Somehow I managed to get myself talked into playing a role in the
opening skits for a week of Vacation Bible School at my church. It
sounded harmless enough at first... a few minutes a day with just a
bunch of kids as audience. And it turned out okay, and even kinda fun
(having a crazy kid in another role helped make practice exciting and
unpredictable).
Anyway, the skit itself was just fine. Even leading a group of 3rd
and 4th graders around and helping out with them wasn't bad, since they
were mostly fairly well-behaved and could practically lead themselves
anyway. The problem? Aside from the blistering heat (over 100 degrees
Fahrenheit several days, though we were inside and air conditioned as
much as possible), there was the little issue of having to get up before
eight in the morning. That may not sound so bad, especially if you're
used to having school or a full-time job, but I'm used to staying up
well past midnight and remaining in bed until some time the next
afternoon. Worse, I couldn't get to sleep Sunday night despite my best
efforts.
And what happens when you combine minimal rest with quite a bit of
stress and too much heat and (this one's my fault, and it's no excuse
that I normally stay indoors and don't move around much) not enough
fluid? I can't answer for everyone, but in my case, it means a brutal
headache, usually followed by nausea that keeps me from getting any
sleep until the contents of my stomach meet the bottom of the toilet (or
other handy container). Somehow, that always lets me get to sleep soon
after, even though the headache invariably gets worse from the exertion
of heaving. (Incidentally, this time happened after we practiced the
skit in which one of the other characters gets badly seasick.) I
don't overdo it often enough to get the whole headache-nausea-agony
thing with much frequency, but it's happened enough times that I know it
when it happens, and the only variation is that sometimes the headache
doesn't get bad enough to trigger the queasiness. This was not one of
those times.
Fortunately, one episode seemed to be enough to get it out of my
system. While I didn't exactly feel great the whole week, I at least
managed to get a reasonable amount of sleep, drink copious amounts of
whatever (non-toxic) fluid I could get my hands on, and rest frequently,
so while I may have visited the bathroom more often than I'm used to,
at least there was no more nausea and only weak and fleeting headaches.
If you're looking for a moral, then I guess it's to stay out of the
heat, drink plenty of fluids, and take it easy. Oh, and I get to keep my
hat from the skit. Woot.
(added 2014-08-09): Coming off helping with another VBS (sound and projection this time),
after having worked full time for several years, I have to say that only needing
to be up before eight in the morning felt like a luxury. This year was
thankfully quite a bit cooler, but always drinking plenty of fluids
remains a Very Good Idea.
(added 2017-08-14): I like to review my previous writings every so often,
especially when I have a slow day, and while I was re-reading this one,
two things jumped out at me: "not enough fluid" and "visited the bathroom
more often than I'm used to". You see, drinking unhealthily low amounts of
fluids to avoid (especially public) bathrooms as much as possible, whether
you realize that's what you're doing or not, tends to be related to a topic
I've been frequently
blogging about. It's funny how obvious some things seem in retrospect once
you've had the chance to learn about them.
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