Managing exhaustion and expectations

A sleepy gal's confessions, plus reduced subscription fees

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Last year I gave up drinking for, I think, forever. I developed a really intense allergy to alcohol and my hangovers got so bad that I would lose the entire next day, even if I just had three drinks. It has actually been surprisingly easy to cut booze out of my social life - I spent most of my 20s driving between Maynooth and Dublin to see my friends that I was used to not drinking and going out - but the absence of a hangover has helped me understand my real relationship with tiredness.

Before I became a pukey gal, my hangovers were defined by the fact that I was a sleepy gal who was unable to sleep. Booze interfered with my sleeping patterns, so I was never able to conk out and wake up partially refreshed, and I would zombie my way through the next day.

My skin would feel like crepe paper, barely containing the jittery mess that I was inside, and all sense would be cracked out of my head, making me indecisive, unenthusiastic and dour. No food would sate me and all I would be capable of is lying on the couch and watching The Hills for nine hours.