Lesson Learned.

Warning: The following post is very honest, and reveals my less smart/wise side. Please note that this was a learning experience hopefully never to be repeated, and do not judge me righteously. :)

I accidentally had this happen today:

Its not exactly what it looks like. I didn't fall asleep at the wheel, or even have a close call. But I've never been so tired driving before. I left my house and family in Idaho at 6:45 AM to get to work in Provo by 12:00 PM. For some reason I just couldn't shake the tired feeling. This made me quite nervous, so to leave the drowsy danger zone I tried the following:

I honestly do not know what I was thinking. I pulled over to stop several times on the trip just to keep my body moving. The first stop was just 15 minutes into the trip. I got sour gummy worms at the Oasis, some of which tasted exactly like I imagine Lysol would taste. The second stop was once I made it over the border. At this point I wasn't getting any more awake, yet I wasn't really in the mood for carbonation. I stopped at a gas station thinking I might get a coke or something. However, in this moment of delirium the energy drink section of the fridge caught my attention. Strangely for the first time EVER in my life an energy drink looked/sounded good. The fancy shiny packaging and the lure of tropical coconut water really did me over. All the while as I was taking it up to the cash register to pay my mind is thinking, "Are you sure about this? Really?" I then replied to myself internally, "I'm young, I'm tired, I don't want to have any kind of accident, I've never heard of anyone dying from drinking one, and sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures."

If you will note the end of the equation above, you will see that the fruits yielded were not beautiful, nor were they tastey. I felt really sick when I got to work, and really thought I was going to be sick. The drink did do some amount of good as far as making me feel alert and awake, however the after effects weren't really worth it. Also, it tasted TERRIBLE. I could only get down about 1/3 of it, it tasted so so so bad.

In summary- I wouldn't take this experience back if I could, because I learned a lesson about something I don't need in my life, no matter how shiny and pretty the packaging. Also, I stayed alive on my trip and defeated fatigue. Next time though, I'm just going to get enough sleep the night before and save myself $3.00.