I woke up at 2:05 AM and could not go back to sleep. Actually, I did everything that I tell people they should not do. I stayed in bed; I turned on the television and I worried about not being able to fall asleep. I kept telling myself that I was just checking the news to see what had happened in the wee hours of the morning.
So much is happening now. Am I the only one who is on edge? Surely not, but at 2:06 in the morning when I am the only one up, it certainly seems as if I am alone.
I left the sound on the television down so as not to disturb my husband. He could sleep though almost anything. Yes, there just happened to be breaking news. The acting U.S. Attorney General had been fired. Well, almost anyone could see that coming and at 2:07 in the morning, that was not really breaking news. News hounds probably saw it earlier in the evening, but I am sure they were not surprised either.
Having seen the headline, I looked for other up to date breaking news. I surfed my channel directory for news programs. At that point, my brain became quite active. I started wondering what the White House would say. What would reporters say? What would people like me say? My thoughts started to spiral. I knew that I had no answer for any of those questions, so I thought about other things.
I started thinking about blog post content, politics, and pending activities for my work day. I thought about unfinished projects and failed initiatives. I thought about my husband, our daughters and our future. My thoughts were beginning to spiral out of control. So, I considered another tactic.
I thought about getting up and being productive. Some people have told me that when they cannot sleep, they will get up and fold or iron clothes. That has never worked for me. When a person is unable to fall asleep within 30 minutes, we recommend that they get out of bed and do something boring and unstimulating.
I decided to stay in bed, which is totally contrary to my own recommendation. Then I remembered that I totally forgot to download pre-paid graphics. Dang it, my computer was in the study. I would have to get up to get it. Maybe I wouldn’t worry about downloading the graphics.
I worried about the graphics.
To get my mind off the graphic downloads, the breaking news, and to stop my imagination, I pulled out my Kindle Fire. I played a several rounds of my current favorite word puzzle, which usually makes me drowsy. Unfortunately, I saw and began to read the headlines in the Washington Post. I became more and more awake. Perhaps I was not trying to go to sleep. I thought I wanted to go to sleep. Didn’t I want to go to sleep?
Three hours later, I decided to get my computer from the study. It was 5 AM. My husband woke up long enough for me to tell him that I was downloading graphics. He quickly went back to sleep. I downloaded the graphics, turned off the television and fell soundly asleep. I slept until 6:10 AM when my natural clock woke me up.
The next night was different for me. If news broke overnight, I did not know it until the next morning.
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