Ash Thoreau

This week has been so up and down, I’m exhausted from it all. Yesterday it all came to a head and I was forced to deal with it.

My kid woke up early. I know I had one hour of solid sleep. but then I laid around in a daze for 2 hours while she ate her breakfast. Then I forced myself to be more present and start in on my daily chores, all while avoiding the tasks I was already late doing.

At some point during the day my head started to scream in pain. My husband came home and I was at my limit. With my patience gone, and my head killing me, I quickly went downstairs to attempt getting a nap. I laid there in pain, trying to not grind my teeth from anxiety. After about an hour of laying there in tortured silence, I decided to get up and do my hair for work. Then went upstairs to have dinner with my husband.

At work, the girl that I am training called out. Which was frustrating because I didn’t bring anything else to keep me awake during the night. So running off of 2 hours of sleep and working a 12 hour overnight shift was going to be rough. My supervisor said I could go home early, at mindnight. Great! When midnight rolled around, my headache was back with a vengence and my energy was at an all time low. But still, I could not sleep because of my anxiety.

I laid there for another hour grinding my teeth, trying to find a solution. I finally ended up on this game I downloaded. It’s basically a boat that you scroll forward. That’s all you do. And as it sails across the ocean, it counts numbers. When I woke up this morning, I saw I had only gotten to 16. Later, I took another nap (totalling out my sleep to 7 hours) and my number had only been up to 13. So in a completely random, independent recommendation, download “Scroll to Sleep,” from the App store if you need help sleeping. I give it 10 out of 10.

Ultimately, my anxiety did not abate until I took care of the tasks I was behind on. And even then, I still felt stressed. Sleep was the true medicine I needed. It gave me the strength to handle what was bothering me. And the right state of mind to tackle the day.

The moral of the story, get sleep. Before you do anything drastic or life changing, get sleep. The day will look new once you wake up.