A few weeks ago in my blog https://fromanintrovertscorner.blog/2025/10/07/living-in-denial/, I wrote about a sleep study I attended and how I was going to need a CPAP machine. My sister in law along my wife added a positive spin to it saying I could be like Darth Vader now. They’re not wrong.

I finally got the machine over the weekend and have begun using it. I wish I had gotten it sooner but between the health insurance along with the sleep center, it felt like I wasn’t going to get the machine until next year.

Lately, I’ve been feeling exhausted, tired, and unmotivated. The stress of work along with the shutdown plus things at home were becoming too much.

I remember with the sleep study that I was still tired but certainly didn’t feel exhausted like I had been.

3 days into using my CPAP machine, I woke up this morning feeling great. Not exhausted. I can’t remember the last time, I felt that way. It’s been forever.

It’s been an adjustment getting used to the face mask on my face and sleeping though. I bought this Tempur-pedic contour neck pillow that I thought would be the answer to my sleep apnea without a machine but I was obviously wrong. Trying to use that pillow along with my CPAP mask has been difficult.

Last night, I went back to my old pillow which is a memory foam and got some good rest. Now I wish I hadn’t spent the $100 for the Tempur-pedic and the pillow cases. As I mentioned in https://fromanintrovertscorner.blog/2025/10/07/living-in-denial/, I was living in denial. I didn’t want to accept that I had a sleeping issue.

In hindsight, I wish I had done this sooner. This means, I’m constantly going to hear from my wife “I told you so” and “I was right”. Today is our 25th wedding anniversary so I’ll admit she’s right…this time. Don’t want to be in the dog house.

Getting back on track, I do wish I wasn’t so stubborn and did this sooner. How much would things be different, if at all? Probably not much different but I’m glad I got over my stubbornness. I’m only 3 days in but hoping for better days ahead of sleeping. Life and work is already stressing me out and I need as much sleep as I can get.

Now time to Google for a Darth Vader CPAP face mask to channel my inner dark side 🙂