I have been a terrible insomniac my entire life. (A trait many writers share.) It runs in my family. I see it in my daughter. I just can’t seem to get away from it. I’ve tried various things over the years – no electronics past a certain time of the evening, warm baths, a strict bedtime, reading without my glasses until my eyes got tired (don’t do this), taking supplements, a nightly ‘wind-down’ routine. Unfortunately, none of it has made a huge difference in my sleep. My body clock just doesn’t know when to stop or start.
Further complicating matters is the fact that I tend to wake up and worry about a bunch of stuff out of my control. Or, at the very least, stuff that I can’t do anything about at 3 a.m.
{sarcasm alert} Oh yeah, that’ll help you sleep.
Recently, however, I’ve been trying something new. I’ve decided to repeat affirmations (in my mind) as I fall asleep, and again if I happen to wake in the night. And whaddayaknow, it’s actually helping.
I’ll give you an example. I recently went through a significant upheaval in my life. There is a lot of uncertainty in my daily world right now. It’s a little scary, yet at the same time, an opportunity to make a fresh start is exciting.
But, of course, my insomniac, worry wart-conditioned mind has to freak out about everything at 3 a.m. And it’s not just physically exhausting. Disjointed sleep will mess with your emotional well-being. To the point that you question your abilities and want to burst into tears over something dumb. Like, say, stuff that you can’t control.
As a freelancer, I’ve not had a steady income stream for a long time. That’s how this gig works. I do have a few regular clients, but none of them pay me enough to live on. And they don’t always have work for me. That uncertainty can be very stressful. Budgeting is tricky. It’s feast or famine. You’re constantly in hustle mode. There’s no downtime. But dang, wouldn’t it be so nice to stop worrying about money at 3 a.m. when you could be sleeping?
Enter the affirmation.
A few weeks ago, as I was nodding off in my third coffee of the day, I told myself that I’m going to repeat affirmations about money (and/or work) and see what happened. I mean, what did I have to lose? More sleep? Pssshhhh. Like that scares me anymore?
So, in the dark hours between sleeplessness and restlessness, I started repeating these things to myself:
- I am capable of earning a decent living.
- Work will come to me.
- I will succeed in my career.
And, guess what? Within one week, I gained not one, but two new clients. One is an editing gig for an interesting, timely personal project from someone I ‘met’ years ago through the blogosphere. The other is a regular gig with a local publishing company that runs two newspapers. They just happened to need someone who does exactly what I’ve done for 20 years.
But who knows if I would’ve come across either of these gigs had I not started putting my intentions out into the universe? I’d like to think it helped.
I’m planning to share my affirmations with you from time to time, and I hope you find them as helpful as I have.
Have you ever used affirmations?