One of the common discomforts of my line of work is going through abnormal sleeping patterns. It's making other people cringe at the thought that while they are well-indulging restful sleep at night, I on the other hand is sitting in front of my workstation attending to modifications, HTML codes, emails and copy writing revisions.

Just this morning, the subject of ways on how to be able to sleep was the topic of my office mates. I got to hear the simple ones and even laughed till my tummy ached hearing E's method of visualizing in order to drive herself to sleep. Her way? She imagines herself being in a huge watermelon plantation carrying a mallet and smashing all the watermelons. The whole activity would make her feel tired thus she gets to sleep.

It was both weird and funny at the same time. Now, my own method is less drastic and violent. On my end, I also visualize things to condition myself to sleep. I normally think of water. Either an aquarium near a window on a dark, rainy night or water rippling from a river. If my mind is not into it, I think of the simplest things like a box with just one color and imagining a dot in the middle of it. Just focusing on the dot is enough to relax my senses and let me doze off.

But of course, aside from that, there's discipline. I only take OTC sleeping aids when necessary. No caffeine and soda just before bed and I try to hit the sack at the same time or earlier every morning.

And it always works. Now, if you won't mind, I'll be doing my visualization routine again as it's bedtime. Later. :-)