Anyone else waking around 3 a.m — with your body already on high alert? I’ve seen a simple combo help folks: 5 minutes of box breathing, a quick cold-water face splash, then a 7 a.m. peer text check-in; if you need immediate support, 988 is there 24/7, and I’m happy to help organize a small peer circle this week.
At ‘3 a.m.’ I grab a pocket notebook and do a two-minute brain dump with the dimmest red light; getting the worries onto paper drops my heart rate enough to drift back. Box breathing helps me after that, but the cold-water splash wakes me up too much at that hour, so I save it for after the 7 a.m. check-in. If you set up that peer circle this week, I’d join.
when it hits around 3 a.m., the sink trip wakes me up more, so I keep a bottle with ice and a small washcloth by the bed — 60 seconds of cold press on the face, then the “5 minutes of box breathing”. Setting the “7 a.m. peer text” reminder right then usually lets my brain unclench — does the reminder itself help anyone else?