sleeplessness

[kaniva]

Another sleeplessness night worrying about all the things I have done wrong and all the things I have to remember to do. I am new to BB and am not sure what to expect. I exist day to day hiding my anxiety from my family. I don’t have to hide it from my friends because I don’t have any. I volunteer at a day respite centre 2 days a week and am trying to find a job in this industry. I manage to hide by doing the absolute necessary things and that’s all. I am lost and don’t know how to get out of the labyrinth of my mind.

[Vegetarian Marshmallow]

It may help to, when going to bed, write down all those things you've "done wrong" and the things you need to remember to do, so you can look at it in the morning.  That may help give you the sense of having "dealt with" those issues (after all, there's nothing you can do about them right now, so you might as well leave them till tomorrow), so that you can forget about them while you try to sleep.

In my experience, the "labyrinth of the mind" tends to go away by itself when you fill up your day with (agreeable) activities.

Is there anything that inspires you, motivates you?  I tend to want to jump up and conduct an orchestra or something when I hear Grieg.

[JustMe]

Hi Kaniva,

Not sleeping is very debilitating, and it definitely effects the next day. I personally love the rainforests and the ocean, so I bought 2 CD's - Kakadu Dreams and Ocean Dreams, which I play when I turn off the light. I imagine myself walking on the beach or walking in the forest and the sounds from the CD's put me to sleep. Unfortunately not for too long, but I do get a few hours.

Hope you're going OK, stay strong.

[Jude]

Just learned today in a course for anxiety a some really good tips. Close your eyes and imagine you're standing in a beautiful forest surrounded by a mist. Give the mist a colour and then slowly breath it in. 1st breath will fill your head neck arms and shoulders. The second breath will fill your chest. The 3rd your stomach and hips and the 4th your legs. Do this as slowly as you can and it will calm you down and hopefully you will get some sleep! Writing your worries and putting them in a jar and talking to a doll if you have one or teddy or any stuffed toy hopefully will help.Also writing down What If?? Fears like ask yourself What If??And writing down the first thing that comes to mind is really helpful. Usually we go into catastrophic thinking imagining that the very worse thing we can imagine is going to happen. And it probably won't! Have you tried going to a psychologist? It would probably help you enormously as most are very skilled at knowing just how to help with anxiety.

[Ann_Ziety]

Kaniva, I too have spent many sleepless nights.with my mind full of the "if only" and "I should've" and all the things I planned to say to people.  Hundreds of scenarios would run through my head of possible outcomes (all catastrophic) of events to come. 

These days I have a little mantra "Night time is for sleeping, daytime is for thinking".  When I go to bed now I start by doing some deep breathing and imagine warmth traveling into my hands with each breath.  Before too long I'm asleep.  I think any distraction is good just to keep the brain from thinking.  I think it's just a matter of re-training the brain to be calm and not over-active.