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Sleep Lady- Step 2: Relabel what the sensations mean 5:105 minutes, 10 secondsOnce you've named what's happening, the next step is to relabel the meaning, to remove the catastrophic interpretation to it. 5:185 minutes, 18 secondsSo instead of, "My body is anxious. This is terrible. 5:225 minutes, 22 secondsI need to fix this, and I may just need to make this go away right now," you would say, "My survival brain is running an old pattern. 5:295 minutes, 29 secondsIt thinks there's something to be alert for, but I know there isn't." Or, you know, you could just simply say, "This is just my nervous system activating. 5:385 minutes, 38 secondsIt's not dangerous. 5:405 minutes, 40 secondsThere's nothing that needs to be fixed." So notice that nothing about your body has changed. 5:465 minutes, 46 secondsYour heart is still beating fast, your chest might still feel tight, your mind might still be racing. The sensations themselves haven't changed. Chapter 8: How anxious stories create a sense of danger 5:535 minutes, 53 secondsThe only thing that's changing is the story that you're attaching to them. Because your survival brain has learned to interpret them as danger. 6:026 minutes, 2 secondsBut they're not, right? What if they're just sensations? Think about it. A racing heart could mean fear, or it could mean excitement. 6:126 minutes, 12 secondsButterflies in your stomach could mean panic, or they could mean that you're about to do something meaningful. The sensations themselves aren't the problem. 6:206 minutes, 20 secondsIt's the story that your brain automatically attaches to them. 6:236 minutes, 23 secondsSo instead of immediately going to, "This is terrible, something is very wrong," instead try saying, "This is just a false alarm. 6:316 minutes, 31 secondsI don't need to believe every story that my survival brain is telling me." Every time you choose a new interpretation instead of the old catastrophic one, 6:396 minutes, 39 secondsyou're giving your brain new evidence that this situation isn't actually dangerous. And this exact thing happens at night too. You know, you'll say things like, "Oh, no, I'm still awake.

5 minutes, 10 seconds
Once you've named what's happening, the next step is to relabel the meaning, to remove the catastrophic interpretation to it.
5 minutes, 18 seconds
So instead of, "My body is anxious. This is terrible.
5 minutes, 22 seconds
I need to fix this, and I may just need to make this go away right now," you would say, "My survival brain is running an old pattern.
5 minutes, 29 seconds
It thinks there's something to be alert for, but I know there isn't." Or, you know, you could just simply say, "This is just my nervous system activating.
5 minutes, 38 seconds
It's not dangerous.
5 minutes, 40 seconds
There's nothing that needs to be fixed." So notice that nothing about your body has changed.
5 minutes, 46 seconds
Your heart is still beating fast, your chest might still feel tight, your mind might still be racing. The sensations themselves haven't changed.

5 minutes, 53 seconds
The only thing that's changing is the story that you're attaching to them. Because your survival brain has learned to interpret them as danger.
6 minutes, 2 seconds
But they're not, right? What if they're just sensations? Think about it. A racing heart could mean fear, or it could mean excitement.
6 minutes, 12 seconds
Butterflies in your stomach could mean panic, or they could mean that you're about to do something meaningful. The sensations themselves aren't the problem.
6 minutes, 20 seconds
It's the story that your brain automatically attaches to them.
6 minutes, 23 seconds
So instead of immediately going to, "This is terrible, something is very wrong," instead try saying, "This is just a false alarm.
6 minutes, 31 seconds
I don't need to believe every story that my survival brain is telling me." Every time you choose a new interpretation instead of the old catastrophic one,
6 minutes, 39 seconds
you're giving your brain new evidence that this situation isn't actually dangerous. And this exact thing happens at night too. You know, you'll say things like, "Oh, no, I'm still awake.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------=========================================
6 minutes, 48 seconds
I have to be up in four hours.
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I'm gonna feel horrible tomorrow." Or, you know, "This always happens before something important," so the anxiety the night before something important is happening.
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Being awake during the night isn't what's keeping the anxiety alive. It's the story you're telling yourself about being awake, okay?
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So here is the relabel.
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Instead of treating being awake at night like a crisis, what if it was just not a big deal to be awake?
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You know, what if being awake at 1:00 AM or 3:00 AM or 5:00 AM was just a neutral experience?
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Not ideal, you know, maybe not what you'd prefer, but it's also not an emergency either I'm awake. That's okay.
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And honestly, even if I don't sleep perfectly tonight, I've gone through days like this before, and I've been completely fine, and I can rest after if I need to.
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You see how that feels so much different? Because here's the truth.
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Your body is way more resilient than your anxious mind is telling you in that moment.
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One rough night is not going to ruin you, and the moment that you stop treating it like it will, the whole story loses its power. The next step, step three, is to remove the urgency.
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Once you've named the anxiety and then relabeled what it means, the next step is to completely remove the urgency around getting rid of it.
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Stop treating it as something that has to be fixed right now. And here's the most counterintuitive way to do that, okay?
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Instead of fighting the anxiety or trying to make it go away, just let it be there. Say, "Okay, there's some anxiety here.
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That's fine. It can stay. No big deal." Allow it to stay.
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Part of this is something that I kind of like to call embracing the worst-case scenario, not because, you know, you believe the worst will happen, but because
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when you stop needing the outcome to be perfect, when you just start to trust that, hey, I'm gonna be okay no matter what, I don't have to fix anything, it's all just gonna work out, then the anxiety has nothing left to hold onto.
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You, you're, like, taking its power away. You're telling your survival brain there is nothing to solve right now. There's nothing to fix, nothing to escape.
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And when your brain gets that message, the anxiety starts to lose its power.
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It loses its grip because you've stopped giving it the one thing that it needs to survive, which is the belief that something is wrong.
8 minutes, 58 seconds
And if anxiety is keeping you awake at night, then removing the urgency is absolutely everything because the anxiety itself is rarely what keeps people awake the longest.
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It's the fighting against it. The why is this happening? I have to sleep tonight. That spiral is what keeps the nervous system activated for hours.
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So try embracing the worst-case scenario there, too, right? Maybe I won't sleep perfectly tonight. Maybe tomorrow will be tiring.
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But you know what? I've gotten through that before. I'll be fine. You know? I've been tired before, and I'll- I've been totally fine. You know? You get through it.
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It's not a permanent situation. It's gonna end at some point. You're gonna feel better at some point.
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Because the moment that you genuinely stop treating being awake during the night as an emergency, phew, that removes the urgency, and the anxiety quiets down on its own, and from there, your body just naturally drifts back to sleep.
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Quick side note, if you've been struggling with your sleep for months or years, you're definitely gonna wanna watch my free masterclass too.
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This is where I go deep into the exact strategy I teach my clients to end insomnia and sleep anxiety for good, including the subconscious ways you've been accidentally sabotaging your sleep without even realizing it.
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That link is in the description. Step four is to let go and keep going.
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This last step is where you send the most powerful signal to your brain, where with time you can break the pattern entirely.
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Once you've named the anxiety, then you've relabeled it, and then you've removed the urgency, there's a really strong pull to start to check and monitor, to ask, "Ooh, am I feeling better yet?
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Is the anxiety going away yet?" And the moment that you start monitoring it, you've put yourself right back into problem-solving mode, which keeps the anxiety alive.
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So the final step is to let go of the outcome, and to just keep going with your life. Keep going with whatever you were doing.
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Or if you weren't doing anything in the moment, come up with something normal to do. Make breakfast, go to work, have the conversation, send the email.
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And if it's nighttime and the anxiety is keeping you awake, maybe just go wash the dishes, clean the kitchen table, watch a lighthearted TV show.
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Do something low-key that has nothing to do with sleep, and remove the urgency to fall asleep altogether.
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Because here's the truth: you're gonna get up tomorrow anyway You're gonna go to work anyway. You're gonna go on that trip anyway. Whether you sleep perfectly or not, life keeps going.
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And the sooner your brain learns that a night of imperfect sleep is not a crisis, that is actually how you will get rid of anxiety and the insomnia altogether.
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You don't wait for the anxiety to pass before you function in your life.
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You have to live your life while the anxiety is there, and that is a temporary phase that's actually, like, a necessary part of the process to getting rid of it.
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The act of continuing to live your life while the anxiety is still present is what teaches your brain that the anxiety is not actually dangerous, that you can handle it.
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And over time, your brain stops producing the feelings and sensations so intensely. So then where do those relaxation techniques actually fit in, right?
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'Cause I'm not saying to throw them out.
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I believe they're very powerful tools, and I use them all of the time, but most people are using them at the wrong time and for the wrong reasons, and that is why they're not working.
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So the best time to practice meditation and your breathing techniques is as part of, you know, your regular morning or evening routine, not really in the middle of a full-blown anxiety spiral.
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If you sit down to meditate when you're already in panic mode, it's probably gonna make you feel worse before it gets better.
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Not because meditation doesn't work, but because you just haven't really built up that muscle yet.
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The way that I teach these tools inside my Sleep Success program is for subconscious reprogramming, not really for calming down, because there
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are specific windows of time when your brain is already naturally more open and receptive to new information.
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And when you use these techniques intentionally during those windows, you're not just relaxing, you're actually rewriting those automated subconscious survival programs that are creating the anxiety in the first place.
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So today, I can use meditation when I'm feeling stressed or on edge, but it's not because I'm trying to make the anxiety disappear.
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It's because I'm no longer afraid of the uncomfortable feeling. I'm not meditating to make the feeling go away.
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I'm meditating to reconnect with the truth of who I really am underneath all of it. So the next time anxiety shows up, remember the four steps.
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Name it without judgment, relabel it without catastrophizing, remove the urgency, you know, let it be there without fighting it, and let go and keep going with your life.
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Because the goal was never to become someone who never feels anxiety. That's a natural human emotion. It's a completely normal emotion.
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The goal is to become someone who no longer needs to be afraid of the anxiety.
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Because once your brain learns that the feeling itself isn't dangerous, it stops sounding the alarm.
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If this video helped you, make sure to send it to someone you know who struggles with anxiety, and if anxiety is specifically affecting your sleep, go watch this video next.


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