Like A Baby

You should have seen me.

Seriously, I was a sight to behold first thing this morning. I blinked a few times and had myself a nice, long stretch. I walked into the bathroom and giggled when I saw my hair – it was large and in charge. I smiled as I remembered the night before and how amazing it had been. Actually, amazing is an understatement; it was phenomenal.

I know what you’re thinking but I promise it wasn’t that. (I’m a nice girl and nice girls don’t discuss those sorts of things on the internet.)

So the phenomenal thing? For the first time in a long time, I am sleeping.

Perhaps I should clarify – I am sleeping like a normal person. For those of you who have ever dealt with insomnia, you know how miserable it can be. For the last five or six months I have been fighting the worst case of insomnia I’ve ever had. A typical night’s sleep would vary between 45 minutes to 4 hours of sleep. I would have an awful time falling asleep and even when I did fall asleep, it was usually restless. I would often wake up several times during the night, thinking about a myriad of things.

I had tried my usual remedies – Sleepytime Tea, Tylenol PM, hot bath, relaxing music, meditation – with disappointing results. After I ended up in the hospital, my doctor gave me Xanax. She told me that it would help me relax and “turn off your head”. I tried it for a few weeks and it did help me sleep but I was also a little worried about becoming dependant on anything. So two weeks ago I stopped taking it and much to my surprise, I was falling asleep on my own. I was also staying asleep for over five hours which was a huge success. HUGE.

I’m certain my new found sleep is thanks in no small part to the changes I’ve made in my life. My little trip to the ER scared the bejebus out of me and since then I really have made a concerted effort to take better care of myself. I’m working out on a much more regular basis these days; I don’t drink caffeine after 3pm at all; my eating habits have improved (although I totally caved and had French fries yesterday); I’ve cut back my alcohol consumption; and most importantly – I’ve made time to do things for myself. And I’m quite certain that my absurdly high thread-count sheets help as well.

So, while many people who wake with huge smiles on their faces do so because of *ahem* a lack of sleep, I’m grinning ear to ear because I got my fair share. Finally.