Tiny Buddha

Tag: tired

  • You Don’t Have to Be Strong All the Time

    You Don’t Have to Be Strong All the Time

    “Sometimes the strongest thing you can do is to ask for help.” ~Unknown

    We live in a world that praises strength—especially quiet strength. The kind that shows up, gets things done, and rarely complains. The kind that’s resilient, dependable, productive. But what happens when the strong one quietly breaks inside?

    “You are a superwoman!”

    “You’re so reliable!”

    “You’re the glue that holds everyone together.”

    I wore those compliments like badges of honor. For years, I believed them. Not just believed them—I built my identity around them.

    I’ve always been a multitasker. A jack of all trades. I managed work, home, relationships, and a hundred moving pieces in between. I cooked elaborate meals, remembered birthdays, bought thoughtful gifts, checked in on friends regularly, showed up for strangers when needed, pursued hobbies, supported others’ dreams, and pushed through physical pain or emotional fatigue without complaint.

    I was the one people turned to. And if they didn’t turn to me, I turned to them. If someone was going through a hard time, I’d show up with soup, a handwritten card, or a call that stretched for hours. I’d intuit needs before they were spoken.

    And when people said things like “Wow! How do you even manage all this?” or “You’re incredible,” my heart swelled with pride. It felt good to be seen. It felt powerful to be needed.

    But over time, I began to realize something quietly tragic.

    Underneath all that strength was someone tired. Not the kind of tired that sleep could fix—but the kind that comes from years of overriding your own needs for others. The kind that comes from confusing love with over-giving. The kind that sneaks up when you’ve worn the strong-one mask for so long, you don’t know who you are without it.

    I didn’t see it as people-pleasing back then—I truly loved being helpful. I believed that if I could ease someone’s burden, why shouldn’t I? Isn’t that what love looks like? Isn’t that what kindness does?

    But slowly, quietly, invisibly, it was taking a toll on me. My skin had withered, my hair had thinned, and I’d put on weight around my waist.

    As I grew older, I began to feel the shift. The same enthusiasm that once lasted until midnight now faded by sunset. The fatigue wasn’t just physical—it was emotional, spiritual. My body wasn’t breaking down, but my soul was whispering, “You can’t keep carrying everything.”

    And eventually, I listened.

    Because something beautiful and painful hit me all at once:

    Strength isn’t about holding it all together. Sometimes, real strength is in knowing when to let go.

    It’s in saying, “I don’t want to be strong today.”

    It’s in resting, without needing to earn it.

    It’s in telling the truth when someone asks, “How are you?” and answering, “I’m actually not okay.”

    It’s in giving yourself permission to be fully, messily, unapologetically human.

    The world doesn’t tell us that. It tells us to hustle. To push. To keep going. That rest is a reward, not a right. That slowing down is weakness. That softness is fragility.

    But now I know that softness is a kind of strength too. A brave kind. A kind that doesn’t scream or perform—it just is.

    So, How Do You Begin Letting Go of the “Strong One” Role?

    Letting go doesn’t mean giving up on your values. It means loosening the grip on the pressure to be everything to everyone. It means rewriting what strength means to you. Here’s how I began doing that:

    1. Check in with yourself daily.

    Ask: What do I need today?

    Not what’s on my to-do list or who needs me, but what would make me feel centered right now?

    Sometimes the answer is water. Sometimes it’s stillness. Sometimes it’s movement, or tears, or music. You won’t know unless you pause to ask. Even five minutes of silence—before bed, in the shower, or while sipping your tea—can reconnect you to yourself.

    2. Learn to receive help.

    You don’t have to carry everything alone. Let someone else cook the meal. Let someone else take the lead. If someone offers support, don’t reflexively say “I’m fine” or “I’ve got it.” Say thank you. Let them show up for you.

    I remember one day telling a friend that I was exhausted and just not in the mood to cook. She offered to send over food, and I accepted it—with gratitude and relief.

    Letting someone care for you like that doesn’t make you weak; it makes you human. Accepting help builds connection, allows others to show love, and often brings a quiet joy that’s just as nourishing as the support itself.

    3. Let go of the applause.

    Here’s the hard truth: validation feels amazing—but it can also be a trap. You start doing things not because you want to, but because others expect it from you. The cycle is addictive.

    Ask yourself: Would I still do this if no one noticed or clapped?

    If the answer is no, give yourself permission to step back. Choose joy over performance. Choose peace over praise.

    4. Set soft boundaries.

    You don’t need to explain or justify your “no.”

    For years, I would justify mine, feeling the need to explain or defend it. Slowly, I began changing the narrative. Now, I gently and unapologetically say, “I’d love to help, but I don’t have the capacity right now.” “Can I get back to you on this?”“I need some time for myself this weekend.”

    Boundaries aren’t about pushing people away—they’re about protecting your inner landscape. The more you honor them, the more spacious, calm, and kind your life becomes.

    5. Redefine what it means to be strong.

    We’ve been taught that strength is about endurance, resilience, and never showing weakness. But real strength can also be quiet, tender, and human.

    I remember one day, completely overwhelmed, a close friend came to check on me. When she asked how I was, I couldn’t hold it in—I just broke down. She didn’t try to fix anything; she simply held me, letting me pour out everything I’d been carrying. And in that moment, I felt lighter than I had in months.

    Strength isn’t always in doing more. Sometimes it’s in being fully present with yourself, in your softness, in taking a pause, and in saying “not today” without guilt.

    6. Prioritize rest like you would a deadline.

    Rest isn’t laziness. It’s fuel. It’s sacred.

    You don’t need to wait for burnout to rest. You don’t need to finish everything on your list to earn stillness. Schedule it. Guard it. Honor it.

    Make rest a daily ritual—not a rare luxury. Your body, mind, and spirit will thank you.

    Once I began prioritizing rest, I noticed a shift—not just in my energy, but in my clarity, mood, and ability to truly show up for myself and others. Life felt lighter, and I finally understood that honoring my body wasn’t selfish—it was necessary.

    To Those Who’ve Always Been the Strong Ones

    If you’ve always been the caregiver, the doer, the reliable one… I see you. I honor you.

    But I want to remind you of something you may have forgotten:

    You don’t need to prove your worth through over-functioning. You don’t need to sacrifice your well-being to be loved. You don’t have to keep showing up as the “strong one” when your heart is quietly asking for a break.

    You were never meant to carry it all.

    You can take the cape off now. You can exhale. You can cry. You can be soft. You can ask for help. You can choose rest. You can let someone hold space for you.

    Because you’ve already done enough. Because you are enough. And because strength isn’t about how much you carry—it’s about knowing when to let go.

    Let your new strength be rooted in gentleness. Let your softness lead. Let your heart exhale.

  • Always Exhausted? Native Wisdom to Restore Your Energy

    Always Exhausted? Native Wisdom to Restore Your Energy

    TRIGGER WARNING: This post references sexual assault and may be triggering to some people.

    “Spirit carved by Nature
    Here I am.
    Slowly ascending
    toward my own profundity.”
    ~Elicura Chihuailaf

    That exhaustion you feel when your body is fighting something, the feeling of being completely drained to the point where you can barely move your body…. that’s how I felt when I was living with trauma.

    Over the years it had piled up inside of me—the sexual assault I survived one night after I’d just turned twenty, the physical and emotional abuse that went on almost daily when I lived with my ex-husband… all of it was still living inside of me. And every day it was making me feel more and more tired.

    The difference is, when we come down with, let’s say, a cold, once we fight it and heal, our energy returns, and we feel like ourselves again. But trauma… again, it’s different. At least in this culture; more on that in a little bit.

    That’s why I never “got over” it. I never got my energy back; I never woke up feeling rested or like I was back to being myself. Not until eight years later.

    Too Tired to Listen

    From a very young age, our people are taught the importance of listening… especially to energy. We recognize that energy is in everything that’s alive, from the forest to a rock, the water, the sun, all animals, and, of course, ourselves. And energy will always “speak” to let us know when something is out of balance.

    It’s hard to listen in this culture, though, even as an Indigenous person who comes from these teachings, and even though I’m only the first generation in my family to live in Western society. It’s hard because here we are distracted and so tired of just trying to survive.

    Whatever energy we have has to go to work so that we can pay our bills, rent, food, and whatever else is needed. We don’t have the support of our communities, where everyone helps each other out, growing food, caring for those who are sick or injured, and even raising children. At least that’s how it was in my community, on our reservation, before so many of us were forced to leave.

    It takes a lot of energy to do everything alone, as most of us do in this culture. That’s why so many of us don’t see any other option but to push through, and as a result, we forget to listen.

    Back then, if I’d listened instead of feeling guilt and shame for not doing enough, I would’ve understood myself better. I would’ve shown myself more compassion and known that my energy was telling me something was off.

    The fact that I could barely get out of bed and jumped at any chance to doze off: in parking lots in my car, at work behind some boxes in the stockroom, in bed while watching Friends. It wasn’t laziness or a lack of motivation. It was me, still trying to survive what I’d been through.

    Not Living, Busy Surviving

    While we don’t always think of the stress we go through or even the trauma that happened in our past as something that would be considered surviving—and if we do think of it as surviving, it’s usually past tense—it is how our energy and body respond.

    And what’s important to remember about energy and ourselves as nature is that we don’t have an endless amount of it. We’re not like our laptops or phones, with a charger that you can just plug in and recharge. That means when your energy is focused on surviving, it doesn’t have enough left to take care of you.

    Going back to the comparison of having a cold. When you go to sleep, your body doesn’t just stop fighting the virus, right? It continues while you sleep, which is why you wake up feeling exhausted.

    Stress and trauma work the same way. Just because you’re lying down, resting on your couch, or going to sleep, that doesn’t mean your body (and energy) stops protecting you.

    Think of a deer trying to escape a hunter. At that moment, their energy can only focus on survival, right? It’s not until they get away and find safety that their energy changes back to its natural state, balance, because then they don’t need to try to survive anymore.

    But let’s say this deer is living in a place that is not their natural environment. Instead of open meadows and deep forests, there’s a high chain-link fence trapping the deer with the hunter. The deer runs and desperately tries to find a way out, a place to be safe, but can’t find it.

    Eventually, the deer will become tired and lie down because, like us, the deer can’t fight for survival forever.

    My life back then was not focused on living. It was almost exclusively focused on sleep and coming up with excuses so that I wouldn’t have to leave my bed. And to no surprise, my friends eventually got fed up with me always turning them down, so they stopped calling. While I was relieved to not have to come up with excuses anymore, I felt lonelier than ever.

    That’s the strange thing about survival, or it’s not strange; it makes a lot of sense. When we’re in this state, we don’t want to be alone, but at the same time, we’re also too tired to be around people. Or to pick up the phone or answer calls or texts from loved ones. We want to, but there’s not enough inside of us to make us do it.

    So we hide behind the walls we build to protect ourselves, while at the same time, wishing for a way out.

    It was only meant to be temporary.

    It was never meant to be this way. Survival is meant to be temporary, to protect you, to help you through something, to keep you alive. That’s why you were born with responses to finish it. That’s why you were born with the ability to heal, just as you heal from any other wound or when you’re sick.

    It’s the laws of nature, or else life could never continue.

    And like the deer, when your nge, your energy, knows you’re safe, it changes the message it sends to your body: from doing everything to protect you to taking care of you.

    What keeps us stuck in survival, too drained and exhausted to live our lives, is living in a culture that keeps trying to convince us that we’re not nature and that these responses we have had to be controlled, even stopped.

    Think about the responses you have that would make you embarrassed if they happened around other people, or would make you think of yourself as “weak” but are completely natural. Crying, trembling, shaking.

    Here we learn to look at ourselves as humans without human responses, and it has consequences.

    Too many people are now living too exhausted to engage with life because they can’t finish survival. They don’t know about the gifts nature gave them to heal from trauma and release stress from their bodies. That what comes in must come out, and what starts must finish.

    The arrogance of this dominant culture is thinking they can do better than, and even replace, nature. And the danger of a homogeneous societal culture is that it makes us believe it too.

    Conclusion

    Remember that no matter how strong and resilient you are, your energy can only do so much at a time.

    When you go to sleep, that’s when nothing else is going on and your body can focus on taking care of you. But if it still has to survive what you went through in your past, it can’t do that. No amount of bubble baths, journaling, Tempur-Pedic pillows, medications, or talking it over with logic will change the fact that survival has to end.

    It wasn’t until I healed from trauma (a reality that unfortunately causes a lot of suspicion in this culture) that I finally started feeling rested.

    And that’s the bottom line—no matter how much you sleep, your body can’t truly rest until it feels you’re safe.

    Just like the land we walk on and the water that gives us life, our bodies come with powerful abilities that, today, only ancestral Indigenous wisdom can help us remember and return to. Not just for a good night’s sleep but for all the things we miss when we’re too tired to live our lives.

    We just need to listen.

  • Free 7-Day Sleep Challenge: Meditations, Tips, and Tools for a Restful Night

    Free 7-Day Sleep Challenge: Meditations, Tips, and Tools for a Restful Night

    Does stress cause sleepless nights, or does a lack of sleep cause stress?

    Both have been true for me, especially since becoming a parent, and I’m guessing for you too.

    When life gets challenging, it’s hard to shut your brain off at night.

    You know it’s important to get a good night’s sleep. You know you feel better in the day when you’re well-rested. But it’s hard to relax, physically and mentally, when you have a lot on your mind. It’s like there’s a tornado inside your head, and all the sheep-counting in the world couldn’t pull you out.

    And when you haven’t gotten adequate rest, it’s hard to function and deal with, well, anything. You feel on edge, easily irritated, and perhaps both foggy and jittery—like you can’t think clearly, and yet you can’t stop thinking… because you have a lot to do and figure out, and you can’t afford to stop just because you’re tired.

    If you’ve experienced your share of restless nights and exhausted days, and you’d like to improve your sleep routine, I highly recommend the 7-Day Sleep Challenge, from Mindfulness.com.

    This challenge was designed to help you make good sleep a lasting habit so you can become a healthier, happier you.

    Led by mindfulness teacher and international speaker Cory Muscara, the challenge provides daily emails with practical advice to quickly improve your sleep, nightly audio coaching sessions, and a corresponding meditation for each, to guide your mind and body toward better rest.

    This FREE 7-Day Sleep Challenge is for you if:

    • You can’t go to sleep at night, and you wake up tired
    • You wake up in the middle of the night and lie there for hours trying to get back to sleep
    • You feel reactive throughout the day and small things set you off
    • You don’t have the energy to do the things you enjoy
    • You frequently complain about lack of focus and poor memory
    • You are ready to make good sleep a habit

    Benefits of Better Sleep

    When we get the recommended seven-plus hours of sleep, we enjoy a wide range of benefits:

    • Increased focus and productivity
    • Strengthened immune system
    • Lower risk of heart disease and stroke
    • Decreased risk of diabetes
    • Improved memory
    • Decreased stress, anxiety, and depression
    • Balances excessive weight fluctuations
    • Decreased risk of chronic diseases

    Life is just plain better when you’re well-rested.

    You feel calmer, more energized, and better able to focus and enjoy your day, and you’re far less likely to say and do things you’ll  later regret. Which means good sleep not only boosts your physical and mental health, it can also improve your relationships.

    And odds are you’ll also feel better about yourself when you’re showing up as the person you want to be—not an easily irritated zombie who can’t wait to collapse into bed (only to toss, turn, and stress about how few hours you have left to sleep before another draining day).

    Ready to sleep your way to a healthier, happier you? Click here to take the FREE 7-Day Sleep Challenge and get the tools you need to wind down and fall asleep more easily and get the restorative rest you need to be your best!

  • Love Yourself Until You’re Restored

    Love Yourself Until You’re Restored

  • How to Beat Insomnia and Get a Good Night’s Sleep (A Spiritual Approach)

    How to Beat Insomnia and Get a Good Night’s Sleep (A Spiritual Approach)

     

    “Our spiritual mission is not to ignore the darkness, but to bring light to the darkness.” ~Marianne Williamson                              

    It’s 3:17 a.m. You’ve been staring at the clock since 1:42 a.m., mind racing, body tense. In five hours you’re going to have to drag yourself to work, terrified that you’re going to fall asleep at your desk—again.

    If you have trouble sleeping, you’re not alone. I know what it feels like to lie awake, reliving mistakes, making lists of things that might go wrong, waiting for sleep that never seems to come.

    In fact, almost one-third of the adult population in the US has trouble falling asleep from time to time. Ten percent of us have long-term insomnia, which means we struggle to fall asleep at least three nights a week for over three months.

    Whether you have a wakeful night once in a while or find yourself lying awake all the time, here are some new ways to think about and deal with insomnia that could change the way you feel about those sleepless nights. 

    Preparing for Sleep

    Using the following Feng Shui techniques can help turn your bedroom into a sanctuary that invites relaxation and encourages a good night’s sleep.

    Clean Out the Clutter

    Begin by getting rid of anything in your bedroom that isn’t useful or doesn’t bring you joy. Clean out the clutter from under your bed, the back of your closet, and all your drawers. Dust out the corners of the room and make your bed. According to the National Sleep Foundation, people who make their beds are 20% more likely to get a good night’s sleep.

    Remove or turn off as many electronics as possible. If you choose to have a phone or personal device in the room, keep it as far from the bed as possible. That blue light from your device can inhibit the production of melatonin, which helps you fall asleep.

    Engage Your Senses

    Once your bedroom is clean and clutter-free, turn it into a welcoming retreat by finding ways to appeal to your senses.

    First, surround yourself with soft colors. Focus on pastels or earth tones, no black floors or walls. An occasional splash of vibrant color is fine, but the overall effect should be soothing and peaceful.

    To bring balance to the room and help you feel safe as you sleep, make sure the head of your bed is against a wall, the bed is easily accessible from both sides, and the bedside tables are a match in size and proportion.

    If you’re bothered by noise, try using a white noise machine, or play some soothing music to help you unwind.

    To appeal to your sense of smell, use a diffuser with scented essential oils. Lavender and jasmine are great for helping you relax.

    Every fabric that touches your skin should be soft and inviting. Your sheets should be the best quality you can afford. If you haven’t replaced your pillow in this century, it’s time for a new one. Your mattress should support your weight comfortably. If it’s more than ten years old or it sags in the middle, replace it.

    Making your bedroom into a safe, comforting sanctuary is a wonderful way to help ease insomnia.

    Getting to Sleep

    Acupressure

    Acupressure works by removing energy blockages in your body and restoring the flow of qi (life energy) throughout your body. This renewed flow of the life force helps bring a sense of calm and balance to your body, mind, and spirit, paving the way to a good night’s sleep.

    One of the most effective acupressure points for insomnia is called “The Spirit Gate.”

    To find this point, place your right thumb on the horizontal crease of your left wrist, in line with your little finger. Press or massage the point gently for a minute or two while you breathe deep into your belly. Repeat on the other hand.

    Continue, alternating sides, until you feel both your body and spirit relax.

    Qigong

    This technique is my favorite stress-buster. I often use it after a long, hard day to ease the tension in my body and soothe my anxious spirit. It comes from The Qigong Workbook for Anxiety, by Master Kam Chuen Lam, and is called “Overwhelmed, Lying Down, in the Middle of the Night.”

    Begin by lying on your back in bed, arms at your sides. While your heels remain on the bed, lift your toes so your feet are at right angles to your legs and you feel a stretch up the back of your legs.

    Turn your palms toward your thighs. Clench your fists and curl them inward until you feel a stretch in your wrists. As you squeeze your fists as tightly as possible, lift your head and look at your toes. Breathe in and hold your breath to a count of four. Then breathe out with a whoosh, relaxing your body at the same time.

    I suggest you repeat this pose up to six times or until you’re fully relaxed and ready to drift off to sleep.

    The Sacred Hours

    If you’re like me, you may have had no trouble getting to sleep but find yourself wide awake in the middle of the night. And if you’re a worrier like me, you can lie awake for hours, worrying about the undone project at work, the annoying thing your sister said, or the strange noise your car’s been making.

    Worst of all is the fear there’s something’s wrong with you and that you’ll never sleep again. Believe me, I know all about the vicious cycle of worry leading to insomnia and insomnia leading to more worry.

    What broke that cycle for me was learning that waking up in the middle of the night is a perfectly normal function of the human body. Believe it or not, before the invention of the light bulb brought us artificial light, people traditionally slept in two distinct segments.

    The first segment of sleep began in the early evening (starting between 7:00pm and 8:00pm). This first sleep was followed by a wakeful period of a few hours in the middle of the night (usually around midnight) and was followed by a second sleep through morning.

    For thousands of years, people used this time to think, pray, read, or even go visiting. Today research suggests that the time between those sleep segments is a good time to meditate, create, and imagine.

    Once I understood that segmented sleep was normal, I stopped yelling at myself for being awake, and I stopped trying to force myself to sleep. Instead, I began using those wakeful hours as an opportunity to reimagine my environment, rethink my self-care, and reconnect with both my spirit and my creativity.

    How about you? Does the idea of segmented sleep change the way you feel about your insomnia? Can you think of any way you could use that time to improve your life?

    Here are some techniques I use that you might find helpful. Try them all and see what works best for you.

    Meditate

    If you already have a meditation practice, this quiet time is perfect for making a connection with your inner spirit.

    If you don’t know how to mediate or find meditation difficult, just start noticing your breath as it moves in and out of your body. With each inhale, focus on the word “in.” With each exhale, focus on the word “out.” Notice how cool the air is as you breathe in and how warm the breath is as you breathe out. As you continue breathing, notice how, over time, your body relaxes and continues to sink deep into an ever-growing sense of peace.

    If you have trouble meditating on your own, listen to a guided meditation CD or app.

    Think Positive

    Instead of spending time reliving all the missteps and mistakes you’ve made in the past, why not use this time to focus on all the things that have gone well?

    If you don’t know where to begin, here are some prompts I use to get started:

    I’m glad I tried…

    I’m proud that I…

    I’m thankful for…

    I’m happy I have….

    I love being with…

    I appreciate …

    I had fun…

    I savored….

    All right, maybe you’re going through a tough time. Maybe you’re dealing with a recent loss or are facing a difficult challenge, and you’re struggling to find a single thing to be grateful for.

    Don’t give up. I promise you, no matter how bad things seem right now, there’s something in your life to be grateful for. Look for small joys, moments of pleasure, or unexpected beauty.

    Are you grateful for the warmth of your bed? Or that you have a great support system? Maybe you’ve recently enjoyed a great meal or heard a song that you liked. Be gentle with yourself. Just coming up with one or two things you appreciate can make a big difference in how you feel and how you sleep.

    If things are going well in your life, why not make a game of seeing how many things you can come up with to be grateful for? Can you find ten things to celebrate? A hundred? More?

    A positive shift in your thinking brings an inner sense of calm that can help you ease into a restful sleep.

    Forgive

    What if you used this peaceful time to let go of an old hurt, anger, hate, or shame? The burdens you’ve been carrying around for so long weigh you down. Releasing them can make your life easier and your sleep more restful.

    Think a minute. Is there someone you could forgive? Is there a situation you would like to put behind you? Do you need to forgive yourself?

    If you’re ready to release this old pain, begin by focusing on the person or situation you would like to forgive or let go. When you bring it, or them, to mind, what do you feel in your body? Where do you feel it?

    To let go of that pain, put your hand over the place in your body where that pain lives. Now, imagine that pain is slowly dissolving under the heat of your hand and draining out of your body into the ground below. As you breathe out, let go of those old hurts. As you breathe in, welcome a new sense of light and love.

    Continue until you feel a deep sense of calm and you gently drift towards sleep.

    Get Up

    Finally, if you still can’t sleep, consider getting up and doing something restful or creative.

    This is not a time to tackle a work project, answer emails, clean, or do anything that causes you stress. This is a time to explore who you are and to get in touch with your heart and your soul.

    Relax

    Sip a cup of herbal tea. Read something that uplifts your heart. Do a puzzle. Knit. Gaze up at the stars. Follow the path of the moon across the sky. Just sit and soak in the peace and quiet. Try a yoga pose or two if that feels relaxing, or maybe take a warm shower to help ease any muscles that feel tense.

    Create

    This is also a great time to write or draw in a journal. (It’s better to go old school here and use a paper and pen. The blue light from a personal device can keep you awake.)

    You could also use this time to sketch, write music, write a poem, or try your hand at that novel you’ve always wanted to write. (But no working on anything that causes you stress. The idea here is to enjoy the act of creation, not to judge or critique your work.)

    Another idea is to write a letter of gratitude to someone who helped you when you needed it or a letter of encouragement to someone who could use a kind word. Or you could write a letter of encouragement and support to yourself.

    Reassess

    After twenty minutes, check back in with your body. How is it feeling? Are your shoulders relaxed? How about your belly? Your jaw?

    If you’re feeling physically relaxed and emotionally calm, try going back to bed. If you’re still tense, wait another twenty minutes, then check in again. At that point, no matter how you feel, climb back into bed for twenty minutes knowing that it’s perfectly normal to still be awake, and that you will eventually fall into a deep, restful sleep.

    —

    No matter what’s keeping you awake at night, there’s always a way to bring some light into the darkness, to care for your heart and soul with kindness, and to love yourself through the night.

  • 5 Signs You Don’t Know What Your Body Needs

    5 Signs You Don’t Know What Your Body Needs

    “The body is a multilingual being. It speaks through its color and its temperature, the flush of recognition, the glow of love, the ash of pain, the heat of arousal, the coldness of nonconviction. It speaks through its constant tiny dance, sometimes swaying, sometimes a-jitter, sometimes trembling. It speaks through the leaping of the heart, the falling of the spirit, the pit at the center, and rising hope.” ~Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves

    We read about all these things we “should” be doing for self-care, so we add them to our to-do list and rarely, if ever, cross them off.

    Most of us have such busy schedules, we move on fast-forward without getting any closer to the end of our list. We end up running on autopilot to the point that we ignore most of what our body tries to tell us it needs in order to look and feel our best.

    Just getting through our to-do list each day can take a toll on our body and mind. But what’s becoming more apparent is that not slowing down, not listening to our body, can be detrimental to our health—and our looks!

    At some point, I realized that I was on autopilot so often that it felt physically impossible to fit healthy eating into my routine. I tried so hard to eat the “right” foods and would always end up binging on pizza or some other junk food when I thought no one was looking. I felt so much shame and distress from trying so hard, and yet nothing changed.

    What I didn’t realize is that my body had been sending me signals all along to lead me in the right direction, but I was completely clueless. Autopilot had taken over my life, and not to mention, my body’s energy, luster, and shape. Not cool.

    So how do you know if you’re running on autopilot and are disconnected from what your body needs to function and look its best? Read these signs and see if they sound familiar.

    Sign #1: You don’t know if you have any food allergies or sensitivities.

    Do you ever wonder if you’re one of the millions of people with a gluten sensitivity or a dairy intolerance? If it turns out that you are, your body has tried to tell you multiple times.

    Common symptoms of gluten sensitivities are bloating, frequent headaches, constipation, diarrhea, skin issues, sluggishness, and so much more. Common symptoms of lactose intolerance are congestion, bloating, abdominal pain, acne, and migraines. If you’ve ever experienced any of these, your body is trying to tell you something.

    I started birth control as a teenager, since it was the only thing I knew that actually worked to keep my acne under control. At times it was so bad, my mom let me skip school to avoid embarrassment.

    When I became an adult, I tried many times to get off of it but each time I did, my skin broke out again. Adult acne felt even worse. It wasn’t until I limited wheat and dairy that I was able to get off birth control and my skin finally cleared up for good.

    Contrary to what we tend to believe, symptoms like these aren’t normal! It’s your body’s way of telling you a serious change is needed. Seriously.

    Sign #2: You frequently aren’t sure if you’re actually hungry or not.

    How often do you find yourself staring blankly into your pantry wondering if you’re truly hungry or if you’re just bored?

    In the past, I’d go to my fridge, open it up and give it a good hard stare, close it, and then walk away—only to find myself doing it again minutes later. Was I hungry? Was I craving something? I had no clue if my own body was hungry or not! I felt so frustrated and annoyed with myself for doing this time and time again.

    It sounds counterintuitive, but many of us don’t have an appetite the majority of the day simply because we just don’t eat enough food. Our body ends up holding onto every morsel we feed it for dear life.

    It’s a genuine a survival instinct. If your body doesn’t know if it’s going to get enough at its next meal, it sends mixed signals. But when your body is getting enough nutrients, you won’t have to question whether you’re hungry or not.

    Sign #3: You swear to have zero willpower when it comes to processed food.

    Does it seem like no matter how hard to try to eat healthy, you always end up choosing the food you know you’ll regret?

    Whenever I’d go through one of my clean eating phases, I’d inevitably be the girl hiding in the corner stuffing her face with the muffin she never liked to begin with. I’d be so angry with myself for not having more self-control and then feel so ashamed. I’d repeat silently to myself over and over, “What’s wrong with you? Why do you keep doing this?”

    A lack of willpower is our body’s way of telling you it needs specific nutrients (hello chocolate! magnesium needed), nostalgia (let’s recreate an old memory), or even yearnings (how alive will I feel if I eat this).

    If you pay attention to what your body is feeling physically during these moments, you may notice your throat constricting or heaviness in your belly. I argue that there’s no such thing as willpower. Your body needs something and it’s not necessarily food related.

    Sign #4: You have no idea why you’re so tired and craving junk food every afternoon like clockwork.

    Do you feel sluggish at 2:00 to 3:00 pm on a daily basis? And then find yourself reaching for the first extra sweet or salty thing you can get your hands on?

    When my afternoon slump came, all I knew is that I was so dang tired… and craving carbs and sugar like a fiend! Enter vending machine with salty chips and sweet candy bars to the rescue. I’d feel so lethargic and just awful. This vicious cycle had me exhausted and ultimately is what made realize I had to do something. I had to make a change.

    Your body’s ravenous afternoon cravings are a message. They’re screaming at you, “I need nutrients! I need fuel!” Chances are, you haven’t fed it what it needs throughout the day and your body’s only way to get through to you is to intensify your cravings.

    Sign #5: You feel extreme emotions without rhyme or reason.

    Do you ever have days where you feel like you want to scream or cry for absolutely no reason at all?

    Formerly, I sometimes experienced this during a TV show or movie. The characters would say or do something that wasn’t particularly scary or exciting, but it triggered something and I felt an urge to start bawling. It was really unnerving to realize I could cry my heart out for no apparent reason at all.

    Our nature is to take the easy route—to push any heightened emotions aside and go on with our day. (We always have so much to do, right?!) But emotions need to be felt. Otherwise, they can manifest by coming out at unexpected moments or even physically in our bodies through hair loss, skin rashes, weight gain/loss, etc.

    Your body is a magical and wise teacher. Every ache, pain, symptom, and craving is a gift in its own way.

    Think of how many chronic illnesses that are diet related. Here are some to name a few: diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dental health, osteoporosis, asthma … The negative symptoms you’re experiencing today are your body’s way of doing what it can to help you prevent a disease from manifesting in your body tomorrow.

    My mom found out she has breast cancer a couple years ago. Since then, she’s completely transformed her diet and lifestyle, and from what we can tell, the cancer has regressed.

    She’s always struggled with extreme allergies and health issues. I can’t help but wonder, what if she had listened to her body and made these changes before the cancer progressed? How much less scared and stressed would our family be? (Now she’s feeling better than she did before her diagnosis!)

    I’m not suggesting that anyone who has cancer is to blame for their diagnosis, or that dietary and lifestyle changes alone will cure it, but simply that our diet affects our health in more ways than we know.

    I learned through her story and now I’m doing the best I can to take note of every little ache, pain, flush, color, craving, and emotion of my body… before I end up with the kind of life-changing hardship that’s far more than just gaining a few pounds or adult acne.

    If your body is experiencing a persisting symptom, it’s telling you something. Listen.

    If you’re feeling an extreme emotion, your body has something it needs to feel. Let it.

    If any of these signs resonate with you, try this: Put one hand on your belly, the other on your heart and say this aloud, “Dear body, I’m sorry for not listening and not making you the priority. I really do want the best for you. I love you. I’m listening.”

    Slow down and be mindful of the signs your body is sending. And instead of adding more things to your to-do list, you’ll gradually feel more confident about what your body needs to move naturally in a positive, healthier direction.

  • How To Wake Up Feeling Confident, Relaxed, And Productive

    How To Wake Up Feeling Confident, Relaxed, And Productive

    Woman in Bed

    “Morning is wonderful. Its only drawback is that it comes at such an inconvenient time of day.” ~Glen Cook

    Beep! Beep! Beep!

    Time’s up.

    You’ve got twenty minutes to shower, get dressed, eat, and get to work.

    Screw it—skip the shower today. And you can wait till lunch to eat.

    Go! Go! Go!

    We all know the feeling. These mornings suck.

    From the moment you wake up you’re in a constant rush to get ready for work and out the door on time.

    By the time you arrive you’re stuck in a frenzied state of mind, never able to settle into the day.

    And if there’s traffic, forget it. Between knuckle-headed drivers, hitting every red light, and showing up late looking like a wreck, your entire day is ruined before you’ve even clocked in.

    The question is, why do we do this to ourselves?

    We sleep in as late as possible and jump out of bed, desperate to get ready quickly so we won’t look like Cinderella riding home in a pumpkin because she couldn’t manage her time.

    The good news is you don’t need a fairy godmother or glass slippers to have a more productive, relaxing morning and get to work on time.

    You only need two things: the mindset to make it happen and a simple strategy to set yourself up for success.

    Only you can control the first. Going from someone who could never get out of bed on time to an early bird who wakes up at 5:30 seven days a week, I know all about the second.

    These are the steps that contribute to what I call my perfect morning.

    1. Add two, subtract two.

    The biggest reason your mornings are rushed and unproductive is because you don’t give yourself enough time.

    With the exception of true night owls, most occupy themselves late at night doing the unimportant, like watching TV, surfing the web, and overeating.

    For many, it’s easier to get things done in the morning because there are fewer distractions.

    The solution: Go to bed two hours earlier and wake up two hours earlier.

    If you can’t make the switch that easily, wake up fifteen minutes earlier every few days and build on that until you’ve reach two hours.

    Instead of staying up late staring at a screen, do yourself a favor and get some sleep so tomorrow you’re relaxed and ready for the day.

    2. Put your phone/alarm across the room.

    There are two problems with keeping your phone within reach while you sleep.

    First, you’re prone to check it. Science has shown screen time at night tricks our brains into thinking it’s daytime, which decreases levels of melatonin (the sleep chemical), making it harder to fall asleep.

    Second, the dreaded snooze button. When you fragment sleep by snoozing, you wake up feeling more tired than you did in the first place.

    Putting your phone across the room eliminates both issues. You’ll fall asleep faster without distractions and set yourself up for success in the morning, so you wake up and stay up.

    3. Gratitude first.

    Have you ever noticed after a rough morning it seems your whole day goes that way?

    You stub your toe first thing out of bed and then get stuck in a negative mindset you can’t escape.

    The best technique I use to prevent this is to say “thank you” as soon as I open my eyes.

    Doing this puts myself in position to notice the good in my life rather than let the bad things affect me.

    Start your morning with a positive attitude and put yourself on the path to a great day.

    4. Start with enjoyment.

    Some people thrive on rolling out of bed to bust out 100 pushups to start their day.

    For most people, this doesn’t work.

    Our body needs a chance to wake up. You’re still in a dream state anywhere from five to thirty minutes after waking.

    I like to do something that relaxes me into the day, like having tea while I read.

    Instead of rushing, a calm awakening helps transition your mind while your body adjusts, setting the rest of your day up for success.

    5. Avoid all news/media.

    This habit is hard for some to break. They feel it’s irresponsible to not stay informed about what’s happening in the world.

    But the news is downright depressing. It’s difficult to have a positive mindset when you start the day hearing about all the terrible things going on in the world.

    Yes, it’s good to stay informed, but not at the expense of your own well-being.

    Do yourself a favor and avoid all negative media in the morning. If you have to watch the news, wait until you get home from work.

    In terms of happier mornings, it’s the best decision you’ll ever make.

    6. Fuel your body.

    Our bodies are like cars. With the tank full, a car will save gas and run longer.

    After a night of sleep your body hasn’t had any fuel for hours.

    Drinking lots of water and eating high energy foods like berries or oatmeal helps wake up your internal organs to give you the energy you need for the day.

    Your body will tell you what it wants if you’re willing to listen. Work with your body rather than against it and your body will return the favor.

    7. Complete your most important task first.

    Dan Ariely, a leader in the field of time management, suggests our highest quality hours of production are the first two hours after waking.

    The problem is that most waste their most productive hours doing tedious tasks like checking email or frantically rushing to get ready.

    This concept changed my life. Instead of lying around doing nothing, I now spend the majority of my morning getting my #1 task of the day done.

    The best part is even if everything else goes wrong, you can rest assured knowing you still completed priority number one.

    8. Pick out clothes the night before.

    Tim Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Work Week, explains we only have a certain amount of willpower for making decisions each day before reaching “decision fatigue.”

    He says, “We have a finite amount of mental resources. The more decisions you rack up in one area, the fewer you can use on another.”

    By avoiding simple decisions in the morning, by picking clothes the night before and planning breakfast ahead, you’ll be more confident in making the bigger decisions that actually matter.

    9. Leave for work twenty minutes early.

    Best-case scenario: you show up early, your boss is impressed, and you’re able to relax into the day.

    By leaving early, you don’t have to worry about getting stuck in traffic. You can enjoy the ride and appreciate having a means of transportation to get to work.

    If you work from home, give yourself extra time to get into work mode. You’re still a professional; don’t wait until last second to rush into phone calls and sales meetings.

    Don’t ruin a perfectly good morning by waiting until last second to rush to work.

    Leave early, get there early, and observe how much better your day is without any needless rushing.

    Start Now

    You don’t need to be a morning person to take advantage of time before work and prepare yourself for the day ahead.

    Having a more productive, confident, and relaxing morning is about putting yourself in position to succeed.

    By making small changes like picking out my clothes before bed, leaving my phone across the room, and waking up earlier, I’ve created a habit of productive mornings with time still left over for watching the sunrise every day.

    With a little willpower and a few changes, you can turn the morning hours into the most enjoyable and productive part of your day.

    Woman relaxing in bed image via Shutterstock

  • 6 Surprising Tips for Overcoming Exhaustion

    6 Surprising Tips for Overcoming Exhaustion

    Sleeping Man

    “We are so used to working that not working is the new hard work.” ~Mokokoma Mokhonoana

    You know that feeling just as something bad is happening that you can’t control, when your stomach does a backflip, lurches up into your throat, and then drops into your toes?

    I experienced it one day snapping back to full consciousness as my car glided off the left shoulder of the freeway and spun in a full 360-degree circle on the gravel.

    I’d logged a very busy week at work, been to a music group practice, done some freelance editing, and gone for a few runs in preparation for a marathon. Now I was headed to a weekend event with my spiritual community.

    There I was, zipping down the freeway in the fast lane on a crisp and sunny fall morning. I felt drowsy, so I flipped on the car radio to keep myself alert.

    In retrospect, I should have also sung along at the top of my lungs. Or, you know, pulled off the road to rest. But I didn’t want to be late for the start of the gathering.

    The last thing I remember thinking was “There aren’t any cars close by. I’ll just close my eyes for a second or two.”

    Superhero Syndrome

    Ever been so exhausted you can’t think straight?

    Do any of these sound familiar?

    • “There’s too much to do—I can’t afford to stop and rest.”
    • “I can’t ask for help—I’m the only one who will make sure this gets done right.”
    • “I have to finish this. [Person or group] is depending on me.”

    Thoughts like these have become frighteningly common. We think we need to do it all, so we push ourselves way past our limits. I call this “Superhero Syndrome.”

    And it’s not just unhealthy. It’s downright dangerous.

    Excessive fatigue is epidemic in our society. According to a 2011 National Sleep Foundation poll, close to half of Americans between thirteen and sixty-four say they rarely or never get a good night’s sleep during the work week.

    Exhaustion can lead to all sorts of problems, from impaired performance, poor immune system function, and increased risk of obesity to stroke, diabetes, and heart disease.

    Not to mention car accidents.

    The first step in avoiding exhaustion—as with most problems—is self-awareness. You need to check in with yourself regularly to see if you’re overdoing it.

    The second step is figuring out what to do about it if you are.

    The standard advice is true: If you’re overtired, stop what you’re doing and rest or sleep.

    Draw firm boundaries around your time and energy by learning to say no to people, things—and sometimes yourself.

    Practice good sleep hygiene and try to get a full night’s sleep every night.

    But there are times when, despite our best intentions, we don’t—or can’t—do these things. What then?

    6 Surprising Tips for Overcoming Exhaustion

    1. Ditch the traditional nightly sleep cycle.

    If a straight eight hours doesn’t do it for you, consider this: some researchers suspect we’re not wired for it anyway. They say that prehistoric humans slept for about four hours, woke up for a while, and went back to sleep again until dawn.

    Others have noted different sleep patterns across cultures, from the midday siesta to countries where multiple naps are the norm.

    Experiment and see if changing up your sleep periods makes a difference.

    2. Do the opposite of whatever you’ve been doing.

    If you’ve been pushing yourself physically, it’s no surprise that you should stop and rest or take a nap, or go to bed early.

    But if you’ve been pushing yourself mentally, go do something physical. Take a walk, do some stretching, or run an errand. Bodily movement will clear your head, get your blood flowing, and help bring you back into balance.

    3. Hit that snooze alarm without guilt.

    I’ve used a trick to psych myself out for years. I work backward from the time I want to wake up, factor in two snooze alarm periods, and set my clock for that earlier time.

    The result? I get a brief but lovely time in which to feel a little bit decadent. “I wish I didn’t have to get up now. Oh, wait—I don’t have to!”

    4. Pretend you’ve just woken up.

    Another mental trick—as you’re going to bed at night, tell yourself it’s morning.

    Imagine what it would feel like to go through an entire day, starting right now. Think about all that physical and mental effort. You can even do (just a few!) jumping jacks or deep stretches to give your muscles a brief sense of fatigue.

    How many times have you said to yourself, “I just wish I could go back to sleep for another eight hours”?

    Now go “back” to sleep for another eight hours.

    5. Ask for help.

    You’d think this tip wouldn’t qualify as “surprising,” yet sadly, for many of us, it does.

    When you suffer from Superhero Syndrome, you’re usually under the impression that everything on your to-do list has to be done by you.

    Granted, you may not be in the position to hire a personal staff to assist you. But that doesn’t mean you can’t ask for some help when you need it.

    As a fellow Superhero Syndrome sufferer, I know this is scary. But experience has shown me that when people value and care about you, they’re usually very happy to help. They won’t see you as weak or needy, but as someone who is strong enough to advocate for your own needs.

    Asking your spouse or partner to handle the kids for a while so you can take a break does not mean you don’t love your kids. It means you love them enough to want to give them your best, fully rested self.

    Requesting backup at work does not mean you’ll be seen as incompetent. It means you care about producing the best results possible, and that you’re secure enough to let others assist you with that.

    So go ahead and ask for support. You may very well be surprised by the result.

    6. Make a to-do list for tomorrow.

    Before bed, take five minutes to think about the next day and make some notes for yourself.

    For small tasks like calling the doctor, getting gas for the car, or picking up ingredients for dinner, writing them down or entering them into whatever device you use to track things reassures your mind, and you’ll be able to release them for the night.

    For longer-range projects, choose one small thing you can do to move them forward tomorrow.

    The idea here is that by making note of something in a place you know you’ll see it frees up your mind to relax into truly restful sleep.

    Don’t Try to Be a Superhero

    I was extremely lucky that day I fell asleep and drove off the road. A few passing drivers gave me very shocked looks as they whizzed by, but I didn’t crash into any of them. I recovered quickly enough to nudge my car back onto the road (and drive to the next exit, where I pulled over and sat there shaking for a while.)

    The most enduring result of that day has been that I now realize when I’m too tired to be safe or effective. On good days, I notice sooner and take steps to reverse the trend.

    If you’re suffering from Superhero Syndrome and trying to do too much, don’t push yourself to (or worse, past) the point of exhaustion. You may not be as lucky as I was.

    Also, just plain old “being happier and more rested” is nice, too.

    Sleeping man image via Shutterstock

  • 3 Self-Honoring Ways to Deal with Low-Energy Days

    3 Self-Honoring Ways to Deal with Low-Energy Days

    Low Energy

    “Being who you are is another way of accepting yourself.” ~Unknown

    A few months ago I woke up with what my good friend and I call “the rage.” I was automatically annoyed by the tone of people’s emails in my inbox. I was frustrated by the lack of response from others. My tea tasted too strong. I felt cooped up in the house. Need I go on?

    So I went to the gym to increase my endorphins. I figured that a good workout would be the perfect cure-all.

    It wasn’t. I left my HIIT (high intensity interval training) pleasantly exhausted but still agitated.

    Then I sat down to get into a Zen-like state with my life coach. I trusted that together we could get to the bottom of whatever this wonky energy was all about.

    I cried, releasing beautiful misunderstandings about current business relationships. It was an incredibly healing session, and I hung up the phone thinking it was such a relief to know where this negative energy was coming from. But the lightness I usually experienced at the end of a session was nowhere to be found.

    Instead, I felt sad and lonely.

    It was in that moment, hanging up the phone from my coach, that I realized I needed to stop trying to fix my low-energy day. There was no one reason I was feeling this way. It wasn’t anything I did or didn’t do; it just was, and it was time for me to be okay with that.

    The only place I had heard of such acceptance was within my Human Design studies, so I picked up a book.

    According to Human Design, most of us have what is considered to be an “emotional authority.”

    This means that we tend to let our emotions rule our decisions, and we can easily make rash decisions just to end the emotional turmoil we feel. Or, to the opposite extreme, we can say yes in an effort to hold onto an exciting expectation.

    Most notably, our emotional authority is an energy that constantly moves through us in a wave pattern. Sometimes the wave is up and we feel great, and sometimes the wave is down and we feel off or have low energy.

    I’ve learned that the key is not to focus solely on our high-energy feelings, or to get rid of our low energy. The key as Buddha says, is for us to find “the middle way.”

    Release attachment to either end of the spectrum and find the still point. That is where emotional clarity lies.

    Thus, on that day a few months back, I asked myself to stop pushing. I stopped pushing the negative emotions away and I stopped pushing myself into a more positive high.

    Instead, I honored and acknowledged my wonky feelings in these three ways.

    1. Self-pampering.

    I hugged myself. I sat on the floor in my living room and circled my arms around my knees. Then, when I was ready, I went out to get a hot yummy drink at the coffee shop down the street.

    I let my to-do list fly out the window, and I gave my body and my mind my full attention. I did a lot of journal writing that day. I like journaling when I can, and it helped me explore areas where I could really stand up for myself in my business and in my relationships.

    2. The twenty-four-hour rule.

    I released myself from making any big decisions. I knew my energy was all over the place, and the key was to wait for clarity. Thus, I gave myself a twenty-four-hour rule. I wouldn’t make any big decisions until 9:00AM the next day, at the earliest.

    This wonky, negative energy was here for me to explore and learn from. It was still too early to start sharing a new truth. I couldn’t expect myself to grasp my learnings well enough to articulate them to others, nor could I expect myself to be in a place to take feedback neutrally. Not yet, anyway.

    This rule gave me the freedom to explore what I really wanted.

    3. Judgment-free space.

    I deemed my home, my body, and the three-foot bubble around me wherever I went to be my judgment-free space. There was nothing good or bad, right or wrong about my low-energy day. It was here for me, as an amazingly imperfect human being, to experience.

    This allowed me to embrace it and learn from it. It was no one’s fault. There was nothing wrong with me for feeling this way. It wasn’t going to last forever, and everyone would still love me in the morning.

    When I woke up at 7:00AM the next day, I felt refreshed. The rage and negative energy were gone, and I could also see clearly how I wanted to proceed in my business relationships.

    A huge sigh escaped my lips. I had allowed myself to be a part of the day’s adventure. Instead of fighting it or allowing it to take over my life for who knows how long, I had loved my low energy.

    Which of these three self-honoring actions will you try when you have a low-energy, “rage” day?

    Photo by rklopfer

  • Dealing with Exhaustion: How to Function Better When You’re Tired

    Dealing with Exhaustion: How to Function Better When You’re Tired

    I’ve written about ways to get better sleep, and yet I am writing this post from a state of exhaustion.

    Despite knowing all the right things to do, sometimes it’s difficult to follow through.

    You can have the most calming, zen bedroom, and still toss and turn because of an ache or something on your mind. You can avoid stimulants and start unwinding early in the evening, and still wake up to the sound of a blaring siren at 2:00 AM.

    Sometimes the best laid plan can fall apart when you can’t seem to remove that pea from under your mattress. It will happen on occasion—hopefully less often than not, but from time to time at best.

    How can you function when it’s just not possible to call in sick and tired to life? How can you make it through the work day with minimal damage to your health, mood, relationships, and job?

    I have a few ideas, but first, in the interest of full disclosure: I have more flexibility than the average person might, since I work from home and make my own schedule. Hopefully these ideas represent a balanced mix for people who have flexibility and people who don’t: (more…)

  • 9 Ways to Get Better Sleep and Prevent Exhaustion

    9 Ways to Get Better Sleep and Prevent Exhaustion

    Sleeping

    “A good rest is half the work.” ~Proverb

    I don’t always do everything I know I should do.

    I know I can only do so much, yet I often feel compelled to say yes to every exciting project that comes my way, even if it means working more than is ideal.

    I know I shouldn’t over-stimulate my mind at night, yet I frequently postpone shut-eye for just a little more writing time.

    I know I shouldn’t worry about things I can’t control, but sometimes as I lay in bed I go over and over the same thoughts and concerns in my head.

    And then there’s the whole eight-hours-of-sleep-a-night thing. I know it’s ideal for my well-being and that it probably won’t happen if I’m overworked, overstimulated, or caught up in over-thinking.

    But sometimes I set myself up for exhaustion because sleep rarely seems like a priority. Not when there’s stuff to do, stuff to learn, or stuff to think about.

    I know I’m not alone in my battle with the bed.

    According to a 2009 National Sleep Foundation survey, the number of people reporting sleep problems has increased by 13% since 2001. Two out of every ten Americans sleep less than six hours per night.

    Most of them are less effective at work, less alert when driving, and more susceptible to sickness as a result. (more…)