Jet lag isn’t something you avoid. Instead, you learn to live with it.

The best recommendations serve only to shorten it, but those practices don’t always work.

Sometimes you’re just gonna have a long night with little or no sleep, and then you have to get up shower, brush and dress, and smile your way through the day as if nothing were wrong.

That’s just the way it works.

But you do learn a couple of “No-no” things.

Coffee, strong Starbucks mega-jolts in particular, are a bad idea.

But it’s less from the caffeine than in what it just does to your stomach.

I can sleep jittery. That’s not a big deal. Oh sure, I sleep less if I have caffeine too close to bed time but that’s not as bad as going without any sleep which is what you get with a major upset stomach from some confounded french roast.

So I’ve learned to look at it this way: a sleepless night usually means I’ll get a good sleep the next night.

Look forward to that good sleep, not back to the bad night.

And when the bad night is upon you, read a book. Eventually you will tire and get some rest, or the night will pass and it’ll be time to get started.

Move on. This will pass.