Tonight I did probably one of the stupidest, and certainly one of the more dangerous things I've done in a long time. I drove home. Lately I've been extremely busy with school and I have probably gotten maybe 8 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours. Last night I was up until about 1am working on a paper that was due today. Then I got up at 5am so I could get to school early enough to practice the presentation. Needless to say I was exhausted today. And we had a reception from 5-7pm so I knew it was going to be a long day.
The reception ended around 7:15 and I wasn't feeling too bad. But I should have known better. I live about an hour and 15 minutes away from school and that drive can get very monotonous, especially after dark. About 30 minutes into the drive I knew I was in trouble. I couldn't find anything on the radio worth listening too and none of my CD's sounded interesting either. At that point I should have called someone so I could carry on a conversation, pulled over to take a nap, I don't know, but I should have done something. But I'm a guy, and I don't like to ask for help; I like to think I can do it all on my own. But tonight that was just a dumb idea. I probably fell asleep at least 5 times while doing 80mph down the Interstate then 3 or 4 more times driving 60mph on the road that takes me into Aiken. Luckily it was only for a second or two and I woke up each time before I got too far off the side of the road.
I guess the moral of the story is that pride can be a dangerous thing. I should have never attempted that ride home, at least not without a plan in case I got tired. But instead of admitting that I needed help and couldn't do it on my own I put my life at risk and anyone else that might have been around me had I gone off the road. I have three months of school left before I go to Morocco and 2 1/2 hours in my car every day. The saddest part is that I can't promise I won't do this again but hopefully the next time I am this tired I will remember this night and make a better decision.
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