I cannot remember being busier than I have been the last two weeks. On and on, the calls kept coming, every day and every client with different issues. This often meant me getting up at no later than 5 a.m. every morning (sometimes 4.30 a.m.!) just so I could have time to collect my wits as I prepared to leave the house. I have long realised that bolting out of bed and into the bathroom then my clothes and out the door makes a forgetful, confused and irritable me.
So that has been my fortnight; up at cockcrow, work like mad all day then drag myself home and into bed at 9 or 10 p.m. I sound like I'm complaining...I really shouldn't. Okay, so I really missed sleeping in especially now that the mornings are so cold. I'd try and catch a nap in the matatu as I rode to town but there was so much on my mind that my eyes just couldn't stay shut. Before I knew it we were in the city and I was sprinting off to put out whatever fire my first client of the day had lit.
When I'd finally be through with client number two, which was around 2 or even (in extreme cases) 4 p.m., THEN the sleep would come; in great waves and so thick that I'd feel like I was actually passing out instead of falling asleep. Off I'd go to my favourite eating spot to gobble down a late lunch after which I'd head over to a cyber cafe for an hour or so of surfing.
If by the time I was through it was rush hour, then I'd decide there's no way I'm going to stand in a queue for goodness knows how long (in my weakened state) so I'd go have a drink alone for an hour or two until I thought the queue at the matatu stage was gone or at least greatly reduced. The rest is obvious; matatu, home, bed.
Miserable as this sounds, there is a good side to all this. I have actually improved discipline-wise. Wheras I used to find it incredibly hard to sacrifice an extra hour of blanket time in the morning, nowadays it's almost a piece of cake. I say 'almost' because I don't always leap out of bed immediately I wake up, but my response time is WAY better than what is was. So I guess I should be happy, especially since I get the feeling that this stressful couple of weeks was a preparation for something great in the near future. As I'm thinking about that, my heart beats a little faster and I have a slight grin on my face. A new phase in my life is forming, and I can hardly wait to see what it is.
Oh boy!
