In a state of flux…

I flew back from Miami (which was fantastic – already planning a return to South Beach) overnight last Friday night  Saturday morning. Via New York. And ever since, I’ve been suffering with a combination of jet lag and pretty intense insomnia.

Yes, my old friend is back.

The most sleep I had was last night, when I got an almost solid 4.5 hours. Sunday night, I was wide awake until about 3am. Maddeningly, frustratingly, wide awake. I moved from the bedroom to the lounge and lay on the couch. I thought it might be the heat of the room that keep me awake and cracked open the door onto the balcony.

I read. A lot. I basically read an entire book across Sunday afternoon and early Monday morning.

And when that alarm went off at 6am on Monday morning, it was like an electric shock. I had three espressos before I left the apartment and a venti coffee from Starbucks in my hand before I walked into my all-day meeting. The espressos were consumed like shots in a student bar. In quick succession, with a grimace and an all-body shudder.

I’m not sure how I made it through the day in one piece. I was in bits. Red eyes, lopsided smile. Only my Miami tan hid the carnage on my face.

Since then, I’ve felt exhausted during the day and stupidly chipper by night. Until about 9pm. Then I’m exhausted again. Wide awake at midnight.

This is not acceptable. Brain: you’re fired.

But to add insult to injury (brace yourself for the First World agony, guys), I’m off to Singapore this Friday night, for an entire week. My body clock will continue to disrupt my life for at least another week. And just like last time, I anticipate I’ll finally get into Singapore local time the night before I’m due to fly home. And then be wrecked for the entire weekend.

(If it helps, I’ll be in Singapore for work, not fun. But you still hate me for complaining about this, right?)

On the upside, I’ve enjoyed reading a lot, thinking about the future and watching some epically bad TV. I’ve also (so far) avoided any relapses of epilepsy, which usually follow any significant sleep disturbance. But I’m not taking any chances.

So it’s off to bed with me now (and it’s not even 9pm) with a hot milky drink and no electronic devices. Anything to catch up on sleep and be less like a neurotic zombie tomorrow.