If you’ve ever suffered from insomnia, or survived an infant in the house, you know how precious sleep can be. A few years ago, I was suffering from a bout of insomnia and stumbled onto the Sleep With Me podcast. It’s bedtime stories for grownups.
I interviewed the creator behind Sleep With Me for this interview.
Tell me about Sleep With Me.
It’s a podcast to put people to sleep. It’s bedtime stories for grownups. Like a bedtime story for kids, meant to take your mind off of stuff and distract you from whatever’s keeping you up, so that you can fall asleep or forget that it’s bedtime.
Where did the idea for Sleep with Me come from?
I’d had the idea for a while. I’d always been someone that enjoyed telling stories. Occasionally, I would make up stories for people if we’re hanging out in a park or campfire, whatever.
At some point I started thinking, “I wonder if I could do something with those stories and podcasting.” I thought, “Oh, maybe it could be like bedtime stories.” Every time it came up, I got really critical of the idea. The inner critic would say, “That is so stupid and that is a dumb idea.” And I would think, “Okay, you’re right.” But the idea kept coming up.
I read statistics that said a lot of podcasts never make a second episode. Initially, my goal was to release two episodes. And then I made it to seven episodes. I said to the inner critic, “Okay, critic. When we’re done with episode 8, you can let me know. If it’s terrible then we should quit then.” And then I made it to 100 episodes.
It started real slow because I didn’t have any listeners and I didn’t know really what I was doing. I don’t have a performance background or audio background, so I was learning as I went. I was able to really refine it and then develop a relationship with the listeners.
Do you suffer from insomnia?
This is a two-part answer. I’ll give you the childhood answer first, which will give more insight into where the show comes from.
When I was in grammar school I had dyslexia, but it wasn’t diagnosed. It was just seen as a personality issue at my school, and that’s what I believed too. I went to a Catholic school, and I was terrified to go to school because I knew I’d have problems with teachers. I knew I’d get in trouble or get yelled at, so I had a lot of trouble falling asleep. I would spend a lot of time in bed worrying about school and worrying about what was going to happen.
Sunday nights were especially terrible. I remember lying there with no hope of falling asleep and I was in physical and emotional pain and blaming myself, “Why? I can’t stop thinking. If I think about falling asleep, I’m never going to fall asleep.”
There are tons of reasons why the people who listen to my show can’t fall asleep. Lots of things that I don’t have direct experience with, like chronic physical pain or PTSD. It helps me to relate and realize that if I can help just one of these people—that’s a huge honor.
As an adult I don’t think I have insomnia, though I definitely have trouble sleeping sometimes. Right now I have more trouble getting good sleep because I’m having these dreams where I’m processing anxiety or overthinking. But what I would do is, at night, ideally an hour before I want to be asleep, I started getting ready to go to sleep. What that means for me is getting ready for bed and then sitting quietly or meditating and maybe doing some writing or some journaling, or reflecting or reading. I guess this is a no-no, but I get in bed and read fiction.
Where do you get the ideas for Sleep With Me stories?
Everywhere; I stay curious and interested. I tend to use my imagination a lot for escape or to make things fun—to have a kid’s view or the beginner’s mind. Be open to what interests you, even if it seems silly or if you’re critical of it.
I was walking in the streets last week and I passed a Prius, and I felt like I made eye contact with the car—maybe you can relate, maybe not. I was like, “That’s an idea.”
“Huh. Was I looking at that Prius? Was that Prius looking at me?” So that ended up becoming an idea for an episode.
I try to use the turns in the story or the way I take tangents to let people’s attention drift long enough for them to fall asleep. The listeners are under no obligation to listen. I think that gives people some relief. It’s like, “Okay, this isn’t a sleep solution, this is a sleep…” I don’t know what the right word is. This is like a sleep offering. If it’s a sleep solution, you should fall asleep, right, and then people feel pressure. Why isn’t this solution working for me?
It’s just an offering. I hope it works for you. But, you know what, you’re not under any pressure to fall asleep, you’re also under no pressure or obligation to listen to me. At the same time, if they can’t sleep, I’ll be here making the story as complete within the context as I can.
You can listen to Sleep With Me podcast on his website. It’s also available on iTunes and Android.
This article previously appeared on Forbes.