Episode 27: Bad night's sleep?

Bad night’s sleep?

Sleep’s an interesting one. We all feel better for a goodnight’s sleep but there are plenty of badges of honour for doing without.

I’m a big fan of sleep. I love that marvellous feeling of having had a good night’s sleep.

Last night I was woken from a deep sleep, no idea by what, and the ideas monster arrived and I was awake till just before dawn. But where I used to be really anxious and overwhelmed after a bad night’s sleep I’m now fine.

This is what I’ve learnt about sleep and overwhelm:

I’m capable of having a really great day after an appalling night - and I’m also capable of having a rubbish day after a refreshing night.

If I don’t sleep for awhile my body rebalances in its miraculous way - making me slightly sick if necessary until I take the extra rest I need and recover properly.

But mainly its the anxiety about not sleeping that has caused me the most overwhelm over the years and this was during the period of my life when I pushed myself to the limit because I still believed the myth that success requires sacrifice. And so my life was planned out in such a way that there was no slack, no space a poor night’s sleep. 

Which brings me to overplanning because I believe overplanning and overwhelm and anxiety about poor sleep are linked. Disturbed sleep is inevitable and overplanning doesn’t work as a coping mechanism for a high achieving ‘successful’ lifestyle because as the saying goes….’ people plan...god laughs’.

Instead, accepting that there will always be something to disturb your coffee, disrupt your sleep and upset your plans, that uncertainty is a given and the ability to deal with it a necessary skill for a successful life - starting from that point makes sense.

Yes, productivity hacks and sleep hacks can be helpful but life is chaotic and planning for sleepless …..might just be what helps you sleep better.

Have an unexpectedly lovely night’s sleep :)

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