Sleep story · sea, still
A lighthouse at the end of a long day — a slow story for the end of the day, if you are doing this in the middle of the day — for waking too early
One light turning, a kettle, and weather you are on the right side of.
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 light goes out across the water and comes back, and goes out again. There is a chair pulled up to the window that fits exactly one person. Your coat is on the hook by the door, still wet at the shoulders.
The lighthouse will keep turning whether you watch it or not. The lighthouse turns once every fifteen seconds, and you have stopped counting it. The tea in your hands is too hot to drink and you are just holding it.
Now feel your whole body at once, lying here, being held up. Feel the top of your head relax into the pillow.
Your fingers can stop doing anything at all. Your eyelids can be too heavy to open, and that is fine.
A ship passes in the distance with its lights on, and then it does not. The room at the top is small, round and warm, with a kettle on a ring.
Let your calves spread out and flatten. Let your ribs stop working so hard.
Let your toes stop holding on to anything. Let your palms open if they were closed.
The window is thick and slightly green at the edges. Below, the sea is doing what it does at night, which is mostly nothing.
Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this. If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
Feel one shoulder go heavy, then the other. Your chest can be still now.
Let the sound of this go soft at the edges. Just the weight.
They will find their own way out. Let them. Slower.
Midday is an underrated time for this.
Let everything get quiet, including this.
14 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for sea, still.
If this story does not settle you, try A lighthouse at the end of a long day (a sleep story), on a low-energy afternoon — for waking too early, A garden in the rain, when you are cold and want to be warm — for the hours after a late shift or A library at closing time — a slow story for the end of the day, when you need something unremarkable — for a night when you do not want to think.