Safe and Restful Sleep

In the wee hours of the morning, for a reason unbeknownst to me, right in the middle of a ridiculous dream about the chemical elements of cheese, (which anyone who knows me well would agree is more than crazy – both the cheese part and the science part), I woke up.

From the pitch blackness of my bedroom, I knew it had to be early. Against my normal better judgment, I rolled over and looked at my alarm clock; its red glowing numbers instantly alerted me to the fact that it was 2:26 AM!

The house was quiet except for the humming sound of the furnace blower coming through my floor vent. Thinking a different sleep position would have me sleeping and dreaming in no time, I turned from side to back to side, again and again, only instead of falling back asleep, I found myself even more wide awake.

I considered getting up and giving myself a 3 hour head start on the day. I found the idea rather tempting, but I talked myself out of it. Thinking about it now, it’s almost laughable to think of my over enthusiastic brain running through the various scenarios of all I might accomplish before heading to work.

As a morning person who generally gets 7 hours of sleep per night, I seldom have a problem with my normal wake up time of 5:30. But this morning I knew I hadn’t had anywhere close to 7 hours, so I was determined to stay in bed and get more sleep.

Another glance at the clock told me it was 2:45.

I fluffed my buckwheat husk pillow, at least as much as it’s possible to fluff a buckwheat husk pillow, and then did some deep breathing slowly in and out. As my mind started racing, I tried to quiet it by saying some prayers.

I tried some meditation exercises. I repeated calming words as I breathed in and out.

Peace…

Quiet…

Still…

Blessings…

I had no idea why I kept looking at the clock. It was almost as if my eyes were magnetically drawn to the numbers.

I straightened my blankets.

From out of nowhere, I remembered an old commercial jingle for Sominex. Take Sominex tonight and sleep, safe and restful sleep, sleep, sleep. That’s all I wanted to do … sleep, sleep, sleep.

I thought about how nice it would be to know someone else who couldn’t sleep and call them. Then we could bemuse our sleeplessness together.

But with no one to call I tossed and turned. I even tested the waters of getting out of bed and no sooner had my feet hit the floor than I quickly nixed that idea and crawled back into bed.

I wrestled with my thoughts while my body continued to toss and turn.

I told myself I needed sleep. I willed myself to fall asleep. I considered reading and then warned myself to not turn on the light.

My brain was overflowing with thoughts…random meandering thoughts.

More breathing. More prayers.

I turned on my iPhone and called work to leave myself a voicemail with some of the random meandering thoughts. My voice sounded gravelly and when I hung up, I was confident the brain dump would help me fall asleep. It didn’t.

Peace…

Quiet…

Still…

Blessings…

Thank You…

I kept negotiating with my brain for one more hour of sleep. All I wanted was to wake up at 5:30. That’s the last thing I remember.

I had finally fallen asleep. I laid there and tried to get my head wrapped around the time on the clock. I wondered how it was possible to feel ready to take on the day at 2:26, but at 6:20 my brain felt foggy and sleep deprived. I negotiated. I wondered how another 10 minutes could possibly make a difference. Since I don’t use an alarm clock to wake up and with no snooze alarm to nudge me, staying in bed is never a good idea. Throwing caution to the wind, I threw back the covers and decided to close my eyes for only a few minutes.

In the split second it took my brain to take in the time, I also fully realized I was late, late, LATE!

And that ladies and gentlemen is how I started my day today. I headed to work not only late and butt dragging tired, but with the teasing thoughts of an early bedtime. I also caught myself humming the Sominex melody several times too.

I am finally heading to bed right now, minus the Sominex, and not as early as I had originally planned. I’m just hoping for safe and restful sleep, sleep, sleep.