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.
I’m an affiliate of Rocket Languages, my friend’s company, and for Cyber Monday they’re taking 60% off just the next few language courses they sell.
Yes, this was a pitch — but admit it, a really good one.
Grab a course (our Regina has their Japanese course) at tomwoods.com/rocket.
Read the original article at TomWoods.com. https://tomwoods.com/ever-been-awake-for-seven-solid-days-i-have/
Thomas E. Woods, Jr., is the 2019 winner of the Hayek Lifetime Achievement Award from the Austrian Economics Center in Vienna. He is a senior fellow of the Mises Institute and host of The Tom Woods Show, which releases a new episode every weekday. Visit https://tomwoods.com