Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Ups and downs are natural and normal and the brain fog and fatigue is difficult. How are you currently responding to those challenges?
The only way you can fail is if you continue engaging in actions that you know won’t get you closer to where you want to be — and, even then, I would argue that’s not a failure but a learning experience.
You have learned that it’s important to you not to take melatonin or Xanax. With that in mind, how might you respond in a different way next time you wake during the night?
When you experience anxiety and thoughts like, “Will I sleep tonight?” (all of which are natural and normal) how do you respond and how is that response working for you?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
It sounds as though you are reclaiming your life from insomnia, thanks to your own commitment to ongoing, meaningful action! I hope you give yourself plenty of credit for that because it’s not easy to do!
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
There are no definite answers to those questions, Chrissie! They are all valid and understandable questions and they come from your problem-solving mind doing its job of looking out for you.
You get to decide how to respond to those thoughts — you could take time out of your day (and your life) to research possible answers and you could return to your old ways of dealing with this (only you know how helpful or effective that would be).
Or, you could acknowledge them, thank your brain for looking out for you, and continue with your day (and your life), and continue working on the new approach that you are exploring in this course.
Remember that your experience tells you sleep cannot be directly or permanently controlled. However, you can always control your actions — and it’s your actions that determine how much power and influence sleep, your thoughts, and your feelings, have over your life.
Progress is a journey of ups and downs and it is never linear — you are practicing new skills here. And, just like when we learn any other new skill there will be times when it feels we are making progress and times when it feels we aren’t. What matters is continuing to practice!
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Thank you for sharing, Chrissie!
I love how you’ve connected the three good things exercise with your own experience as a rookie journalist — curious observation can be so powerful!
The sleep window can be challenging — especially at first! Is your difficulty related to your desire to go to bed in an effort to make sleep happen or is it because you are falling asleep and finding it really hard to stay awake before the sleep window begins?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
I would suggest adding half-hour or so to your average nightly sleep duration — that would give you a sleep window of 6.5 hours. And, I think that if you are finding it really hard to stay awake it’s OK to go to bed up to an hour before your sleep window begins.
It might even be helpful to make the hour before your sleep window begins the last time you check the time until the end of your sleep window and allow yourself to go to bed when you feel sleepy enough for sleep.
Does this help?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
This might be a better question for a personal trainer or physical therapist — what I would throw into the conversation here is that perhaps as you work through the course and build skill in experiencing wakefulness and difficult thoughts and feelings with less struggle you might also find that tension eases up a bit, too.
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Hello @Meganb and welcome to the forum.
Sorry to hear about your ongoing struggle with insomnia. It sounds as though your experience is telling you that medication isn’t a long-term solution for you — and that’s something many people can relate to.
When medication doesn’t seem to work we can feel we are completely out of options because we don’t know of an alternative option or an alternative approach. We can also feel really lost if alternative approaches we tried in the past didn’t work out.
This doesn’t mean we are broken or that our insomnia is unusual or unique. All it means is that we haven’t found the approach that’s right for us.
My six-week online course offers a new approach and since it is based on action — something you can always control — medication use is not of much relevance. Action is what matters.
Do you feel ready, willing, and able to make changes? If so, I think you’ll find my six-week online course helpful.
Does this answer your question?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Hello @lora and welcome to the forum!
What you have described is difficult — your head hurts, your tummy is upset, you are using the bathroom more, your mood is altered, you might cry, you feel exhausted.
In the presence of all that really difficult stuff, you have a choice to make:
1. Do less of what matters and withdraw from life.
2. Acknowledge the presence of all this difficulty, be kind to yourself in return, and continue to do things (perhaps fewer things or less intensive things — but still things!) that are aligned with your values so that keep you moving toward the life you want to live.
You are the expert on you, so only you can decide which choice is right for you at any given time. It’s not about pretending none of this doesn’t exist — it’s about acknowledging that it’s present and that although we might not be able to control it or get rid of it through effort we can always choose how we respond to it.
You can read a bit more about this kind of approach here. I hope this helps and I wish you all the best.
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Thanks for sharing!
It sounds as though you are building skill in experiencing being awake with less struggle. We can’t always make ourselves feel calm or remain calm since that’s a feeling we can’t really directly or permanently control — but we can always choose how we respond to being awake and how we respond to all the thoughts and feelings that might show up with that wakefulness!
How did you realize that you can still function OK if you don’t have a full night of sleep? Was it a case of committing to doing things that mattered, independently of sleep?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Welcome back, @Insomniac1313! What was the best part of your vacation?
It doesn’t sound as though you are doing anything wrong when practicing the AWAKE exercise — and that’s for three reasons.
The first reason is that all that really matters is getting the practice in. Committing to the action of ongoing practice.
The second reason is that this is a new skill. And, developing new skills isn’t easy and it takes time and ongoing practice.
The third reason is that the human mind is always going to wander!
If you are visualizing your thoughts and feelings as clouds in the sky, when you have a new thought — such as you are thinking about how uncomfortable you are and how much you want to be asleep — you can place them as new clouds in the sky.
You are allowing and welcoming all of them to be present and to come and go as they choose — because you know the alternative approach (fight them) only creates a struggle that makes things more difficult.
Remember that, with the AWAKE exercise, you aren’t trying to control, change, or get rid of your thoughts and feelings. You are simply building skill in experiencing them with less struggle — you are building skill in being more of a curious observer of them rather than a raging opponent who is going to war with them!
Does this help?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
I am not a circadian rhythm expert, unfortunately! However, I do have some more questions for you if you’d like to explore this further:
1. When you wake at 5:00 AM and your brain feels alert, what do you do next?
2. Why is waking at 6:00 AM instead of 5:00 AM important to you? If you woke at 6 instead of 5, how would your life be different?
3. Up to now, how have you tried to make yourself wake at 6 instead of 5 and how have those attempts worked out?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Welcome aboard @KSTRATEGIER89 — it sounds as though you have a curious and inquisitive mind and you are ready to make change happen! Change is difficult, but not changing is often even more difficult!
@Chrissie — It’s good to have you here! Your presence is evidence of your growth mindset and your understanding that change and growth is always possible!It makes total sense that you no longer go out at night or entertain because of how you feel after really difficult nights. When you stay home and when you aren’t entertaining, do you feel better? Withdrawing and doing less is completely understandable — how is that working for you? Is it moving you closer to where you want to be?
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Hello Chrissie. I think many people can relate to a past experience of sleeping without effort — and, I think there is often an insight there.
If sleep previously required no effort, that suggests that sleep doesn’t require effort. Perhaps the understandable effort we might be putting into sleep when we find ourselves struggling might be something that’s making it more elusive.
The churning stomach and various thoughts and feelings that show up when you get into bed are difficult and they are natural and normal — they are evidence of your brain doing its job and looking out for you. Quite often it’s when we start trying to fight or avoid all these thoughts or feelings that they get even more difficult.
The fact you are here suggests you are ready to explore and practice a new approach. I wish you all the best and would like to remind you that you are not alone in this. What you are going through feels really difficult because it is really difficult. And, that difficulty is shared among many others who are also going through the struggle.
I wish you all the best as you work through the course.
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Ah yes, nights of less than ideal sleep are still going to show up from time to time — just like less than ideal days!
You clearly have a strong awareness of when you are getting pulled into a struggle and that is a huge reflection of your progress since that awareness means you have the opportunity to respond in a different way 🙂
As you mentioned, you now have a selection of tools available to you — and tools only work when they are used, and we get better at using tools the more practice we get with them!
I wish you all the best!
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
It sounds as though you are fully committed to actions that serve YOU and the life you want to live rather than sleep. As a result, you are far less likely to struggle and you have freed up more energy and attention to do things that matter to you.
As you mentioned, change takes time. It’s also rarely easy and there are going to be ups and downs. You clearly have an awareness of when you are getting pulled back into a struggle and are able to respond in a different way. This is evidence of your growing skill and personal growth 🙂
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
