by Mark Schiffman, M.S.
I was once on a research fellowship where the expectation from the teacher/adviser was that we would all come on time and put in the daily, full day of research. One day, one of the other fellows did not come on time and the teacher asked, “Where’s John?” One of his friends relayed a message from John that he was very tired and was going to be in a little later. The teacher did not take kindly to this and yelled back, “Tired is not an excuse!”
In RE&CBT we talk a lot about thoughts that run through our heads and how they affect our behaviors and emotions. For me, I have two recurring thoughts in my head that I can’t seem to get rid of; “I am so tired,” or its sister thought, “I’m exhausted.” Are these thoughts irrational? On the one hand, they do not distort reality, as I probably am really tired, nor are they illogical. However, they do often prevent me from reaching my goals. “I’m so tired – I can’t go jogging now.” “I’m exhausted – I can’t write that blog now.”
The truth is, the thoughts of being tired or exhausted themselves are not irrational; it is the second half of the thought that could be irrational. Is it true that just because I am tired I cannot go jogging? It may be more difficult to and I may think that I am not motivated to, but is it therefore impossible for me to do so? More often than not, I really can, but I just don’t want to. I recently have been trying to track these types of thoughts in my head and correct them. “I am so tired – but I am still going to go jogging because tired is not an excuse!” or “While it may be uncomfortable in the short-term to go jogging while I am tired, I can tolerate this discomfort so I can reach my longer term health goals.” What I have found is that once I start stretching and push myself to start moving, I get a boost of energy and the thoughts of being tired and exhausted magically dissipate, at least until it is time to write another blog.
