It gets worse before it gets better: growth through setbacks

Hello friend, just a little note for you today 😊

A week ago, we stayed at my sister-in-law’s place near the Pyrenees. She has a sweet baby – my niece – who’s about 6 months old. During our stay, the baby started crying more and sleeping worse, and her usual sleep-wake routine was thrown off, which was quite challenging for her parents. On one of those tough days, my sister-in-law said something that really stuck with me: “Maybe she’s having worse days and nights because she’s going through an ‘update.’” And sure enough, just a few days later, the baby started crawling on her knees for the first time!

That turbulent period was like a precursor to the next big leap in her development.

It made me think about our own insomnia recovery journey – how each big speedbump often comes right before a new “update,” a moment of growth or new understanding. Think about your previous “setbacks” – what kind of experience followed them once they were over? Or recall any past aha-moments – weren’t they often a by-product of some turbulence?

What if we looked at our setbacks as a precursor to our “updates“? Instead of thinking, “I’ve massively regressed!” we could say, “Hm, something is in the making here. Some new insight or breakthrough is on the way. I don’t know exactly what it is or when it will happen, but I’m going to go with the flow and see where it leads me.”

This is a really short letter as I am still on the road trip, but just wanted to say hello 👋

And here’s another postcard for you – this time from the Basque Country!

A beautiful sunset in San Sebastian!

Cheers!

Ali

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