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| Source: www.martinjclemens.com |
This is the story of a girl named Sakshi who hasn’t slept for two months.
Every day when she goes to bed, her mind wanders and she keeps thinking ‘When will I get some sleep? What are my children doing? …Work? ..Husband?’ and is not able to sleep. During the day, her reflexes become slow, she is extremely tired, annoyed, disinterested and physically drained out. She is worried that if this continues anymore she might just go mad! (2 months without sleep, can you imagine!)
What does she do? How does get out of this abysmal pit? Questions like these were her constant companions… She finally decides to seek some expert’s help.
Expert asked her to do just one thing – not to sleep for another 72 hours. What an irony? She laughed and said ‘I haven’t slept for two months, another 72 hours is nothing’. Sakshi goes back to her place and does her daily routine work. Night falls and she goes to bed but instead of obsessing about when will she get some sleep, she was thinking ‘What will happen if I fall sleep? Why did he ask me not to sleep for another 72 hours?’ She kept thinking about this but this time was different, she actually falls asleep!
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| Source: www.giphy.com |
How did this happen? What changed for her today?Sakshi’s focus shifted temporarily from the stressful things to conversation with the expert. All the energy which was focused on obsessing about ‘When will I get some sleep?’was shifted to a simpler thing ‘What will happen if I fall asleep?’.
As the expert’s say controlling a situation is in our minds. The way we respond to a situation is dependent on how our subconscious mind perceives it. Overly focusing over a problem leads to anxiety but no solution. People who are stressed out are less effective, depressed and in poor health. Instead of dwelling on a problem you can’t solve, get your mind off it for a while and come back to it. Shift your focus by going for a walk, thinking about something mindless (as Sakshi did), taking deep breath or playing something mindless.
After shifting focus when we approach the problem afresh, our perspective changes and we are able to deal with it better. Everyone is unique, the solution for one might not work for other. So find out what works for you and lead a less stressful life!
Note: This is based on real life cases handled by Dr Jacob Raju. We have changed the names to maintain anonymity.