Days Like These

Today I woke up and something was off. Not bad, not good, just off. It happens occasionally. I can usually feel it coming the night before.

Sometimes I won't sleep. Sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, feeling like I just missed something important. Other nights, I lay in bed and stare at the ceiling, wondering what it is I'm supposed to be doing. There's always that nagging feeling that I'm supposed to be doing something, that there's something I can't quite remember.

The mornings that follow such restless nights are rarely good. I swing my legs from the bed and plant my feet on the floor. I take the first step of the day and trip on nothing. I bump my elbow on the door frame and burn myself with the straightening iron. I am definitely not in sync with myself.

I don't have an explanation for days like these. Days where I'm doing nothing out of the ordinary, but there's this force and purpose behind everything that wasn't there yesterday. Simple things feel so much more significant. I feel like I'm moving in slow motion. I can see my breath and the tiny, gusts of air that follow my fingers every time they move. Nothing feels real.

I am more suspicious on days like these. I don't understand how everyone else doesn't feel what I feel and doesn't see what I see. How can one go about their business on days like these? How can a person function with such force all around them? Days like these, I can feel my chest expanding. My brain is trying to take in too much and I usually end the day with a headache.

Days like these. How curious.