Idle Pains

I've had the tendency for several years now to get headaches in the beginnings of the summer. A few weeks after school lets out, I'll have occasions when the light hurts my eyes, I feel a subtle, but distinct pounding, and I don't feel like moving for fear I'll disrupt the equilibrium in my head and shake my brain too much. Drinking water doesn't help, sleeping just makes me less conscious of the pain ofr awhile, and medicine makes me queasy, so I end up doing a little of each for a day or so until it passes. This summer was different. I had a show to finish when I got out of school and some backstage work and some box office work and, by the middle of June, it occurred to me that I hadn't spent any days lounging around to wait for the pain to pass, even when I could. I had somehow missed my seasonal headache.

I got home today (well, yesterday) around half past six after having just barely gotten out of the house before noon for the first time this week and having only a slightly more productive day than the previous two. I realized that I was tired just from being up and about and, by seven, decided it would make more sense to lie down and recoup some energy than try to keep going. I woke up a good three hours later with a whopping headache. Instead of calling it a day, I decided to get a bottle of water and go for a midnight stroll. When I came home an hour and a half later, both my head and the rest of me were feeling demonstrably better. Cautious though I am about getting to used to late nights, I went ahead and stayed up. I'm comfortably sleepy and a little hungry, but  nothing hurts. It may be that not doing anything was the reason behind my pain all along. When a leg falls asleep, it's from lack of circulation. The mind needs to keep going. It feels so much better to do something and have done something than it does to wait for things to pass. Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Progress makes me happier.