Episode 3: You're Not a Bad Sleeper
You're not a bad sleeper. You just stopped expecting good sleep — and somewhere along the way, you started wearing the exhaustion like a badge of honor.
In this episode:
Why "I'm just a bad sleeper now" is almost never true
The two cheap, unglamorous things that changed my sleep completely
How to stop fighting your sleep and start protecting it
For years I told myself I was just a bad sleeper. Three kids, three dogs, a decade of broken nights — this was my baseline. My personality trait. I even said it proudly: I'll sleep when I'm dead.
It wasn't true. I hadn't developed a sleep disorder. I had trained myself to treat exhaustion as a permanent character trait, and then I stopped expecting anything different.
Two things changed everything. A sleep mask I resisted for an embarrassingly long time, and a white noise machine that keeps the dogs from yanking me awake at two in the morning. That's it. No supplements, no tracker, no protocol. Just stopping my environment from working against me.
In this episode I talk about why so many of us quietly give up on sleep, what it actually means to protect your sleep (not just start it), and the mindset shift that made all of it click.
What we cover:
The story we tell ourselves about being "bad sleepers" — and why it sticks even after circumstances change
Why exhaustion becomes a badge of honor and what it's actually costing you
Darkness as a sleep tool: why a sleep mask was a game changer and why I resisted it
Staying asleep vs. falling asleep — the difference nobody talks about
How to think about your bedroom as an environment to protect
Ready to go deeper?
If this episode resonated, the free book is the next step — it covers sleep, energy, stress, and all the things quietly draining you. Grab it free at annievinje.com/feel-good-every-day
Or if you're ready to build your own plan, book a Feel Good Strategy Session at annievinje.com.
