Tired. Exhausted. Fatigued. Go!

There's tired, there's exhaustion and there's fatigue.
Healthy people are pleasantly tired after a day of outdoor activities -- volleyball, swimming, skiing, taking a jog along the beach at sunset.
A good night's sleep and they can get up and do it again.
Now if that same person were -- with no training -- to take on an Iron Man Triathlon. They'd be exhausted, but with a few days rest be back to normal.
Imagine waking up every morning feeling like you'd been in that triathlon.
Your eyes open in the morning but your brain is begging them to close again and go back to sleep.
Sadly, even if you do, when you do finally keep your eyes open the rest of your body is still tired. You could do nothing but stay home and rest for days at a time and still be tired.
That's fatigue.
Every morning I fight the battle of either getting up or going back to sleep. Sometimes I win, others I sleep.
I turn the TV on. I take my morning meds. I might be awake to see the morning shows, maybe not. I might sleep through both episodes of "The Gilmore Girls" or get cozy in bed and watch.
I'm generally awake by the noon news.
It's then when I make up my mind to get dressed. My one promise to myself is to take off my pajamas  and put on clothes every day.
It's  my little victory that I can leave the house if I want to.
Many days, getting dressed is as far as it goes. I fire up by computer, check e-mail and Facebook and play a few games before I become contestant number four on "Jeopardy."
I keep my mind as sharp as I can by matching wits with the three contestants who are actually playing for money. Sometimes I think the board is impossible, sometimes it seems easy.
There are days I sleep through my favorite game show. I don't mean to, one minute I'm waiting for it to come one, the next I'm waking up to the news.
Other decisions await. Do I have the energy to make dinner? If I do, am I capable of cleaning up afterward?
After dinner, the pajamas come back on and I might try to read or watch more TV. I  take my evening meds, watch a late night talk show the turn it to a channel that plays things that make me laugh and often fall asleep while they are on, only to run my marathon again the next day.
My friends finally understand I only have a limited amount of energy every day and some days I don't leave my house for things like happy hours, parties or get togethers.
Of course, sometimes I don't have the energy to put on clothes. The days I spend in my pajamas I feel guilty.
Maybe watching someone else run an Iron Man Marathon would make me feel better. Then again, it might just make me more tired.