My insomnia controls my life
When we have chronic illnesses and issues, our go to is to try to compensate and make life easier. And it’s the same with insomnia. What I see a lot of people do is cancel their obligations and only get through the day doing the bare minimum. No going to the gym, no seeing their friends, no getting out or doing the things that make them, them. Not doing the things that make them happy and keep them mentally and physically healthy. Because they feel that they don’t have the same energy or resilience to do those things with insomnia.
But actually, the opposite is true with insomnia. If you tell your brain, okay, we’re happy to compensate and adapt life for this condition, then the brain learns that you’re willing to cope with it. We don’t want that to happen. We don’t want our brains to think we can cope with it or else we get stuck in this pattern.
We don’t want to reinforce the problem, we want to get rid of it. And so, to a degree, it’s about standing up to your insomnia. Standing up and saying no, I am going to get up to go to the gym because that’s good for me, I am going to eat a healthy breakfast, I’m still going to see my friends after work… because that makes me happy.
And on top of feeling mentally better, ultimately, it helps you sleep. The more you move away from your life as you know it to try to cope with something like insomnia, the more it stays.