The Insomniac Club

One of my favorite modern authors, Adam Gopnik, wrote in The New Yorker recently that he shares with such “creative and prolific” souls as the Brontës, Kafka, and Proust a propensity for insomnia. Sleeplessness, he argues, might have been a key to their great accomplishments. 

I consider this good news.

For as long as I can remember, as young as elementary school age, I’ve had difficulty sleeping. I’d get stressed before the first day of school, a drama performance or a big test. Back then, my mother would offer me her mother’s cure-all, a snifter of brandy, to help me sleep. (That’d probably win you a visit from Child Protective Services in this day and age!)

At Stanford, I tried to row crew for a year, but found myself unable to fall asleep at the thought of 5am workouts. I had to quit in the spring. 

These days, I have the opposite problem. I tumble into deep slumber the moment I lay my head down – usually just minutes after Kiran and I get the kids to bed. But then I wake up at 1, 2, or 3am, and can’t fall back asleep.

Recently, I decided to embrace my insomniac father’s philosophy: “Just get up,” he’d always say. I will allow myself about 20-30 minutes of meditation and visualization in bed, and after that, I’m up. (Poor Kiran! I try not to disturb him as I creep upstairs.)

There’s a beauty in the silence of the witching hours. As long as I can avoid the lure of email – it’s already 9am in New York at 3am Hawaii time, and business is in full swing – I can honestly, truly enjoy a few hours of quiet writing and reflection. Then the kids are up and it’s busy busy busy bundling them off to school or soccer, hopping on endless Zoom calls to build my business, and doing my actual paid work of book coaching.

So, I’ve come to resent my insomnia less. Appreciate it, even.

What about you? Are you in the Insomniac Club? How do you cope? Share your story. I’d love to read it.

Aloha,
MeiMei

Writing Tip: Find the Quiet Spaces in Between

You may not be an insomniac, in which case: Congratulations!

Nevertheless, my best writing is done in those quiet spaces in between – and I’ve read that the same holds true for many authors. 

• If you’re a morning bird, try setting your alarm to wake up 1 hour earlier than the rest of your household or when you must begin your morning routine for work.
• If you’re a night owl, stay up an hour later with a cup of tea, admiring the moon as you type.
• Or, simply look for a solitary moment in the middle of your day at work, during which you can pull out your journal and record your thoughts for 15 minutes.

Enjoy the romance of it. Don't you feel like an author now?

P.S. If you haven’t already, check out Paris to the Moon, Gopnik’s gorgeous collection of essays about living as an American in Paris in the 1990s. It’s pure delight. Here’s a quote from it to inspire you.

Quote of the Week

The loneliness of the expatriate is of an odd and complicated kind, for it is inseparable from the feeling of being free, of having escaped.

• Adam Gopnik, Paris to the Moon