Dear journaling community,
I don’t know about you these days it’s as if the 3AM alarm bell goes off in my mind like clockwork. Then your mind starts to wonder the voices get louder. If you are the woman who lies awake while the rest of the house sleeps, staring at the ceiling and carrying the weight of tomorrow, this week is yours.
We often treat these sleepless hours as an enemy to be fought, tossing and turning in frustration. Here’s the thing what if we stopped fighting the wakefulness? What if we simply sat with it? Take a moment, take the time to again just sit with it.
Your verse this week:
“On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.” — Psalm 63:6
There is a profound intimacy in the watches of the night. When the world is completely quiet, our most honest thoughts surface. You do not have to carry them alone in the dark.
Your Prompt: The Night Page
Keep your journal and a pen on your bedside table this week. If you wake in the night whether it’s 3AM, midnight or even 5AM in the morning do not reach for your phone. The screen will only numb you and the doom scrolling will only distract you from what your heart is trying to say. Reach for your pen instead.
Write one sentence. That is all. One single honest sentence about what exactly woke you.
- “I woke up thinking about money and how we will stretch the budget.”
- “I woke up missing her more than I did yesterday.”
- “I woke up and I do not know why. Just a heavy feeling in my chest.”
- “I woke up afraid that I am running out of time.”
Write your one sentence. Then close the journal lay your head back down and breathe. You have transferred the weight from your mind to the paper.
At the end of the week, in the safety of the daylight, read those sentences together. They will tell you something your daytime self has been avoiding. Listen to what the night is trying to teach you.
Your Energy Tracker
We expect ourselves to operate like machines, outputting the exact same energy in the depth of winter as we do in the height of summer. It is an unfair expectation.
Draw five small batteries in your journal (one for Monday to Friday). At the end of each day shade the battery to show how full or empty you truly feel:
- Full I had enough energy for the day and felt present.
- Three-quarters I managed well, but I felt the effort.
- Half I was running low by the afternoon and needed a pause.
- Quarter I was running on fumes, pushing through the bare minimum.
- Empty I have absolutely nothing left to give.
There is no judgement here. Just data. Winter asks us to see our capacity clearly before it ever asks us to change our habits. Acknowledge where you are.
Your Youth Day Reflection (16 June)
South Africa remembers its young people this month. In the spirit of that remembrance turn to a fresh page in your journal. Write a letter to the young version of yourself the person who had absolutely no idea what was coming. The one who worried about things that never happened. The one who survived things you never thought you could.
Start with: “If I could sit with you right now, I would tell you…”
Tell yourself what you wish a wise adult had said to you back then. Tell yourself what you got wonderfully right that nobody ever noticed or praised. Tell yourself that you are stronger than you know.
With grace,
Debbera