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If you’ve ever had to work a strange schedule, what I’m about to tell you about is probably all too familiar to you. It’s something I like to call “Sunday-night-itis.” I worked a 3 a.m. to noon shift for several years before I moved to Utah at the end of 2007, so trust me when I say I feel your pain, shift workers. Now that I am here, my main job is keeping Scott and Maria happy from 4 to 7 in the afternoon – which means I no longer work that other shift unless I’m called on to fill in for my morning counterpart. So, what happened when I filled in last week? The same thing that always happens to anyone on a Sunday night who works that shift Monday through Friday. You spent your weekend getting used to more human hours, and then Sunday night comes around. You know you’ve got to get up early. You might even take steps to make it easier to go to bed at a decent hour. But then you lay down. And you can’t shut off your brain. And for goodness sake, don’t. Look. At. The. Clock. At least for me, anyway, that last one is always the one that does me in. I’m at least being still and quiet and my eyes are closed, even if I’m not asleep. But then I look at the clock. And then I know exactly how much sleep I’m not getting. And the mental torture begins. “If I go to sleep RIGHT NOW, I’ll still get… four hours.” “If I go to sleep RIGHT NOW, I’ll still get… three hours.” And so on. What about you? Are you your own worst enemy sometimes? For me, I don’t need anybody else’s help beating me up when I have to work odd hours. I kick my own rear end with no trouble at all.
