Photo by Lux Graves on Unsplash
Despite brimming with ideas and telling myself I should blog, I am stuck in writing. I kept telling myself that my writings may not be useful now, but may benefit someone one day.
I received plenty of writing advice, and I have tried them all. After all, I wrote my own master’s dissertation, and I have implemented all these tips and tricks. At this point, the enemies in my writing are a noisy environment, lack of mobility, and a sense of helplessness. Hence, I decided to start, “Today I learnt” writings to jot down something that I learn during the day. Also, I hope this will help me improve my rusty writing.
Today, I learn that being underslept and out-of-sync is a political injustice. This article began with Uber drivers trying to make ends meet. Some of them sleep in the car for a quick rest, before continuing their work to make ends meet. Most of the time their sleeping environment is not great, as they sleep in the car in discomfort.
With the lack of sleep, most people are not able to function at their best, hence accidents happen. It is also seen as political because it highlights the disadvantages between class, race, and gender, as some worked more and slept less to earn their wages.
I used to be the person that lacked sleep when I was younger. I used to work in a digital advertising agency, and also took in freelance jobs to build my portfolio. The lack of sleep did not affect me at first, but as I grow older, I find that it affects my physical, emotional and mental health. When I am unwell physically, emotionally, and mentally, I hurt others too. However, it is also a sad truth that health is also seen as a privilege. While I considered myself privileged, most people are not able to afford different kinds of health care, especially for mental health. These people have to work hard to survive, but are not able to get better sleep which will affect their health.
With this learning, I will be more aware of sleep and have more empathy for those who are surviving.