It’s so overt, it’s covert

But I’m tired of the tiredness trap; it’s time to tell the truth about it. Like all good scamsters, it hires the best publicists. They wear wellcut suits and give motivational speeches about maximising one’s growth potential. The suits, having plied their trade for years, are now a chorus in our heads, ordering us to go when we should stop, say “yes” when we feel “no”, and, in a particularly diabolical move, deny us naps. Look at the cheek. Their propaganda works like port wine at a college prom: its sickly sugariness lowers one’s defences and the next thing you know, you’re a bottle down, hugging a toilet bowl instead of that cutie from psychology class. But I digress.

It was reported (by unreliable sources) that in Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman’s marriage, which saw us through the ’90s, the superstars suffered from competitive exhaustion. The “I’m more tired than you” syndrome that anyone in a relationship that’s lasted longer than a month would attest to. Affairs, money issues, kids’ problems, the in-laws question, all get plenty of attention from relationship doctors ranging from counsellors to Vogue. What about the serious issue that is “so overt, it’s covert”?—to borrow a phrase from Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. the overenthusiastic rafters. The beer date you made after your fifth beer. The second cousin you promised you’d play guide to. The concert you bought tickets for to broaden your musical horizons. Tiredness gives you a get-out-of-jail-free card when your conscience won’t allow you to bail. It’s a universally understood language which can withstand both an internal and external audit.

TIREDNESS IS A UNIVERSALLY UNDERSTOOD LANGUAGE WHICH CAN WITHSTAND BOTH AN INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL AUDIT