The most recent Beautiful Voyager newsletter, entitled
seeking sleep, was about pre-bedtime rituals. I loved getting your emailed responses and hearing your own own tips and tricks for sleep. Here’s one:
I plug in my headphones and cue up a funny movie or tv show on my phone, usually one that I’ve seen a million times so I can easily fall back asleep to it. Then, when I wake up at 3am (as I do every night) I tell myself that a) I get anxious every night at this time, it’s not because something is actually wrong, but rather it is a habit. Every night I wake up to use the restroom, then suffer from anxiety for anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours. But now that I know it will happen, I accept it. b) All I need to do to distract myself is listen to something light-hearted as a distraction. I know that I almost always feel better in the morning.
I also heard from you about the topics you’d like to learn more about, for example, anxiety and anger. One reader writes,
My GAD presents in rage sometimes…at not being able to control a situation, at not being successful at stage managing a moment to show everyone what I want them to see. I think it goes back to the link between anxiety and the fight or flight response. I’ve been in a position where that response has kicked in….not related to anxiety….and I can firmly say my flight response is healthy and well adjusted. But when the GAD gets to be overwhelming, I get that adrenaline dump. And since I can’t identify a path of flight, my mind and body go to fight. Common sense says I should take up boxing or some such thing, but the GAD/perfectionist/fear of being judged blocks it. But yet I have to start moving or I literally shake with…..the only word I think is right is rage. I’m not angry, it’s something else. It’s panic with an overwhelming need to…what?? How to other people describe this?? Help me better explain myself??
If you have thoughts for this reader,
email me! I love being able to share your good ideas with other voyagers so we can help each other.
