https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6PwHjl5h-M
I’ve always been more of a night owl than an early bird, despite many, many attempts to become the opposite. There will almost certainly be more attempts too. I like the idea of being one of those people who wakes up early, drinks water, stretches, writes three profound thoughts in a notebook and then begins the day with a clear mind. In practice, I am much more likely to be lying there well into the wee hours with my brain behaving like someone has opened every tab at once.
Part of it is that I’ve never been great at switching off. At the end of the day, when I should be winding down, my mind either finds its most creative energy and flow, or remembers everything I should have done that day and everything I need to do the next. Before long, I’m lying there with a mind full of thoughts, one of which is: I should be asleep.
I also know I’ve chosen a life that probably doesn’t help the whole healthy night-time routine thing. Constant change, new places, new problems, new plans, new ways for things to go slightly sideways. I find that genuinely invigorating, but it probably does not make me the ideal candidate for a calm and repeatable bedtime routine. A bit more routine would probably do me no harm, but I find that harder than it feels like it should be.
The one constant I do have, and the one I often turn to, is music. Wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, there is usually music somewhere in the picture.
For years, I needed music on to fall asleep. Which was fine when I was alone but less so when i was not at which point we had a problem. Or, more accurately, I had a problem, because they would sleep perfectly well and I would just lie there wide awake, restless.
I try not to rely on it quite so much now, but if i do I’ll often go for classical or piano music… something soft enough to make the room feel slower. Lately, electronic music has found its way into that rotation too. Sometimes very chilled, sometimes surprisingly uptempo for something that is apparently meant to help me sleep.
Anyway, this one has been a regular recently. Not necessarily a perfect lullaby, but it has become part of that strange little night-time ritual: lights low, brain still going, trying to convince myself that the day is finished.