Running the Gauntlet to Get a Good Night’s Sleep

I actually wrote this blog post in my head a few weeks ago at 3 am when I should have been sleeping. I should have written it down, but instead I repeated it over and over again in hopes that I’d remember it, because I’m actually 5 blog posts behind in my queue, and that’s a personal record that has me stressed out beyond belief.

Yes, this is a self-imposed deadline, but not missing a post since I started this blog in December of 2012 puts a certain amount of self-imposed pressure on me, especially since I know that several people consider reading it a part of their routine. You’d think that when I switched a while back to only posting on even numbered days, rather than daily, it would have reduced the pressure by half, but no. Now my blogs seem to be longer and require more research than they once did. Again, that is self-imposed.

Since I knew that repeating posts in my head was part of the reason I could not sleep, this post is about the many things that can prevent me from sleeping. Most of them are thoughts. Some are noises.

My husband, and the vast majority of the men I know, won’t be able to relate to this at all. They can fall instantly to sleep and not wake up ‘til morning. I find this quite annoying, because they’ll say to me, “Why are you so tired? It sounds like we both went to bed at the same time.”

All I can do is tersely reply, “Well, we most definitely did not go to sleep at the same time.”

So here are the many challenges I have when it comes to getting a full night’s sleep.

• My CPAP machine breaking its seal on my face and whistling loudly.
• My CPAP machine breaking its seal on my face and blowing a jet of air that flutters my eyelashes.
• My bladder.
• Soreness in general.
• My dogs, wanting breakfast at an ungodly hour, and therefore doing an impatient tap dance on the wooden floor.
• The sun rising at freakin’ 5:11 in the morning and setting at 9:11 pm in the Seattle area around summer solstice.
• The sun rising at freakin’ 7:57 in the morning and setting at 4:17 pm in the Seattle area around winter solstice.
• My dog, snoring, and why I find it annoying sometimes and endearing other times.
• Hearing a random, subtle sound coming from the other side of the house.
• My dogs barking at the least sign of any sound.
• Wondering if I remembered to lock all the doors.
• How intensely I love my dogs.
• My feet scratching on the sheets.
• Funny things I forgot to tell Dear Husband.
• Delightful conversations I had that day.
• Negative conversations I had that week.
• Young men with tiny little penises motorcycling or drag racing down our street at random hours.
• Grown men with tiny little penises shooting guns or fireworks off in our neighborhood at random hours.
• Things I’m looking forward to.
• Things I’m dreading.
• Am I forgetting anything?
• The beeps of our computers or phones when one of us forgets to turn them off before bed.
• Am I good at this marriage thing?
• The things I do that I’m glad are not qualities that my Dear Husband possesses, and how lucky that makes me.
• How much this blog post will upset DH, because he wants me to be able to be as positive, optimistic, and carefree as he is.
• At what point did I lose all ability to keep things organized, and why is that?
• What I need to do tomorrow.
• Upcoming social obligations, and whether I’m dreading them or looking forward to them.
• What I was supposed to do today but did not.
• Health issues for myself and my loved ones.
• The state of this country, and the state of the planet.
• My next vacation, and how much of the world I still long to see.
• Past vacations and how wonderful they were.
• The many ways I feel I have fallen short.
• The many ways people want me to change but I find myself incapable of doing so, despite my best efforts.
• Did I remember to water the plants?  
• Do I have my lunch ready for work tomorrow?
• Which drawbridge will I be working on?
• Which shift will I be working on?
• Work BS.
• Am I forgetting anything?
• How lucky I am, generally.
• Potato chips.
• My imposter syndrome.
• Do people think I’m weird?
• Why do I seem so much weirder than most other people?
• How can I convince people that I’m not weird?
• Why do I care what anyone thinks?
• OH SHIT WHAT TIME IS IT? DID I OVERSLEEP?
• My irritation that my eyesight is so poor that I can’t always reliably see what time it is without putting on my glasses.
• My disappointment at not being able to read more books.
• The many new and unsettling things I’ve learned about myself in the past few months.
• How grateful I am that I can still learn new things.
• Aging.
• The future.
• The past.
• My understandable love of naps.
• My bladder again, and whether I should hold it until the alarm goes off in an hour, or just admit I need to pee, get up and do it, and then return to bed and try to sleep for that last precious hour, knowing I won’t achieve REM sleep in that timeframe.
• Am I forgetting anything?
• Attempting to change positions as quietly as possible so as not to wake the dogs.
• Cheese.
• My desperate need to meditate before bedtime, which I never quite get around to doing.

Welcome to my brain.

After that, I usually remember to do a body part relaxation exercise, and I fall asleep for what little time I have left.

Like this quirky little blog? Then you’ll enjoy my book! http://amzn.to/2mlPVh5