There’s a mental turmoil that the early days of sobriety brings, the kind where you replay the things you wished you did differently over and over. And at night, it worsens. Then you can’t fall asleep.
It’s bad enough that we don’t really sleep well because of the intensely weird dreams. Sleep doesn’t even feel like sleep. It feels like we’re hallucinating with our eyes closed.
The first time I got sober, I used to dread the night time because I knew what it meant. The second time I got sober almost 10 years ago, I created nighttime rituals that really helped me, so hopefully, they’ll help you out too. If you haven’t already, grab a cup of coffee or tea, and get comfy.
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PURGE WRITING
You know when you have a really stressful day, and you can’t help but ruminate about everything that went wrong? And when you wake up the next day, the thing that happened yesterday is the first thing you think about, which sets your tone for today, too? Yeah. Those days. Purge writing is sooooo helpful for those times.
Whatever is bothering you, write it down with pen and paper. It doesn’t even have to be something that happened today. It can be the thing from 10, 15, 20 years ago that still bothers you when you think about it. When you’re done venting, safely burn that piece of paper to symbolize releasing your burdens and worries. This also helps your nervous system to process your unresolved emotions.
ACTIVATE YOUR PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM
If you have a tendency to overthink things when you’re trying to sleep, you’re going to want to try this tip. We’re stuck in survival mode when we do that, which is telling our body it isn’t safe to fall asleep.
To feel safe, we need to activate our parasympathetic nervous system (rest, digest, restore, and heal). You can try deep breathing, meditating, purge writing, or even bed time yoga if you have some extra time, or anything else that makes you feel relaxed.
Make sure that you’re decompressing and not checking out. Doom scrolling seems relaxing, but it actually keeps us stuck in survival mode. The key is to unplug from the outside world by going within yourself.
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CLEANSE YOUR ENERGY
What I love about energy healing is that it requires no effort. All you have to do is sit back, relax, and let someone else do the work for you. And, it regulates our nervous system, which will help you to fall asleep.
You can grab a free 10 minute energy healing video by clicking here if you’d like. And, you can even have the energy healing video playing while you’re doing other calming, relaxing things.
GRATITUDE RITUAL WITH HERBAL TEA
There is something deeply cathartic about herbal tea at night. And, when we create a ritual out of it with gratitude, it mends our heart in all the right places. We lose focus of the things we aren’t happy about, even if it’s only for a short lived moment.
Take a minute or two at night to think about the things you’re happy for, the things that went right, and the things that made your day a little better. Feel into it and keep your focus there for as long as you can.
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SET INTENTIONS FOR TOMORROW
Don’t allow any negativity from today to dictate how tomorrow will be. But, also don’t repress or ignore your emotions. Try the purge writing tip to air out your gripes if you need to.
Set the intention at night before you go to sleep that you’re going to have an amazing day tomorrow, you’re going to be happy, you’ll feel at peace, etc. Whatever you want to feel tomorrow, decide the night before so you can reprogram your subconscious mind to focus on creating the life you want.
I’ll see you soon…in the meantime, love yourself so much that even a Hallmark Christmas movie would be jealous.
