Sleep

 The Final Frontier.

I have had trouble sleeping as long as I can remember. When I was a teenager, my father gave me some headphones from his work. When I was younger than that, I would ask my sister to sleep with me.

The real problem is that I was raped twice while sleeping.

Harsh? Exactly.

So, what does a busy wife and mother of two do? Takes anything on the market to help me sleep through my fears.

The debilitating thing about real phobias are they don't have to make sense. My body and mind remember the events far too well. So, I would use a ton of sleep medicine to get a "good night's rest."

Then, because I was so drugged through the night, I would overcome the drowsiness with some caffeine in the morning. This too would affect the quality of my sleep. But I could take one more melatonin, right?

What a cycle I was on.

Now, I've given up all caffeine and sleep aids and had my first night of sleep "all natural." You have no idea how good this feels.

Now I can see the phobia for what it really is; a lie. Now I can take down that giant without fear.