How Maria faced the fear of insomnia by allowing it to exist and discovered that all its power came from how she responded to it (#49)

Listen to the podcast episode (audio only) A couple of years ago, Maria experienced anxiety and panic attacks. When she didn't sleep for over 72 hours, she felt that something was wrong with her. She feared that the chemistry of her brain had changed and her days became dominated by sleep-related thoughts and worries. Medication didn't seem to help. Maria felt lonely, confused, and afraid. She felt that she couldn't even leave the house because things were so difficult. She withdrew from doing things that she enjoyed. She found it hard to focus on anything other than sleep. Feeling completely stuck, Maria committed to a new approach. She started to leave the house and went for short walks — even when her mind told her that wasn't possible. Taking baby steps, she started to do more of the things that mattered to her. Perhaps the most helpful change Maria made was facing the fear of insomnia. Instead of trying to fight or avoid insomnia and all the difficult thoughts and feelings associated with it, Maria started to allow it to exist. She would even start to welcome it, whenever it chose to show up — and, by doing this, Maria found that insomnia started to lose its power and influence. She soon discovered that she didn't need medication to generate sleep. That she didn't need to do anything to make sleep happen. And, that trying to fight or avoid insomnia and the difficult thoughts and feelings that often come with it only set her up for an ongoing struggle that made everything more difficult. Maria realized that insomnia's survival depends on how we respond to it. And, she is 100% sure that with the right approach, no matter how bad your situation might be right now, you can recover. Click here for a full transcript of this episode.Click here to hide the transcript. Martin Reed: Welcome to the Insomnia Coach Podcast. My name is Martin Reed. I believe that by changing how we respond to insomnia and all the difficult thoughts and feelings that come with it, we can move away from struggling with insomnia and toward living the life we want to live. Martin Reed: The content of this podcast is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. The statements and opinions expressed by guests are their own and are not necessarily endorsed by Insomnia Coach LLC. All content is provided "as is" and without warranties, either express or implied. Martin Reed: Okay, Maria, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to come onto the podcast. Maria Koziol: Absolutely, no problem. My pleasure. Martin Reed: I'm really excited to have you on. Let's just start right at the beginning. When did your sleep problems begin and what do you think caused those initial issues with sleep? Maria Koziol: If we're talking about the trigger, I think it was a very complex case. There was not a singular cause or trigger that I could point out. I think I haven't even been able to recognize it yet, like 100%, what was that? I just think it all started at the point when I actually started to have different mental health problems. That was at the beginning of 2021 when all of a sudden, I started to have panic attacks and anxiety attacks, when I had never ever experienced such things before. I was trying to figure out why at that time, why the beginning of 2021? I hadn't had any major tragic events at that time,