The truth is, there are all kinds of tired.
There’s the tired women feel when yet another man gets a promotion he doesn’t deserve or mansplains the obvious or sexually harasses herself or her friends.
There’s the tired black folks feel (I have not this experience, but I have ears to hear) when the knee on their necks doesn’t let up for one goddamn minute.
There’s the tired a father feels from working one sixty-hour week after another all the while watching corporate interests eat up his earnings.
There’s the tired of shopping, shopping, shopping and then buying containers and baskets and bins and ending up with the same unhappiness you started with, only now it’s accessorized.
There’s the tired of chemotherapy and the tired of addiction and the tired of feeling anxious or depressed all the time about nothing you can name. There’s the tired of not having enough and the tired of having too much, and the tired of not getting the one thing you’ve ever truly wanted.
There’s the tired of fearing that in this wealth gap, in this democracy under siege, in this rapidly changing climate, you will not be able to realize even the smallest of your life’s ambitions.
Everybody knows some kind of tired.
For me, chronic fatigue has made tired not just a personal experience but a social construct. I see it everywhere. Women and men, some with children, panhandling at intersections look so tired. Jamila Lyiscott, in her Ted Talk on having to code switch as a black woman, says, “I’m so tired of the negative images that are driving my people mad.” When Greta Thunberg said to world leaders at the 2019 U.N. climate action summit, “How dare you?” she seemed to me not only angry but exhausted. Tired of profits as usual, tired of the cowardice of the adults who are supposed to be managing the world for her future.
Many, many years ago when I first began taking notice of my health, a nutritionist said to a class full of women who were learning a new way to nourish themselves, “Most people just keep doing what they’re doing until they get tired of being tired.”
Are we tired enough yet?
Hi Julie – This is actually a very encouraging blog for me. Not because I share your experience but precisely because I don’t. What encourages me the most is from a previous post – not knowing but hoping. If I feel particularly tired it’s when I’ve disappointed myself in my attempt to be God and KNOW things rather than trust things. I’m much less tired when I just trust. Thanks!!
Pat,
I got a chuckle out of “my attempt to be God and KNOW things.” 🙂 But yes, it’s absolutely true that I feel less exhausted when I trust that what I’m doing is enough, and that something out there is looking out for me.
Thanks for reading!
Julie
Nice to have you back.
Thanks for your blog, nice to read. Do not stop.