In this reflection we sit with exhaustion that sleep cannot fix.
You went to bed at a reasonable hour. You stayed asleep. You did the things you are supposed to do. And still, when the alarm went off, your first thought was: I cannot do this again.
This kind of tired is not about sleep debt. It is not about caffeine or screen time or the wrong mattress. It is something else. Something that lives deeper than your circadian rhythm.
Some people are tired because they are doing too much. But others are tired because they are carrying too much. The weight is not in the calendar. It is in the body.
Emotional labor exhausts differently than physical labor. You can rest your muscles. You cannot rest your vigilance. You cannot rest the part of you that monitors, manages, anticipates, performs.
Sometimes the tiredness is grief that has not been named. Sometimes it is anger that has nowhere to go. Sometimes it is the cumulative effect of years of being fine, of holding it together, of being the one who does not fall apart.
The body keeps score. It does not care that you have responsibilities. It does not care that other people have it worse. It just registers the cost and presents you with the bill.
People will tell you to exercise. To drink water. To try a new supplement. These are not wrong, but they miss the point. You are not tired because you forgot to optimize. You are tired because something in your life is costing more than it should.
The question is not how to have more energy. The question is what is taking so much of it.
Rest is part of the answer. But so is honesty. So is looking at the life you have built and asking what needs to change. Not what you can add to feel better. What you can subtract.
You are not lazy. You are not broken. You are not failing at self-care.
You are tired. And tired is trying to tell you something.