Mental defrag (opens in new tab)

I can ride out a wave of stress to meet a deadline or finish an emotionally intense activity, but as soon as it’s over and I let myself relax, I hit a wall and become functionally useless, woozy almost. Zombified. It’s not a blood sugar crash, though feels similar. At that point I basically just need to lay down and do nothing for an hour or two. I usually can’t sleep — it’s a different kind of fatigue. I think of it as mental defragging.