Side Story: Tired Return to Adventure

Note: This is a purely story based blog post. As such there will be no new photos. However, if you are interested in the effect a lack of sleep has on a teenager traveling the states, this post is definitely for you. Without further ado, let's get into the story.

When I stepped onto the first of two flights that would take me back to Chicago, I was already sleep deprived. I had not gotten good sleep in Hawaii, due to Maui being on a time zone that was four hours behind the one I had grown accustomed to. Unfortunately, neither that flight nor the next would yield much sleep. Over the course of about 15 hours on a plane, I only got 2 hours of sleep. When you consider that one of these flights began at 11 pm, it's no wonder that I was pretty tired when I finally landed in Chicago. I wasn't necessarily drowsy, but as I picked up my luggage from baggage claim and rode the shuttle to my car, I found it harder to do pretty much everything. Again, I was able to get to my car fine, but it just felt like taking all the actions to do so required a ton of motivation.

Originally, the plan was to get to my car and take a nap, but by the time my plane landed at 5 am and I had actually gotten to the car, it was already pretty bright out. It was bright enough that I figured any attempt to sleep would just be wasted time. So instead of recharging my battery, I just spent more energy by driving to South Bend, Indiana. Unsurprisingly, as I my drive went on, my eyelids began to get heavy and my mind yearned to just shut itself off. It got so bad, that when I was about 15 minutes from South Bend, I started to consider myself a hazard. I quickly pulled over at a gas station, threw up my sun shades, and laid down. Unfortunately, by the time I had prepped the car, my body wasn't able to sleep. I did get about 30 minutes rest though and felt a lot better. Obviously I didn't feel like Superman, but I definitely wasn't a hazard anymore. However, just for a little bit of safety insurance, I bought an energy drink and sipped it while I finished the drive.

By the time I arrived in South Bend, I was getting hungry, so I made myself a sandwich and watched some "Star Trek (2009)" while I ate it. At this point, I was still perfectly functional, but again, basic actions were taken quite a bit of motivation. It was Sunday, so I didn't have a workout planned-thank goodness-but I wanted to find a warm place to call my mom and tell her about my trip. With those goals in mind, I drove to the downtown YMCA and scouted it out. It was a perfectly passable YMCA, but I decided I wanted a more private space for my call. Eventually, I decided that a call with mom would be a great opportunity to walk around downtown and check things out-so that's what I did.

Feeling super tired in downtown South Bend

From the start of our conversation mom could tell I was drowsy. My sentences weren't worded as cleanly as they usually are and it was taking longer for me form ideas. When we started our conversation I was pretty down to walk and talk, but after about 5 minutes of walking around downtown, I found a bench and pretty much sat there for our entire conversation. It was at this point that mom offered to pay for a hotel for a night and suggested that once we finished our call I should just spend the rest of the day resting. Immediately, I was sold. The idea sounded so nice. We did continue to talk for a while and discussed what hotel to get, but once we had had enough conversation, I booked the hotel and headed that way.

I quickly checked into the room, brought only the necessities into the room, and laid down for some rest. I ended up laying there for quite some time before I actually fell asleep. Unfortunately, this first nap was only 30 minutes long, as I had set a dinner alarm to wake me up at 6:30 pm. Upon waking from the alarm, I quickly made myself a salad, ate it, had a Reese's Chocolate bar for dessert, brushed my teeth, and hit the hay once more. Again, it took me quite a long time to fall asleep-I didn't actually fall asleep until about 10 pm-but I did get really good rest until that point. When I woke up the next day, I was ecstatic to see the time read 10:30 am. I had gotten at least 12 hours and 30 minutes of sleep! Unfortunately, I didn't have long to relish my victory, as checkout was at 11 am. I had no trouble getting out by then, but there was certainly no time for dillydallying. I quickly brushed my teeth, loaded my stuff back into the car, and dropped my room key off at the front desk. While I am a little disappointed that I didn't get to take advantage of any of the hotel amenities, like the desk or a shower, I wouldn't have traded a single minute of sleep to do either of those things. Sleep was my goal and I had achieved it.

I think at the end of the day this was a big learning opportunity-but maybe not in the way you'd expect. I don't personally feel like I did anything WRONG. There really wasn't much I could have changed about my situation to change the circumstances. I tried to get sleep on the plane, I tried to get sleep at the gas station, and I bought an energy drink for the safety of myself and others. However, I did learn a lot about myself and the way my personality shifts when I'm tired.

While I don't think the lesson of this experience is "get more sleep, you dummy", I do think there is a lesson along the lines of "when you find yourself in a position like this, you need to take action to solve it." Even if mom didn't offer to pay for a hotel, I should have had the foresight to reserve a room for myself. I am so grateful that she did suggest the hotel AND paid for it. It was honestly exactly what I needed. And know that I know how my behavior shifts when I get super tired, I'll take steps to prevent it from becoming dangerous.