Exhausting days, sleepless nights

Why is that when you need sleep the most, you sleep the least?

I’ve battled with insomnia off-and-on for several years now. Sleep apnea was a major cause of it, but fixing that issue hasn’t completely cured my occasional episodes of restless sleep.

This latest round of fitful nights began this past weekend when I visited my brother. Anytime I sleep in a bed other than my own, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that I’ll have trouble sleeping. Add to that the fact that I unwisely chose not to bring my CPAP machine (for my sleep apnea) because I didn’t want the hassle of getting it through airport security. Consequently, I didn’t sleep well either night.

The last two nights have been very restless. I attribute that largely to a very busy work week and a special event that our department is coordinating tonight. I was in Tulsa yesterday helping get the event set up. I’ll be in Tulsa again today helping finalize the details and then helping coordinating the actual event this evening. It’s a very important event for our firm, which means my mind tends to work overtime going through all the details. And when my mind won’t shut off, I don’t get much sleep.

It will be a marathon day and it’ll be close to midnight before I finally get to climb into bed tonight. I went to bed early last night hoping to get a full night of rest before a very long and hectic day. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t sleep. I finally got tired of fighting the sleeplessness and just got out of bed at 3:30 this morning.

Trying to drive home from Tulsa tonight could be a daunting challenge. A long day after little sleep, the likelihood of an adult beverage (or two or three) during the event and a longstanding propensity to nod off while driving certainly portends a potentially disastrous scenario. Fortunately, because of my confessed sleepy driving tendencies, one of my colleagues has already volunteered to be my designated driver (whether or not I even partake of the evening’s libations) should I need one before even knowing of my sleeplessness the past two nights.

So, hopefully things will go smoothly today and I’ll be able to climb into my bed tonight safe and sound and enjoy a good night’s sleep tonight — even if it’s an abbreviated one. I just wish it was Friday and I could sleep in tomorrow morning!