There’s a lot of chatter.
Some of it loud.
Some of it quiet mumbles.
Some of it you wake up and think, that couldn’t have been real.
Most days, we wake up trying to decide
was that a dream
or a nightmare.
It depends on the task.
The assignment.
The deliverable waiting for us.
I’ve learned, and I’m still learning, that for some of us the hardest part isn’t the work.
It’s turning it off.
You get home and your mind is still running.
You travel and you can’t sleep, not because of the bed, but because the chatter came with you.
You wake up already bracing yourself for the day before your feet hit the floor.
Even at the gym, when it’s supposed to be just you and the weights,
the mind follows.
I learned the hard way that some dreams are nightmares.
What I now realize is this:
When you become the go-to for everything, you stop noticing anything.
I can honestly say I’ve been almost around the world.
Mostly for work.
But the routine was always the routine.
Airport. Clear. TSA.
Is the plane late?
Arrive. Check in.
Hopefully early at the hotel.
Head to dinner.
Catch up with the people you’re there to meet.
Wake up. Maybe the gym, the only personal time you get but even then, you’re thinking.
Meeting.
Rush back to the hotel.
Back to the airport.
I’ve been in cities people dream about visiting.
And I’ve never stopped to see them.
Never walked the streets just to walk them.
Never stood still long enough to feel where I was.
Never smelled the roses.
Because when you’re the one everyone depends on, you’re always moving.
And when you’re always moving, rest becomes location-based instead of internal.
Or maybe the dream and the nightmare are the same thing.
That “both” is what wearing the cape feels like.
Carrying so much for so long that even your rest feels crowded.
Have you ever felt tired in a way sleep doesn’t fix?
This is the quiet kind of exhaustion I spend a lot of time talking about with leaders… the kind that doesn’t show up on a calendar but slowly reshapes how you experience your life.
Sit with that this week.
Not the noise.
Not the assignment.
Not the deliverable.
Just the question.
Damon Lester
Take Cape Off