Relationships August 22, 2017
It's time to make friends with Mr. Sandman.
I will assume, like most, that you typed in your search engine, “Why am I always tired?” in search of a reason that could be causing this. I’m sure you are hoping to find a medical reason or simple answer on how to live your life in a healthier way.
But did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, your tiredness could be linked to your state of mind? (Although, if this is a persisting symptom, it might be best to ask for immediate attention from your doctor.)
So let’s get down to it. I want to start off my answer by telling a short, personal story.
A couple of years ago, while I was living in Washington D.C., I found myself always feeling tired. I was so tired, it would cause headaches. It almost felt at times that I was waking up with a huge hangover.
Sometimes I would get to class and wonder why I was so sleepy. I got enough rest last night. I kept thinking to myself, that maybe I was sick or something was wrong with me, physically. When the symptoms persisted, I went to see my doctor.
My doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with me. Frustrating, I know! Aren’t they supposed to help us with this? I asked her for advice on how to stop feeling tired, but she gave me the same generic answer, try to get some sleep.
After the doctor proved ineffective, I decided to do online research. I surfed the web, in search of the holy answer, reading articles on how to improve your sleep, what foods to avoid and what to do before going to bed.
I even started doing a “Why am I so tired?” quiz to help find an answer. Neurotic about when I would go to bed and how many hours I got, I had no social life. But no matter what changes I made, I always seemed to feel the same way when I woke up.
To be honest, I couldn’t figure out why I was so tired. Once I moved out of Washington D.C. to pursue other dreams in California, I went to graduate school and started working. I was getting less sleep than before, and yet I never felt tired. I felt energized.
Strange, I thought to myself. “Why am I no longer tired?” I thought it was the air, the change of climate, change of environment.
When I really evaluate the situation, now that I am in a different headspace than four years ago, I quickly realized what was causing my lack of energy. You see, my time in Washington D.C. wasn’t the most positive experience. Going to a fine arts school, where you competed with only eleven students and everyone is at each others’ throats for attention, you tend not to want to go to class.
I quickly realized I didn’t like the toxic competition in the industry and searched for other outlets. I worked in retail for two years straight. The job wasn’t hard. It was the same routine day after day, but I felt like my life was being sucked away.
I was tired, not because life was busy, but because I wasn’t happy and my body actually didn’t want to get out of bed and work. Part of me thinks that I was experiencing depression. Fatigue is one of the many symptoms for depression.
If you are feeling tired, and you know it’s not related to the physicality of things or because you aren’t getting enough sleep, I would suggest really looking at your life from an outside perspective and seeing if the fatigue is being caused by something negative or toxic in your life.
Of course, such introspection takes time, sometimes even years, but maybe it’s a sign from life telling you to take a new and different direction.
After all, that’s what I did, and I’m no longer feeling tired.
If you think you might be suffering from depression, get help here. Or if you need immediate support, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
