The way I see it, there are two types of insomnia. There is insomnia of the body, in which one just can’t seem to relax and settle down enough to drift off. And then there’s the one that rests purely in the mind, in which one has trouble finding the discipline to stop beating around the bush and actually crawl into bed. Unfortunately, I’ve got both. I’ll talk about them one at a time here, so I’ll probably be splitting this topic into at least 2 entries.
The first type of insomnia, in which one simply can’t fall asleep, is something that’s plagued me for most of my life. I can hardly remember one or two times in which I was able to nod off within a decent amount of time. I just can’t seem to settle down, stop fidgeting, and tell my brain to shut up already. One hour, two hours, three hours may go by before my mind switches gears and goes “oh, it’s bedtime. I should be quieting down now!” Waiting that long is frustrating, not to mention sort of boring.
It’s not all bad though. Having a couple hours for my brain to run free gives me time to brainstorm, to think up new ideas. Most of the ideas for these journal entries come to me while laying in bed in the dark, staring at the ceiling. More importantly though, almost all of my characters and stories, both for RPing and simple personal enjoyment, have been thought up and fleshed out during this down time. Jackal, Sonar, and nearly all of my superheroes have come to me while waiting to go to sleep. By the time I nod off, I’ve usually had time to fully design their appearance, abilities, a bit of their backstory, and maybe a story arc or two! So while insomnia may be frustrating, it can be useful if properly channeled.
Thankfully for Insomniacs the world over, this type of insomnia is treatable. There are hundreds of different sleep medication out there, and I’ve tried several. It can be difficult finding the right match, unfortunately. One type of pill I tried knocked me out readily enough, but left a horrible taste in my mouth for the next 24 hours (still not sure how that works). Unisom worked in a fashion, but it could still take me up to an hour to nod off. About a week ago, I started on Ambien, and I’m happy to say that it’s doing its job nicely. I still have to stop brainstorming and relax a bit, but with luck I’ll be out in twenty minutes or so. Yay for pills! 
That’s all for this entry. Stay tuned for part two!
