Waking Up from The Big Fatigue

Time to Wake Up, Focus, Get to Work - and Be Kind!

 This year so far has been characterized by periods of professional chaos, random disruptive household issues, and the ongoing theme of bone-level deep exhaustion.

It’s that exhaustion I call The Big Fatigue that comes up all the time and is most worrisome. I understand it with my peers – we’re old, so that might be the cause. But it also is a topic with the 20-somethings I’m working with now. So, what’s this about?

It’s not that we’re behind on sleep. In fact, in this house, we’re doing a darn good job of getting at least eight hours.  

It’s that we wake up, seemingly well refreshed. Make the coffee and then are ready for a post-coffee nap. This isn’t normal.

But then, we left normal a few years ago

I’ve spent about three months trying to find something to blame. As the national pastime of this nation, it’s what we do. It could be COVID’s fault – lots to point to there.

Maybe it’s the war in Ukraine – real-time war on social media is horrifying.

Could be the economy that’s on a speeding race to enrich the top 1% and harm everyone else – causing flip-flops in supply-chain driven market chaos in the gambling casinos of Wall Street.

Or it could be watching top leaders from the past President’s cabinet testify to the events that took place between November 2020 and January 2021. That has been a lesson in honor and courage. Men and women I may disagree with on a whole slew of social issues stood up to increasingly erratic behaviors, fueled by lies and a deep need to retain power at all costs.

Unfortunately, there’s no time to kick back and relax and let this fatigue just pass on by.

It turns out that our generation broke America. Right, left, center – one thing we all agree on is that this country is broken. We may disagree on the fault lines and what needs to be fixed, but we do agree that there is fixing to do.

And this week, the Supreme Court actually issued the decision we knew was coming regarding the concept of privacy rights protected by our Constitution. Today it is Roe v. Wade and the concept that a woman is protected in her right to make decisions for herself and her family. But Justice Thomas made it clear where he hopes to act next in his comments.

Yes – there is no time for The Big Fatigue in this broken America of ours. We Boomers have work to do, and it’s time to get on it and fix what we’ve broken.