Sleep story · sea, simple
Sleep story: a caravan by the sea, when you have more time than usual — for waking too early
Thin walls, wind outside, and the sound of shingle about fifty metres away.
Reading it yourself. Back to the audio version.
A clock on the wall ticks with a slight rattle on every second. The sea is about fifty metres away, over a bank of shingle. The window over the sink has a small crack in the corner that has been there for years.
The curtains are thin, and the moon makes a pale rectangle on the floor. The bed folds out of the seating area and takes up most of the floor. Everything you need is within two metres of where you are lying.
Feel the back of your knees soften into the bed. Feel one shoulder go heavy, then the other.
Let your breathing get slower without deciding to slow it. Let your forearms get heavy and warm.
The whole caravan smells of salt, gas and clean bedding. The caravan rocks very slightly in the wind, which is more comforting than it sounds.
Let your ribs stop working so hard. Let your palms open if they were closed.
Let your forehead go cool and smooth. Let the back of your neck lengthen out.
You can hear the shingle moving as the waves pull back. There is a gas ring, a kettle, and two cups, one of which is a different pattern.
Feel the weight of your head on the pillow. Feel your heels sink a little into the mattress.
The wind pushes against the side of the caravan in long, slow gusts. There is a torch by the door in case you need to walk to the toilets in the night.
Feel the weight of the blanket on your legs. Let the mattress take all of it.
If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else. If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
Your elbows can stop being hinges for now. Feel your cheeks let go.
Leave it there. Softer.
Just the breath. Let the breath be the only thing you are doing. Let the room get slightly further away.
Let the dark be ordinary. You do not have to count them. Let the sound of this go soft at the edges.
This is the longer version, for a day with some slack in it.
The room is dark, the day is finished, and nothing is required of you.