exhausted

Is anyone else totally exhausted? I mean, the past three days have just sucked the life out of me. I imagine part of it is the weather- snow snow snow and cold cold cold. Other contributing factors may include: stressful holiday and work obligations, not having much physical activity, absorbing weight-of-the-world that shouldn't necessarily be shouldered by me, etc. I'm just tired.

On days I don't have to work, I wake up thinking about work, I'm dreaming about work. So it really feels like I am working all the time. This isn't necessarily a bad thing- seeing as much (if not all) of the anxiety around work is created and maintained by my own psyche, however- there are days I wake up completely panicked that I'm forgetting something...which might be why my stomach, skin and head are all acty funny and revolting against the stress.

I'm reading this book: Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream, by Jennifer Ackerman. It is neither helping nor hurting my exhaustion. Basically I'm understanding more about the constant flow of cortisol throughout my body and wondering why I don't have a fatter stomach. The book moves through the body as someone wakes up and goes throughout their entire day- lending insight into why you "hit the wall" at 3:00pm and can't keep your eyes open, or why some people get up to the initial ring of the alarm clock while others slap at it 4-5 times before rousing in the morning. It's giving me lots of ideas as to WHY my body reacts the way it does to stress- and it's definitely giving me the feeling that (as I've known all along): I need to exercise more- particularly when it's cold and I'm stressed, because it's cheaper and more effective than antidepressants (not a fan) and caffiene (my BFF). I really like the book, you should read it.

That being said, a couple extra hours of sleeping withOUT dreaming about work would also be a welcome release from some anxiety I'm feeling. That, or perhaps falling onto a mountain of cash.

Although, the book does mention how laughter truly helps human beings in a myriad of ways, so maybe I'll just surf fail blog or some other such funny nonsense on the web to keep my sanity?

I hope you all are not caving under the stress that is wintertime, wherever you are.