The title of this post is a little misleading really as I started keeping a journal on the 16th January of this year, so have been doing so before lockdown started.
I was inspired to do so after reading a bunch of books by David Sedaris. I got to know of David listening to BBC Radio 4 on my journey home the office. The drive was 65 miles and took around and hour and twenty minutes so it was a good chance to get up-to-speed one what was happening in the world. David would often read chapters of his books on a show that was on at 18:30 and I have to admit I got a little addicted. David's books are made up of short essays about his life and are mostly very funny indeed.
I think it was on a YouTube video that David mentioned these books stemmed from just jotting down his thoughts. Now I've no thoughts of such success but as a worrier, I thought getting things out of my mind may stop me panicking about silly things.
I've never been a great sleeper and would often wake shortly after midnight and stew over things. It could be something that had happened, something I'd worry might happen or just some random thought that would keep me awake. Sometimes it may just be a 'to do' that I'd worry about forgetting. It felt like I was having a personal BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) moment.
When a computer has one of these "panics" it often crashes and dumps its memory. This got me thinking that if I just jotted what was on my mind before heading to bed then just maybe I might get a good nights sleep.
So far so good!
The whole Covid-19 thing is very worrying and I've had the added pressure of losing my job just before it all started. Job hunting isn't particularly easy right now so there's no sight of how the mortgage is going to get paid in a few months time...
...but I've not been worrying about it.
Hopefully that isn't unhealthy in itself but I've been getting all my thoughts and concerns written down most nights and I'm getting nearly twice as much sleep as I was previously. I still have the occasional wobble but that's mostly caused by driving a caffeinated drink late in the day. I'm also becoming somewhat expert as creating "to do" lists and planning my days to make sure they are varied. I try to fit in a little of all the things I'd like to do on a certain day … actually I also include the things I really don't want to do. Having them written down helps me make sure they get done and I've found it best to start with those items.
So, if you struggle with relaxing throughout the night I recommend you get yourself little scrap of paper and jot your thoughts down. You never know it may just help you too!
