Restart: When Your Body Won’t Follow the Clock | by Tomáš Podešva | Oct, 2025

I stopped talking. For a while, I stopped writing because I spent most of my time sleeping.

It’s not laziness. It’s not weakness. It’s just reality that people don’t want to see.

When You Sleep More Than ‘Normal’ People

Fifteen hours. Sometimes nineteen. Most people think that’s crazy or fake. But for me, and maybe for you too, it’s just necessary. My body takes what it needs. It doesn’t ask permission.

Being tired from work isn’t just feeling tired after a long day. It’s when your body is always running on empty. Every morning is hard. Every evening you tell yourself tomorrow will be better. (It won’t.)

Body Clock vs. Wall Clock

Sometimes I ask myself: Is it fall? Is it the darkness that comes earlier each day? Or is it something bigger — a body clock that just doesn’t match the planet I live on?

Maybe my internal clock runs on 26 hours. Maybe my whole system is slowly getting out of sync with real time. Like my body lives in a different time zone. And the world expects me to work on its schedule.

Is Routine Just for Animals?

I often think — and maybe I’m just making excuses — that routine is for animals. Eat at the same time. Give milk at the same time. Sleep at the same time. Rigid. No flexibility. No matter what you feel or need.

But are we really the only ones who fight against routine? Or is the system just broken for people like us?

At work, I show up at different times every day. Sometimes not at all. Driving would be dangerous — not just for me, but for everyone else. Waiting for the bus means I might fall asleep on the platform. Maybe I’m just lazy. Maybe I’m making excuses. Or maybe I just have a body that works differently.

Medication, Shame, and Hidden Truth

I take medication that affects my mind. Side effects? Tiredness. The same tiredness that makes me sleep fifteen hours. The same tiredness that makes it hard to be a ‘normal’ employee.

Without these meds, I wouldn’t stay healthy and alive for long. But at work, I have to hide them. That’s how it is now. Mental health is popular on social media, but in real life it’s still shameful. You can post about depression on Instagram, but at work you better keep quiet.

That Talk

Today I talked to my boss. Honestly. No sugar-coating. I told him I can’t come to work on a regular schedule. Not because I don’t want to, but because my body and mind just can’t handle it sometimes.

I expected to get yelled at. I expected to get fired. I expected him not to understand.

Instead? He understood. Really. And I felt so much relief. Because knowing him, I didn’t expect that at all.

What This Means for You

Maybe you’re reading this and seeing yourself. Maybe you also sleep more than other people. Maybe you also take meds that make you tired but keep you alive. Maybe you also don’t fit what the world expects.

I want you to know:

Your body is not your enemy. Even when it feels that way. When you need more sleep than ‘normal’ people, that’s not weakness. It’s information. Your body is telling you something — and maybe it’s time to listen instead of fight.

Routine isn’t for everyone. Some people like routine. Others — like us — need flexibility. That doesn’t make us worse. It just makes us different. And that’s okay.

Mental health is not a luxury. Medication is not failing. Therapy is not weakness. Taking care of yourself is not selfish. It’s basic survival in this world.

Being honest can surprise you. When I went to my boss, I was scared. But I told the truth. And the truth, even though it was scary, set me free. It doesn’t always work out — I know. But staying quiet definitely doesn’t solve anything.

Finding your place means making your own rules. Maybe your place isn’t in an office from nine to five. Maybe it’s not somewhere you have to pretend to be like everyone else. And that’s more than okay.

Restart Is Not the End

Going quiet is not failing. Taking time for yourself is not weakness. Sleeping when your body says ‘stop’ is not laziness.

Restart is the beginning. The beginning of finally stopping the act and starting to live the way you need to. Not the way someone else tells you to.

The world is not built for people like us. But that doesn’t mean we don’t belong here. It just means we often have to fight for our place, create it, shape it.

And sometimes it starts by just stopping the fight and starting to work together — with your body, with your mind, with your truth.