I Call It An Extrovert Hangover

[Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Fifty]

Yesterday it was my absolute pleasure to co-host Equinix Proximity.

“And, boy, are my arms tired.”

I was only on screen for about ninety minutes or so and then helped with hallway track for another couple of hours – by 1900 local, put a fork in me, I was done.

But first the news:

• Dutch extend ban on passenger flights from UK, South Africa to April 1
• Northern provinces scaling down regular care as Covid infections rise
• Dutch vaccination calculator: When will you really get the jab?

ASIDE: According to that Dutch vaccination calculator, based on my profile, there are between 4.861.743 and 9.745.743 people in front of you in the queue for a COVID vaccine across the Netherlands. Given a vaccination rate of 354.088 a week and an uptake of 75%, I should expect to receive my first dose of vaccine between 12-9-2021 and 24-3-2022. I should then get my second dose by between 3-10-2021 and 14-4-2022.

But back to the kickass technical user conference, Proximity.

Rather, the after effects, of kicking ass and co-hosting a virtual conference.

By the end of my shift, I was D-E-D.

So tired I went to bed at E-I-G-H-T.

Yeah, I’m done with the spelling, T-O-O.

So this morning I wake up, like I do, at four something, and I go back to sleep cause, damn, I’m tired.

And at six I drag myself out of bed, but W-O-A-H I feel R-O-U-G-H.

No headache, but definitely like a hangover.

And all I did was talk. Ask questions. S-Q-U-E-E a bit. Jump around a lot.

And I L-O-V-E-D it.

But.

Let’s just say that a few of us introverts discussed the idea of an extrovert hangover. When you act too extroverted for too long. And the next day, you need more than two aspirins, plenty of water, and super greasy food to recover.

You need time.

Alone.

For a W-H-I-L-E.

See, during in person events, that was how I recharged – that travel time on my way home – that was my recovery time. Similarly, that night in the hotel room after the last day of the conference – peaceful, blissful, quiet sleep.

An online conference means you sleep in your own bed. Which means when the kids won’t go to sleep, or wake up in the night, or wake up at four something in the morning, well, you hear it, even if you have a deal with your partner to take care of the sounds before midnight.

Hypothetically speaking, of course.

So, yeah, this morning may have been an extrovert hangover or, sure, it may have been sleep deprivation, but O-M-G it was S-O-O-O WORTH IT.