Adrenaline hangover / bad memories

I have exactly one appointment today; the rest of it is reserved for research and writing. I feel really lousy. Sad, achy, hazy, a kind of jumpy lethargy. No worries, I’m not sick or even struggling emotionally. I’m just experiencing something that I had forgotten about and I find that I don’t like remembering it.

I used to call this feeling adrenaline hangover — the physical / emotional aftermath of being on very much on edge about high stakes events for days and days in a row. I used to be in that state for weeks at a time, in my last job, but now I’m out of practice. It was only two days this time.

It was unsurprising: election day, which is a big deal in my life, then my high stakes Wednesday, with stress enhanced because I wasn’t as centered as I like to be because of election day, and then all the unpredictabilities of the day. Actually adrenaline doesn’t help one deal with them — but it feels like a shield I wear.

I finished last night about 10 p.m. and went and had a beer with a colleague and then went home and fell into bed. And today I feel lousy.

I had just forgotten about this. And how much I hate it. It’s not like the grinding emotionality of the summer because that wasn’t coupled with adrenaline. It’s the adrenaline (and feeling it gone) that makes it so unpleasant.

Anyway, this was a good reminder of why I need to avoid that adrenaline overload situation. I’ve been doing pretty well this year. Just need to note today as a reason why I don’t want to be doing that anymore.

Here’s another pretty picture of Thorin and the boys in Times Square on Election Day sent by a blog reader. Bigger this time.

Remember the euphoria!

~ by Servetus on November 8, 2012.