I used to have the hardest time falling asleep at night. Thoughts ran rampant through my mind like a room full of toddlers jacked up on sugar. I tried counting sheep, but they always wore out and left before I crossed the snooze line. I tried warm milk, but that just made me hot and have to pee.
Then one night as I stared, into the darkness, I put on the audiobook I listened to earlier that day. It didn’t take long before the bouncy toddler-thoughts in my mind sat down on their carpet squares to listen. I soon drifted off into dreamland. I woke about an hour later to turn off the book, but I fell back to sleep pretty quickly.
I knew I was onto something. After a couple nights, I looked forward to my bedtime story, but I didn’t like having to turn it off. I learned that when I play my audiobook through the Echo Dot in my room, I can set a sleep timer. All I have to say is, “Alexa, play my audiobook.” Then I tell her, “Alexa, stop reading in 30 minutes.” She confirms my request and we are all set. There is also a sleep timer on the Audible app on my phone.
It has been a month now, and I have no trouble falling asleep. If I am awake, I get to enjoy the story a little longer and don’t mind. There is no more rumble in the jungle breaking out in my head and I don’t have to play referee to my thoughts until they quiet enough for me to go to sleep.
Because I tend to doze off while the story is going, I don’t usually hear or remember all of it. So, each night I take a minute to go back to the last point in the story I remember. All I do is tell Alexa to go back ____ minutes and I pick it up from there. It works great.
I encourage all of you to give it try. I am now a firm believer in the idea that you are never too old for a bedtime story … binkies and teddy bears optional.
Looking for your next audiobook bedtime story? Find them at:
C.G.Harris is the author of The Nine (now available as an audiobook narrated by the talented, MacLeod Andrews) and The Rax.