Tired

Hi Blogland!

So, here goes... my very first post!  Thanks for joining :)

As the title suggests, I have been very tired lately.  Like, I don't just mean the typical afternoon slump kind of tired (although that happens to me a lot).  I mean I could hibernate tired:

I even sleep just like that!

It's very frustrating to get 8 or 9 hours of sleep at night, only to still find myself dragging all day long.  Caffeine doesn't even help, and I'm not sure how I feel about downing one of those "five hour energy shot" things... that just doesn't sound healthy... or tasty.

Now, granted, being tired is a defense mechanism.  It's your body's way of telling you, "hey, slow it down, take it easy, will ya??"  So you shouldn't ignore it.  And believe me, I didn't.  Pretty sure I turned down invites from friends many a time due to lack of energy.  Pretty sure I've spent a few of my weekends sleeping away the vast majority of the day, awakening only to eat, which is awesome!  Except when you stop and realize that "omg, I'm being a huge waste of space right now."

This huge waste of space also probably gained all her weight because of it.  When you're tired, believe me, the last thing you want to do is go out and run a couple miles.  So I didn't.  And then people would say, "Well, you know, exercising actually gives you more energy."  Yes, I'm aware of that.  But it's a vicious cycle:  I'm tired, so I don't work out, and when I do I'm just too tired, so I end up more tired, blah blah blah.  (Admittedly, I was lazy half that time, too, and there's a fine line between lazy and tired.)  Or that's what I told myself...

Until now!

Yes, you heard me!  I don't know what clicked, but I decided that I'm making sleep and tiredness a mental game.  Kind of like running - when I get mentally bored, I find ways to occupy my brain to keep it off the pain or the mileage or anything else that could get me down.  When I tell myself I can't do 5 miles today, then I probably won't!  I'm mentally ending the workout before I've even physically stepped foot on the trail.  So when I'm feeling tired - when I don't feel like working out because I'd rather sleep in - I'm gonna start telling myself, "Just do it!"  (Sorry Nike)  Just get out there and pound some pavement!  Pump some iron!  Kick some...boxes?  I don't know, I was trying to be creative with kickboxing.  Clearly that worked.

But you get what I mean, right?  I'm tired of being tired!  I don't want to be tired anymore - I want to feel the rush I got when I had an AWESOME 10-miler!  When I ran faster than my pace because I felt GREAT, like nothing could get in my way!

Because honestly, while it has felt great to sleep in to past couple weeks, nothing compares to the feeling I get when I'm with my friends at 6:30am (gasp!) and the satisfaction of knowing I've done more in these early hours of the day than most people will do all day.

(Still working on my signature sign off...)

-Mollie