Sleep story · sea, simple
A caravan by the sea, when you cannot concentrate on anything else — for a racing mind
Thin walls, wind outside, and the sound of shingle about fifty metres away.
Lights off. Press begin and let the story read itself to you, at the pace of sleep.
Screen on or off — we suggest dimming it, or simply closing your eyes after the first paragraph.
The story, in full
The whole caravan smells of salt, gas and clean bedding. The window over the sink has a small crack in the corner that has been there for years. The sea is about fifty metres away, over a bank of shingle.
The wind pushes against the side of the caravan in long, slow gusts. Everything you need is within two metres of where you are lying. There is a torch by the door in case you need to walk to the toilets in the night.
Let the back of your neck lengthen out. Feel the back of your knees soften into the bed.
Your fingers can stop doing anything at all. Let your upper arms fall wherever gravity puts them.
The bed folds out of the seating area and takes up most of the floor. The curtains are thin, and the moon makes a pale rectangle on the floor.
Let your forearms get heavy and warm. Let your toes stop holding on to anything.
Let your hands be completely still. Let your breathing get slower without deciding to slow it.
There is a gas ring, a kettle, and two cups, one of which is a different pattern. You can hear the shingle moving as the waves pull back.
If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix. If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
Let the pillow take the whole weight of your head. Feel your belly rise and fall without any help from you.
Leave it there. Softer.
You do not have to count them. Let the thoughts come and go without you getting up to answer. Let your breathing do the rest.
When concentration is gone, work with what is left.
Let everything get quiet, including this.
14 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for sea, simple.