This is Optimal Living Daily episodes 748.

Why I'm Taking Back My Evenings by Kate Flanders of KateFlanders.com

and I'm Justin Mollick, the guy that reads blog posts to you every single day of the year

with permission from the websites.

Today's post is from Kate Flanders, she has a new book coming out in just a couple of weeks

and I'm gonna do a special episode with her in about a week, so definitely stay tuned for that.

But for now, it's here her post as we optimize your life.

Why I'm Taking Back My Evenings by Kate Flanders of KateFlanders.com

Hello friends and hello December.

It's hard to believe that my year of slow living experiments is almost over.

It started with the slow morning experiment in January,

where I allow myself to wake up naturally and have a slow, quiet morning before the start of each day.

Slow mornings are something I've managed to continue with all year

and have helped lower my anxiety about both work and life.

Now, this year of experiments has come full circle and it's time to focus on slowing down my evenings,

particularly my bedtime routine.

If I've never mentioned it before, I've always been a troubled sleeper.

The first time I can remember experiencing an extended stretch of insomnia was in the 9th grade,

aged 14. I would either lay awake until 3am and then sleep for only a few hours,

or I would wake up around 3am and never fall back asleep.

This went on for weeks before I was finally so exhausted that my body just knew what it had to do.

And then I would sleep well for a few weeks or months until my insomnia came back for another

...