Night Time Anxiety
Hey there, Hi there, Ho there. I hope everyone has had a good start to there week and had a nice, restful weekend. Ours was eventful to say the least. It consisted of moving a playhouse from Stanley to Kings Mountain. Sure glad I have few handy men to handle my dirty work!
Sometime last week I posted a poll on my Facebook asking if you were enjoying the blog, so for those who took the time to answer, I greatly appreciate it and I am really glad that you like it so far. I also asked if there was other content you might want me to speak on and “Night Time Anxiety” was the answer I got. If you have ever suffered with anxiety, a lot of times it seems to be worse at night. Of course I am not 100% why that is… my own personal take on it is that we tend to lay down and have a lot on our minds and it seems to get the best of us. We spiral from there.
For me, night time anxiety can look like a lot of different things. Sometimes my mind races and I can’t shut my brain off. I can go from “How long would it take me to learn Spanish”, to “What is a baby squirrel called”, to “How many calories can I consume in a day and still lose weight”, all in about 10 minutes. It can be restlessness - tossing and turning for most of the night. Night time headaches. Odd dreams that make no sense, or bad dreams that wake me up panicking. Constant worry. I’m sure for others there are different symptoms. Ultimately, our brains are working overtime and our bodies and minds respond in weird ways.
I posted an exchange of text messages on my Instagram story about a month ago. It consisted of messages between me and my husband, and me and my mom. I wanted to share that particular experience at the time because although I blog and “give advice”, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect me all the time. It’s like I’ve dealt with this for so long now that I feel I’m a pro at explaining and sharing, but when it hits me, it’s like I almost forget how bad it sucks and have to really try and remember that “oh yeah, I’ll survive it… give it a few”.
One thing that I used to enjoy but have slacked up on is night time journaling. I would read my devotional and journal my thoughts and prayers afterward. This would give me a chance to “decompress” from the day. If it was bothering me - write it down. If I was nervous about something - write it down. If I was happy or excited - write it down. It was my alone time and after being in a routine, it really put me in the mindset that it was my last thing I needed to do for the day. Again, I have been really slack on this for the last several weeks. I think it’s a mixture of blogging (which gives me a similar feeling to journaling), and just falling out of the habit. I need to get my ish together and make the time again, even if it does feel inconvenient.
My current favorite way of getting over night time woes whatever they may be is an app called Headspace. I LOVE THIS APP! GET THIS APP! It has many different selections for all sorts of things. The sleep portion of this app is fabulous. It gives you night time wind downs, with breathing and visualization techniques. If you are restless, you can choose between different night time music, earth sounds, and even bed time stories that are perfect for lulling you to sleep. I use this all the time, even when I am not feeling anxious. The best thing to me about this app is that you can search just about any sort of feeling/emotion/struggle you have and it gives you reasoning, tips, and explanations. It makes sense of the scramble in your head. I’m talking change, fear, anger, sadness, loss, overwhelming, grief, physical pain, hurt, jealousy, bad thoughts etc. The list goes on. I will forever recommend this because it truly helps me and all you need is your phone, which I know most of you have glued to your hand anyways.
Lastly, the only other things that help with my night time anxiety are prayer, and support from my family/friends. Many nights I have spent silently praying to God for relief and eventually received an inner peace that could only come from Him. It’s not always automatic. It doesn’t even always get answered in the immediate way I would like. But - God always hears my prayers. He’s helped me out of the darkness time and time again. A good support system to text or call or have someone come over is very important too. I always know my parents and my siblings are one house over or one call away when I’m really struggling. This is when Cameron isn’t home. I can always count on him to help me through, but if he isn’t there, I still have family. I have texted and called my mama in the wee hours of the morning just to hear her say that she’s there if I need her. Before we were neighbors, I had called my dad and had him come spend the night with me. These were huge helps for me when I felt completely helpless.
If you ever struggle at night time with racing thoughts, anxious feelings, worry, or a sense of panic, try some of these techniques. Try them wholeheartedly. Don’t half ass it. I feel that when we really put the effort in, we gain the results. I’m not saying it will be perfect. Clearly that’s impossible… but, I’ve gained more of an inner strength from using these practices in my life and using them to the fullest.
Much love, sweet dreams, and all the peace and happiness you can handle.
Alexis