No Rest for the Weary

Name: Aaron McKinley 
Status: Engaged, no kids 
Job: Recent MBA graduate, first year junior investment banker.


I don’t even know where to begin. While I was receiving my MBA, I had a pretty set schedule, involving plenty of healthy foods, predictable class schedules, and free time between classes and studying to work out. While attending school, I dabbled in stock-broking, and interned at a private equity fund company for a while, and yet always had time to do what I wanted to do. I was untouchable—so I thought. All of that changed the second I signed my life away—I mean got hired by the firm. Don’t get me wrong, this is no sob story. The salary that I receive for my hard work and the legacy I plan on leaving for my children allow me to sleep easy at night—when I do sleep, that is. I work almost 100 hour work weeks, 7 days a week. To really put the cherry on top, the hours are so unpredictable it is impossible to set a schedule! Client pitches, or new hedge accounts can make my work day go until 4 in the morning, or straight into the next day of work. I would walk you through a typical day in my life, but there is no such thing as a typical day. 


Basically living in my office has posed some major problems not only on my lifestyle, but on my health. I have tried many different ways to stay awake throughout the night. I have tried the ‘mental toughness’ approach to just will myself to stay awake. Needless to say, after waking up with drool on my keyboard and an angry boss standing over me, I have not tried that heroic approach again. Coffee just doesn’t cut it. It gives me a 30 minute caffeine rush, and then I feel sluggish after. I guess if I drink about 100-150 cups a day, that could work…I moved up the caffeine echelon and tried downing popular energy drinks I’ve heard so much about, which actually was the worst choice of all. Besides the awful crash that followed each drink, the energy it created was so artificial I just became jittery and almost violently awake to the point where I was getting less done. As I’ve alluded to a multitude of times, sleep is a rare occurrence for me. I try to squeeze in “power naps” any time I have an hour or two free. When I consume energy drinks, my brain tells me how tired I am, but my body refuses to go to sleep; those drinks don’t let me fall asleep! 


I almost gave up and figured that either my body would eventually adjust to not sleeping, or I would get so sick where I couldn’t work anymore. I almost quit. I almost flushed my dream job, my career, and my life goal right down the toilet. Then I found Phix. It was the PERFECT mix of natural energy; enough where I was awake and focused, but not so much where I became jittery and couldn’t sleep. Due to my lack of sleep, my body became more susceptible to illness with a weakened immune system. All of the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants in Phix also kept me healthy. We get 1 hour per day allotted to us for exercise/stretching (personally, I think it’s to avoid any liability for developing physical problems sitting still for so long)! Anyway, I am usually too tired to do anything, or too jittery to get a good workout in. Ever since I switched to Phix, I have been getting one great hour of yoga, weight lifting, and even some light cardio in every day. It not only makes me feel better about myself, and of course improves my health, but it relieves some of the stress of my busy day. I can’t help but think that Phix was custom-made just for me. It is hard for people like me to live a “normal” healthy life, but I am doing the best I can. Every little bit helps. Alright, well I used my only free 30 minutes of my week to write this, so it’s time to get back to work! 


Aaron