First things first, this article has nothing to do with Seattle or the Tom Hanks’s film. This is about one of those rare days when you say to yourself ‘time to sleep.’
The problem starts when while trying to sleep one starts thinking and the mind wanders off to nowhere. It always starts with some silly thoughts – something exciting, something worrying, work stuff, etc.
The clock keeps ticking…I toss and turn. Maybe I am hungry. (I can’t sleep when I can feel the slightest bit of hunger or at least it thought so till some time back) So, I eat something.
No sleep yet. The clock keeps ticking; even if I sleep now I will not get enough sleep.
Snap!! I tell myself to switch off my thoughts
Then I get tired of not sleeping and just give up….I start watching something on my laptop. (And if it was one of those ‘dare devil risk taking’ day; I would have shut down my laptop before trying to sleep). Somehow this feels like the safe bet to get me snoring in no time.
No luck still. I again go back trying to sleep. More of toss & turn. Finally, I give up.
Phew!!! I wake up in the morning a bit cranky from the lack of sleep and a bit satisfied that somehow I was able to sleep finally. ‘Do not start thinking while trying to sleep’ is the only thing I learnt from all this.
And on the subsequent nights, it is business as usual; falling asleep with the lights on.
P.S. It’s not insomnia; it’s the occasional side effect of the nocturnal habits of college life. I doubt they have coined any name for it yet: P