As a person with acute insomnia, sleep for me has always been that friend whom I have always wanted in my life but never got. However, recently after getting Spotify premium, I remember that Spotify has podcasts and was browsing through them and came across this podcast with a very unusual name- “Nothing Much Happens.” I thought of checking it out and saw that it was some podcast related to bedtime stories. I got very curious since I have always loved bedtime stories as a child. That night I played one and after a second or two the podcast started with “Hello and welcome to bedtime stories for adults, in which nothing much happens; you feel good and then you fall asleep.” And that’s when it all started.
People close to me have always known me as a night owl, and I don’t blame them because I used to sleep for hardly 3 hours a day and that too very less sleep. My insomnia was triggered by some traumatic events, paranoia, depression, stress, and anxiety. It is impossible to sleep when you just don’t experience any good things in your life, and you are constantly living under stress. The warmth in your life seems to disappear. However, the night I listened to Nothing Much Happens, for the first time I felt a very different kind of peaceful emotion taking control over my body and mind.
The podcast is done by Kathryn Nicolai, who is a Michigan-based writer, along with Bob Wittersheim, an audio engineer. The story that I heard first was about a rainy day, going home, in your safe enclosure, having a cup of coffee, and lying beside your furry sleepy cat. The story hit me hard. At one point even though it was a very happy warm story, the return of the warmth inside me made me teary-eyed. People like me who suffer from depression and past trauma will understand how important it is for us to feel safe. Safety for us is just like another remotion, and a very dominant one.
Kathryn has a very unique voice, and at least to me, it is the most soothing voice I have ever heard. In the whole podcast, there are no background sounds, just her words and utter silence in the backdrop, which completely matches with the silence of the night. Every story is told two times, the first time at a normal talking speed, and the second time, it is said slowly, with long pauses. At first, this was very different for me, I couldn’t understand why will someone like to hear the same story two times? However, after listening for the first time I realized that during the first time, you start by imagining yourself inside the story, understanding all the major details, like the color of the sky, the people in a shop, and during the second time you start noticing the minor details, such as the color of the flowers in the garden, and the smell of the bakery.
As Kathryn will say, it is a type of brain training. All these stories portray the peace amidst the chaos of this world, and that’s why it has been two months, and Nothing Much Happens has become a part of my daily routine. Her stories take me back to my memory lane and show me the good and the warmth in this world. On the first day, it took me 30 minutes to fall asleep after starting the podcast, and now it takes me hardly 5 minutes to fall asleep. It’s like even my brain knows, that when Kathryn starts to speak, things are going to be all right, no matter how messed up your day was. I have made my friends and my close ones listen to her podcast, and everyone has agreed that they had the best sleep of their life. And the next day they have woken up in a very happy and cheerful mood.
So, if you have not experienced it, please go to her link https://www.nothingmuchhappens.com/ and subscribe to her podcasts.
You can also get her podcast on Spotify and Audible. She has also launched a book with the same title, and it contains several meditation guides, secrets of a healthy lifestyle, and many untold stories. It is available on a maximum of online shopping sites, such as Amazon.
My next goal is to buy her book and once I finish it, I will give a review on it too. Till then, have a goodnight's sleep.
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