Member-only story
How Insomnia Made Me a Better Person
Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle
In 1994, I was a 27-year-old Ph.D. candidate. Looking for a faculty position, I secured an interview with a prestigious university in Atlanta, Georgia.
I flew to Atlanta and checked into the hotel arranged by the department secretary. I had dinner, returned to my room, and then faced a vexing question: Should I go to sleep?
It was about 9:00 p.m. For a Ph.D. student accustomed to staying up until 3:00 a.m. and waking up at noon, this was very early. Besides, there is a three-hour time difference between Atlanta and Palo Alto. My biological clock was still attuned to the California time of 6:00 p.m.
However, I had a full day ahead of me. In fact, two professors were to meet me for breakfast at 7:00 a.m. If I wanted to be well-rested, I needed to go to bed early.
That was what I did.
But sleep never comes easily for me, even under normal circumstances, and that night was anything but normal: I was in an unfamiliar place, filled with anxiety.
As the bedside clock ticked from 9 to 10 to 11, and I was still wide awake, I grew more anxious. I worried that I would be exhausted the next day. The more I worried, the more elusive sleep became.
