Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Sleep No More

This not sleeping thing is a killer. Actually, it is. I read that the less you sleep the shorter your life will be. At this rate I'll make it to about 61.  It's not just the exhaustion, the lack of energy, but it's one's world picture which becomes distorted and the (albeit mild) paranoia that sets in, questioning one's actions, pondering the motives of others, instead of seeing the world as bountiful and blissful and benign. For those who do sleep, I am in awe of you. For those that don't, let's work this out together.

There are a few things that are taking a toll on sleep for all of us.

1) 45. Yeah, I can't even say his name any more because it makes me wince. That man with the orange face who lives in the White House, who has made a mockery of the Presidency, and has demeaned America in the eyes of every other nation in the world. Every day we live with the underlying anxiety of wondering what his next move will be and whether, in fact, we will have a world to live in.

2) The weather. The sands from the Sahara have been whipped up in England to produce eerily orange and brown skies. Once again, the fear is that maybe, while we were listening to a nice podcast and driving along the M11, Trump's small hands had been fumbling too close to the nuclear button and North Korea had retaliated.

3) Harvey. Every single woman I know (Every. Single. Woman.) has been re-living sexual harassment and abuse. We'd all tamped it down. We'd all told ourselves that what happened to us wasn't a big deal, that people had it worse. But in some beautiful, Jungian, mind-meld of consciousness, we've all started to remember together, in the knowledge that other women have in fact gone through a similar thing, and suddenly, now, we feel safe in shining a light on all these things. For too long we've been told that we have to smile, laugh it off, make a joke of it, make the man feel better about himself for being wildly inappropriate (great piece here on this: here), we've been told, oh that's just what men do, and now it's not okay any more. Hugest kudos and love and respect to Rose McGowan, Ashley Judd and all the women who came out and poked a hole in the dam so big that the geyser is covering all of us. Last night, I vented on Facebook, just briefly about the horrible encounters I could remember, the squirming feeling that is hard to shake, the awful uncomfortableness of being a child with no recourse when there is a predator, not knowing who to turn to, or how, or why it's happening, but just knowing, in a small, dark place inside that it IS wrong.

4) Devices In Bedrooms. I am an addict. I keep my phone by my bed even when I know I shouldn't because it fills the dark, sleepless hours. I vow to stop this.

5) Wine. I drank almost a full bottle of wine last night after venting about horrible men. My darling wasn't here and I felt alone and I drank a full bottle of wine. Note to self: wine does not aid sleep. Not a bit.  Time for a few nights of mint tea, methinks.

Is there anything I've missed?

And so as not to end on a dark note, please read this beautiful piece by my teacher Tej on depression and ways to help it:

Yogic Tips for Handling Depression


5 comments:

LPC said...

Not sleeping is the worst. On days following a bad night I feel despairing and as though I cannot continue. I agree, wine doesn't help. Maybe one glass, or two small ones, a few days/week. More than that and sleep goes out the window. Time outside is good, exercise is good, no Twitter for at least an hour before you go to sleep, benign reading or television. I find Doc Martin particularly soothing;).

Also, when I went through menopause at 55 sleep was very disrupted. Now, out the other side, at 61, it's betterUnti. Not the sleep of my youth, of course, but definitely better. I'm dreaming again.

I hope this passes. I suspect it will. Until then and even then, all the best <3

Unknown said...

Do try upping your magnesium intake, and use it in spray form.

cheri said...

As Rachel said, magnesium may help,Reacted magnesium is what I take, and you are right about the wine, it dulls the senses so we don't think as clearly as we should, blots out the bad thoughts of the "cheeto" man too, but it plays havoc with our sleep. At age 64 I have gotten back into yoga and some meditation, lots of cardio exercise too. The meditation can just be closing your eyes and thinking positively about our world, and all the beauty there is to behold despite all that is happening and using your words to bring peace to yourself. Keep that phone and all social media away from the bedroom, in fact, cut down on the time spent using it, there is too much information that can disrupt our lives and takes us away from what is really in front of us, our life.

Speranza said...

Thank you for posting the link by your teacher - it's absolutely wonderful and well written. Always something "sparkly" and helpful here on your blog :)

Linda said...

Thank you for speaking up about the men who cause us mental anguish and how we are told to deal with it, basically stuff it down.