Better question: What kind of tired are you?

**Tap into better sleep, now.**

You deserve to sleep soundly and wake refreshed - *whenever you choose.* Your mindset may cause you more sleepiness than you realize.

You cannot fix a flat tire with an ice cream cone, according to my mentor, Erika Flint. Likewise, a nap will not make you feel rested if you aren’t physically tired. Are you more mentally exhausted than anything? Or is it your spirit needing the most restoration?

There is physical, mental, and spiritual tiredness that we all need to address to be our most healthy and happy selves possible. Then, there is the recharging and restoring that just resting can’t provide any of us. As a self-care enthusiast, you need to understand what type of tired you are and how to most quickly and easily restore your valuable energy.

Our body can drag and feel listless. We can physically feel the weight of the world holding us back. This physical level of tired is the one we most likely shrug off as we justify not needing as much as our body suggests. Our physical tiredness is the easiest to address and the most thought about.

The question remains, do you get enough sleep?

Your sleep is essential - it's true. No matter how many hours you sleep, your mindset about the process (and results) will determine your restfulness more than any other factor - even the quality and quantity.

1. Your first step to a better night’s sleep is recognizing what you are currently telling yourself about your sleep.

Even if you believe what you think is 100% true, based on every night’s tossing and turning. I still want you to shift your focus and change your perspective.

Starting right now:

“I sleep soundly. I wake refreshed. I sleep soundly and wake refreshed.”

The more you think, feel, or say it, the more your brain believes it.

What your brain believes your brain does.

From breaking world records.

To sleeping soundly.

2. Your second step, determine what kind of tired you truly are.

If your mind is actively racing when you lay down, does that automatically mean you are mentally exhausted? How does one rest their spirit? What if extra hours cannot be added to my routine; what then, Jen?

I hear you. It’s okay. You will feel better. I promise. You can sleep. It may not feel like it now. I understand. I spent years zombie-eyed staring at reruns swearing I couldn’t sleep too. #YouAreNotAlone

First thing is first.

We need to address your sleep hygiene to confirm it isn’t something simple. It makes me sad when people pay thousands of dollars to an expert simply to find out they need to stop napping before bed or stop drinking caffeine much earlier in the day. Now, if they need a hypnotist to break their habit with caffeine, that’s an entirely different story.

Addressing the habits we have around our sleep is known as sleep hygiene, and it is one of the easiest ways to create amazing changes in sleep results. Part of the standard hygiene suggestions not normally discussed is your mindset. It plays a huge factor – no matter what kind of tired you truly are.

If a nap can’t make you feel rested, we need to start looking at the other forms of tiredness you could be suffering. The next easiest culprit to overcome is your level of mental exhaustion.

Your mental and emotional wellbeing may be so far on the back burner, it’s a forgotten concoction bound for the garbage disposal. We can’t have that. Now, can we? It would leave the pan burned and you blaming yourself for being careless. When in reality, you are simply so distracted by every little thing that is bouncing around your brain; it’s impossible to focus.

Is your mental exhaustion magnifying every misunderstanding or extra request until the emotional charge of your daily tasks feel impossible to maintain? Sadly, stressing more about everything is not serving you, or anyone. Your exhaustion is not helping get more done.

It's time to step away. No matter how tired you feel, step outside. Feel the air and notice the temperature change. The sounds and smells will shift as well. You will feel different if you take another step. Add just one more.

Movement is change, in living proof. Movement changes your brain’s chemistry. It changes your perspective. Movement shifts your emotions and transforms your energy. A little walk will allow your body to share a bit more about what kind of tired you are, deeply. Inside, a little movement clarifies if it’s a body, mind, or spirit craving RESToration.

As you walk, notice the gratitude you feel for a moment to breathe, freely. You’ve got this. You can even feel a bit of relaxation settling into your pace as you focus on how good it feels to move your body outside. In the fresher air with the different sounds, now; how do you feel?

As you walk, notice, are you feeling energized? Then your body was not the kind of tired that needed rest. Isn’t that a surprise?

As you walk, notice, is your mind thinking more actively or less? As you feel the world around you passing through its day, do you feel more part of it or like you are drifting entirely away? These two answers will allow you to see very clearly if your mind or spirit is needing the RESToration today.

R elax/recharge/rejuvenate/regenerate
E mpathize/entertain/explore/energize
S urrender/sleep/stretch/start
T rust/trust/trust/trust

3. Your third step is recognizing rest is an invitation to restoration.

The R is for relax, recharge, rejuvenate, and regenerate. The first suggestion when we are tired, no matter what type, is to relax. Whether it is our body, mind, or spirit that is exhausted, we must relax all of us. After relaxing physically, mentally, and spiritually we recharge. We must recognize our relaxing and our recharging are different needs to be met, holistically. Rejuvenation is not possible before resting and recharging first. Rejuvenating is the re-inspiration of wellbeing, physically, mentally, and spiritually. You are seeing the pattern, obviously. Regeneration of our physical, mental, and spiritual beings is an ongoing exercise of relaxing, recharging, rejuvenating, and regenerating again and again and again.

This is Self-Care.

It is your Future-Self who brings empathy to your exhaustion. They will help you entertain all options of restoration available to you. They will empower you to explore the options being entertained to determine the most harmoniously resonant for the both of you. With this teamwork mentality, you energize the options that will carry you through with more energy than you knew possible.

All you need to do is surrender to the reality that you are tired, in more than just your body. Surrender to the sleep your body needs knowing you will more easily achieve your mental and spiritual restoration with a physically relaxed body. Stretch into new ideas and new habits to support better sleep, each and every night.

Then, start. Start better mindset management about your sleeping and notice how your sleeping feels better every single night. Start mindset management now to show your whole body, mind, and spirit what they can all accomplish together.

Trust the process. Trust your body. Trust this to work for you. Trust that you sleep soundly; and trust, you wake refreshed. Trust me. Most importantly, trust yourself.

We are better suited for everybody's needs when we recognize our own. We must remember, our battery needs charging if we are to power the family unit we are running. Our cup cannot run overflowing with a negativity of energy that is neither healthy nor happy – for anyone.

I am not suggesting we slap a phony smile on and fake our way through misery, humming away a Disney tune waiting patiently for magic. That’s not what this is about.

Your mindset about your sleep is powerful magic, though. As powerful as changing the perspective of a grumpy hiker. Have you ever walked up a mountain with a surly teenager? Every step is an impossible feat. Yet, get them talking about some current passion, and they will practically fly to the summit.