Ever Been Awake for Seven Solid Days? I Have

Ever been awake for seven solid days? I have.

In 1998 I was translating Alfons Cardinal Stickler’s chapter-length memoir of Vatican II from German into English. I was consumed by self-doubt: was my German really good enough to do justice to his ideas?

So on a related note, I suddenly found I couldn’t sleep.

It got to the point where I couldn’t even remember how I used to do it. Did I just lie here? Did I think about things? What the heck did I do?

So I went to the university health service.

“These are tranquilizers,” the doctor said. “You can take as many as four. Start with one.”

I started with one. Nothing.

Two. Nothing. Three. Nothing.

Four.

Nothing.

I went back the next day.

He was flabbergasted that I hadn’t slept.

“These are sedatives,” he said. “You can take as many as two, along with the tranquilizers. This WILL make you sleep.”

I was delighted.

That night I took the four tranquilizers and one sedative.

Nothing!

I couldn’t believe it.

I took the second sedative.

NOTHING.

I said to myself, “I can’t believe….”

And I was out.

The curse was broken. I slept.

Lesson:

Make sure you speak good German, so you don’t lose sleep.

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Read the original article at TomWoods.com. https://tomwoods.com/ever-been-awake-for-seven-solid-days-i-have/