Anguished was screaming into your ear. The screaming had been going on for days on end and it had been time to make some changes. You knew it was time. You knew because you couldn’t function in all aspects of your life. Morning, noon or night, the eye bags were announced as the winner and the rest of your body dragged behind like the tortoise from “The Tortoise and the Hare”. “Wake up! Wake up!” they’d say. The grocer. The banker. Even the candle stick maker would give their advice for how to get that coveted sleep. “Cut off the ends of a banana and boil it in 2 cups of water for ten minutes, then drink the broth.” “No caffeine after 3 pm.” “Make sure your bed is used as a sanctuary for only sleeping and nothing else; no watching television in bed, for example”. Those were the tips of the iceberg for what you had heard these last weeks. Even your dearest friend had words for you: “I’m really worried about you. It’s like you’ve aged 10 years in the last 30 days. Please get some help.” So you did. You sought medication advice (to help for the short term at the very least) from your doctor. You started listening to pod casts on sleep. You set more routines to train your brain. When it was time to sleep you were much more loving towards yourself than ever before. Even your therapist noticed as sleep hygiene and the challenging of distorted thoughts both became the focus of your sessions. “I’m never going to get any sleep” was changed to “ Every day I sleep a little bit better.” And, gosh, your brain started to thank you for changing your inner dialogue of self talk. You were no longer in distress: you were living again. And sleeping.
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