just write it all out

6

How to Stay Awake, According to the Internet - 01/06/16

The first and most important step is to get lots of sleep.

My schedule yesterday: get up at 6:00 am, be ready just in time for the bus, be at school from 7:15 am to 2:45 pm, show choir rehearsal from 3:00 to 6:00, get home at 6:25, have just enough time to relax, eat dinner, do what my parents want me to do (write down my schedule, cut my nails, wash my lunch box dishes), do my homework, check my social media since I didn't get a chance all day. Go to bed at, like, 9, right?

Nope. Try 10:57.

And then try to sleep and fail until around 11:30.

The next step is to eat a big and balanced, but not sugar-loaded breakfast.

See, the thing is, I don't have time to make myself toast and eggs and a nice fruit cup. I have time for a bowl of Special K cereal. And I'm not going to make my mother make breakfast when she already gets up way early to pack our healthy, balanced lunches.

Oh, and that healthy, balanced lunch that's supposed to give me plenty of energy until at least 4:00? I eat at noon, and yet apparently my body needs to shut down to digest it an hour and a half later. Every day. Every day.

Hey body, FYI, I'm in calculus that period. And it's my hardest class and I need to be able to understand what's going on.

In the classroom setting, drink plenty of water and eat in class. If you're allowed to, chew gum. The chewing will keep your brain awake, and being dehydrated will make your body tired.

Water bottle with me everyday? Check. Snack with me at all times? Check. Gum? I haven't chewed gum in forever because I can't buy it.

I've tried drinking and eating in class, and it never works. I fall asleep anyways. What am I supposed to do?

Take notes, and sit at the front of the classroom.

We take notes everyday. It's supposed to keep you focused and awake, but I fall asleep while writing and I'm in that half-awake half-asleep mode where you can still hear things but your brain is delirious, and when I'm supposed to be writing down requirements for a certain integration rule, I'm writing random words like "jumping." True story.

Guess where I sit? Front row, right in front of the teacher. I try to interact with her but she's always teaching and talking. Maybe I'll try asking questions about what we just talked about.

You know, she knows I'm dozing. Pretty much every student in the class knows I'm dozing. I'm ready to ask them to bring an air horn to class to blast it in my ear every time I close my eyes.

Another way to stay awake is to breathe in and out quickly, using your abdomen.

Great. I'll have fun sounding like I'm hyperventilating in class.

You can also snap a hair tie on your wrist or pinch your thighs or arms.

I've actually tried hurting myself like that in class before. I don't recall it hurting enough to keep me awake.

Guess you're screwed.

Yup, you're right.

Can you tell how desperate I am?

Attached is more wip ;)