i used to think jetlag was mainly about getting tired at the wrong time of day. but sometime within the last few years - perhaps it began after one of my longer work trips to malaysia or australia - i’ve begun to notice a certain woozy feeling which is even more palpable than the tiredness. my brain starts to throb a bit, and then i get dizzy like the morning after a mild drinking binge. it hits me in waves; sometimes i am nearly overwhelmed by it and need to find a place to sit and close my eyes as quickly as i can.
in the first hours after returning home, a potpourri of small differences tend to jump out at me: today, for instance, it was the new signage blocking the left turn lane due to new road construction which has popped up outside our building, or the millimeters of uneven growth spurt which has befallen the ornamental grasses on our balcony which i trimmed just before we left last week. shortly after landing in frankfurt, i was even struck by the sudden grayness and rain splattering the glass-paneled facade of the train station, a stark difference from the partly-cloudy, yellow-and-brick colors of my last few days in pittsburgh. i wonder if the dizziness i’m experiencing is not technically jetlag due to circadian rhythms and time differences but rather some sort of whiplash from being so swiftly whisked between worlds?
Wow this yes: but rather some sort of whiplash from being so swiftly whisked between worlds?