I love that for you

woke up to an email the other morning from HSN (home shopping network), thanking me for my order.

I guess I watched HSN and bought a pair of Birkenstocks? #ambienbuys

I’m kind of excited though. I haven’t had a pair of birks in a long time. they were my favorite shoe and I wore them year round, which was easy enough to do in Arizona.

a friend suggested I try ASMR for sleep. I’m not a fan. Most videos are intolerable to me. I hate them in fact.

I thought I did anyway.

then she sent me a link to this video and something flipped inside me:

https://youtu.be/nu6AUl3UlF0

The appeal is a combination of her whispering voice, the sound of the unwrapping paper, the unexpected clinks of the glass. She also does this subtle but constant clicking noise that I found soothing, not annoying. When I listened to it, I immediately started feeling sleepy. My head tingled. My body got heavy. My ears felt like I was underwater. The whole thing made me feel slightly uncomfortable, but in such a weirdly pleasant way.

I think everyone is probably susceptible to one kind of ASMR video or another, it’s just a matter of finding the right one. There seems to be a wide range. I cannot stand the sound of eating or cooking, or office sounds, especially typing. Others love it. A friend did not like the whispering voice of my tea video lady, she doesn’t like whispering at all, she needs full voices and talking.

What if these videos/sounds tap into some primal memory inside us, like when we were infants. Or even deeper, like from the womb. Or maybe even before that.

Now I’m on a quest to find more videos like this tea one, I have yet to find something that causes a similar reaction. But I’m sure it exists!

These videos seem safer and better for me when I can’t sleep. certainly less embarrassing than ambien-watching the home shopping network.