.

I am knackered! It’s been two weeks since school started, and I’ve dealt with a whole host of things related to school, already.

We’re in week four of having builders around, so the mess is getting to me, and all the other work associated with clearing areas ready for them to work is trying to push me over the edge, too.

Ferrying kids around to appointments and training, or matches is down to me because hubby is working, and supervising the builders, whilst slowly suffering cabin fever.

I’m falling asleep almost immediately every night. I’m not sleeping past 5am.

I have no energy to read, let alone write.

Still, something’s got to give.

I can’t deal with this for much longer.

I am hoping that within two weeks, the work will all be done around the house for us. Then we can get it on the market, and start the hunt for our ‘forever home’.

School is school. It won’t go anywhere. If anything, it will get more intense, especially if we end up with local lockdowns, or a second wave. At least I have a fabulous team behind me – our Dream Team.

I’m trying hard to relax when I can, but it isn’t easy. Reading is my thing, yet I can’t stay awake for long enough. I’m making sure I have my bubble baths, though. Aand sleeping when my body says it’s had enough.

But, I’m still smiling through it all.

Because that’s what I do best.

So… tell me, how do you deal with extreme exhaustion?

Have a peaceful Sunday Peeps.  And enjoy your week!  

Sustained exhaustion is not a rite of passage. It’s a mark of stupidity.

Jason Fried

Yup, I gotta agree Spidey.

I’ve been fighting this for a while now. The tiredness.

And yet, the last few years, I have worked through it.

Burning the candle at both ends, so to speak, has not been uncommon in my life the last few years. I’m up at 6, pottering, getting lunches ready, tidying the kitchen, having a cup of tea, before being at school for 7.45am, until 5 – 5.30pm.

Every September, the beginning of the school year will weave a web of exhaustion around me, yet I still get home, do my motherly chores after a busy day teaching, keep house as I want to, write, or blog, then read myself to sleep.

Yet this year, it’s different.

I am really happy at school.

The excitement of my new class has kept me going, and though there are some hard children to deal with, I have a lovely bunch, my Beauts, as I have christened them, yet I still keep getting asked “What’s the matter?” or “You looke stressed.” and when I answer that everything is fine, I get the question back, “Are you sure?”

And the truth of the matter is, I really am fine.

I love my job, my family life is wonderful.

I’m just dog tired.

So much so, that I get home and once I finally sit down, I find myself falling asleep almost straight away.

Now you know me, one to read 15-20 books in a month, despite all the rest of the stuff I do, but this month, I am still reading, yet moments after starting, I find I have fallen asleep, and I wake an hour later, realising the kids are still awake, and I am lying on my bed, fully dressed, Kindle now asleep too.

My brain is not running at full right now.

I am running low on creativity.

So I decided that I need to take one element of pressure off myself.

I stopped blogging challenges.

And that has been strange. I am used to writing stories or flash fiction every day, more or less, for years. But I really just couldn’t do it.

So that is why you haven’t seen my name pinging up in your Reader, or inbox as much this last week.

And I don’t know how much longer, but I need to stay on this break for a while, I think.

I’m okay, though. Don’t worry about me. I might just visit the doctor about the extreme tiredness, but I just need to rest my brain a little for a while.

Don’t worry. I shan’t stay away totally.

Spidey won’t stay silent, and I’ll stillpsot my Chai and a Chat catch ups, and I’ll still be reading your posts!

Until I feel creatively full, my Peeps!

Ritu