FORMAL FRIDAY: A Simple Way to Reduce Anxious Thoughts Before Sleep
1 MINUTE AND 20 SECOND READ - at least that’s how long it took me and I couldn’t read until high school, give or take
Formal Friday outline:
i. 1 tip that will hopefully make your life better
ii. 4 personal content suggestions that will also hopefully make your life better
Better Sleep
There’s been periods in my life where I’ve struggled with sleep. Either I couldn’t go to sleep or I’d wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweating and full of anxious feelings.
During one of these periods, I found myself flooded with anxious thoughts. I tried to ignore them and just go to sleep (!!!). It didn’t work. But then I remembered something my old-therapist told me, “anxiety is undifferentiated fears.” I also knew that acknowledging and welcoming your feelings was more effective than resisting them… For as they say, “what you resist, persists.”
So, I decided to welcome and label every fear that I came up. I pulled out my notebook and wrote them all down. And then I used an element of Fear Setting, and ranked how likely it was that what I was worrying about would actually happen. And if it did, how bad it would be in reality.
What I found was that by merely seeing all my fears on a piece of paper, they lost their weight and became so much less scary. It also helped me detach from my thoughts because they were no longer bound to my mind. I could also see how silly so many of them they were. I had one of my most peaceful nights of sleep.
Another brief tip: about resisting and sleep… trying to go to sleep usually keeps you awake. If you can let go of the desire to sleep and just read a fiction novel or count down from 1,000 (not caring if you make it to 0 and need to restart), I bet you’ll find yourself in sleepytown in no time ;)
I’d be interested to see if this works for anyone else. Try it out and let me know!
Also here are 2 sleep supplements that help me:
1. Magnesium 150mg
2. GABA 500mg
Melatonin is more popular and helps a lot of people. I personally hate the vivid (and often horrifying) dreams it gives me, and also how drowsy I feel in the morning from it.
(2) Recommendations
(1) Product Recommendation: MatchaBar Hustle Energy Drink
For one of my old jobs, I used to go to pretty much every single Whole Foods. On those visits, I found these guys and became pretty addicted. They are great and their branding actually made me so hype at the time… “Good Things Come to Those Who Hustle.” Very refreshing for a summer caffeine kick.
(2) Book Recommendation: Give me feedback here… has anyone read or looked up a book because I mentioned it? Would a podcast be more useful? I could also do a book and podcast. Please either comment below the post or send a DM, Text, etc.
(3) Song Recommendation: 30 Something by JAY-Z
For those of you that may be stressin’ about being in your 20s and not a millionaire yet, as planned (speaking directly to myself here). (1) Keep ~mindfully~ grinding. (2) You have time. (3) So much can change in 6 months or a year (4) 30’s the new 20.
(4) Apparel Recommendation: Reflective Vests
One day I went to meet up with my sister and her kids at Chick-Fil-A. I pull up and see all the employees rocking these electric vests and actually lost my mind. I was nearly screaming and bought them on the spot from the Amazon app. They come in packs of two, so you have two colors. You can add them to so many outfits too: over a shirt, a jacket, a suit and tie, a tank-top (have we come up with a new name for wife-beaters? Because also a fire and underutilized and stigmatized article of clothing).