Be Thankful
I’m still flying high after my first ever TedX Talk. I was honored to be part of the TedX Deerpark Women’s event which aired last Saturday. It was literally a dream come true. I can’t tell you how many Ted or TedX talks that I’ve watched, and to finally be part of something so special, means the world to me. When I first got the email saying “Congratulations” …I felt like a high school senior waiting to get into their favorite school. I have no idea how it happened, or how I was chosen to speak, but it’s been the most insane few weeks of my life.
First, I had to think about what I was going to say, GULP! And once I figured out the outline, my mind went nuts with all the directions that I could go. But I was given exactly 10 minutes – and that’s not a lot of time. When people asked me how it went, my answer was the same, “A blur”.
Let me back up. After I submitted my first draft to the speech coach, we had a zoom call and it was the craziest and best experience ever. She was pure magic and by the time I was done with my 4th edit, I had put together, what I felt, was a pretty good representation of what I wanted to say. The title of my talk was, From Panic to Purpose.
Today I want to just talk about one of the three things that got me through, because it’s everything in my mind. Be thankful every day. In other words, wake up and be thankful – at the very least look for reasons to be thankful. When you go to bed, be thankful. Even if you’ve had a crappy day – find reasons to be thankful for your day. As I stated in my talk, I can make you this guarantee. If you’re thankful, you WILL be happy. If you’re happy, you’re calm. When you’re calm, your anxiety fades away. And when your anxiety fades, your insomnia improves. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had terrible insomnia. I would lay down, shut my eyes, and that’s when my brains kicks into gear. It replays every conversation I had that day, and doesn’t stop. I think about what I didn’t say, should have said, wish I would have said and on and on. I ask my husband how he goes right to sleep and his answer, “Get comfortable, now think about nothing”. I’m not kidding, that’s what he says. Who can think about nothing? I’m not wired that way. I think about everything. I refuse to take sleeping pills because the last thing I need is to sleepwalk my way to the refrigerator in the middle of the night! And melatonin is eh…just not super helpful.
A lot of that changed when I started being much more thankful for everything in my life. It truly puts you at ease which makes sleeping much more doable. As weird as that sounds, when you’re thankful and happy, you aren’t worried about every little thing that you said, or wish you had said, and so on. Insomnia is brutal and also, it’s very bad for us. I’ve heard for years that we need 8-9 hours of sleep which is laughable to me. My norm was 5 hours for as long as I can remember, and no joke, I’m now sleeping almost 7 hours every night. The funny thing is, when you first get so much sleep, it makes you sleepier, but then your body adjusts.
I’m not saying that it’s easy to be thankful when you’ve had a tough day. But if you go back and look at your day in full, you might remember a good conversation you had, or a flower you saw, or your dog sitting on your lap and snuggling with you. Whatever it is, when you focus on the good, that’s where your energy flows. Give this a try, and let me know what you think!
Today, I’m thankful that my son is home from college, my daughter is almost done with her finals, my husband’s continued support of my craziness, and my dog! Oh, and the fact that I just figured out where my sister gets the amazing pumpkin dog treats that my Chili bear loves to eat! So, no matter how angry I am at my insurance company (yes, health care drives me insane), I’m still thankful, and will remember all of these things when I go to bed tonight.
