Shivering in the Rain

[Restlessness - I]

I stood for 90 minutes at a soccer game yesterday. It was 38 degrees, pouring rain, and windy. By half-time my feet were saturated and my hands numb. By the end of the game my chest ached and I felt nauseous. I think I was experiencing the early symptoms of hypothermia. No kidding.

I noticed two things when I got home: It took three hours to thaw, and I was ravenously hungry.

Turns out that shivering for an hour and a half burns a lot of calories. Metabolically, it’s the equivalent of running a 5k. Maybe longer.

Restlessness is like shivering in the cold for an entire soccer game.

A lot of stationary busy-ness, aimless movement.
A ton of burned energy with little direction.
And it takes longer to come out of a state of restlessness than the time in it.
(For some of us, it’s the one thing keeping us alive.)

People like us know the feeling. The shivering. The irritability. The agitation, fidgetiness, and nervousness. The target-less going. The “multitasking” and “fast-brain”. It's exhausting.

Over the next couple weeks, with the help of a few friends, I will explore the good and bad—the brightness and the shadow—of restlessness.