By Jamie Rieger

Oh, those sleepless nights, the ones that keep you tossing and turning all night or pacing through the house at 2:00 a.m. and every hour thereafter until it is time to get up. At that point, sleepiness has finally arrived, but it is now too late for that. It is time to get up and greet the day.
Everybody has these nights on occasion, especially when there is some external force impeding on our minds. It does not have to be a definite stressor, like finances, work or other legitimate worry, that plagues our minds and keeps us awake. Sometimes, it may be just a feeling about something and the more tired we get, the more imaginative and usually incorrect our thoughts become.
I must say since I have moved, I have indeed been sleeping much better, but I did have one of those sleepless night recently and not because of any one thing or event, but a whole bunch of little things that would not leave my mind. The more I tossed, the more I turned and the more I got up and paced, the more my mind did not want to be shut down for the night. The more I tried to not think about anything and get to sleep, the more it did not happen.
I am not even sure exactly where this all came from because I had been tired the evening before and went to bed at a decent hour. I must have slept solid for a few hours and then got awoken by something. I'm not sure, but whatever it was that woke me up, kept me awake and I did not get a minute of sleep after 3:30.
After that, I laid on the couch watching TV for about two hours, thinking that would be enough to put me to sleep. It did not help. At 5:30, I went into the kitchen and made a strong pot of coffee. I knew I was going to need it to get myself through the day.
Despite the strong coffee, the day passed by in a groggy haze and I am not sure how much my tired brain was actually absorbing.
I managed to make it through all of the demands of the day, but as soon as I got back home, I knew I was ready for a power nap. Sleep had no problem getting to me at 4:00 p.m. and all the things that kept me awake the previous night were gone.
Soon, I was in a deep, dreamless slumber and stayed that way just long enough to feel rejuvenated and ready to tackle the world!