Insomnia plagues me. Right now I'm up at two in the morning writing this article because I just can't go to sleep. It's not like I'm not tired, because I am. I'm actually exhausted, but my mind just keeps motoring along.

Is your alarm set?

If you fall asleep now you will have exactly 3 hours and 37 minutes of sleep.

I wonder if anyone else is awake.

Remember that embarrassing thing you did today? Haha you're such a dork!

What if this happens, but what if that happens.

It literally goes on and on. I think that is something a lot of people don't understand about insomnia. I really want to be asleep right now. I want to be having weird dreams that I probably won't remember in the morning or snoring my nose off. I don't want to be up typing this.

I've tried all of the tricks: listening to sleep hypnosis, taking melatonin, getting up and walking, just laying still for fifteen minutes. Nothing seems to work. I can't get a comfortable position in my bed and I can't turn off my brain and my pillow is too hot.

Should I just set everything up for tomorrow now?

Finding every excuse in the book to stay awake seems to be a subconscious bad habit. I really wish my mind could just say sleep and it would happen instantly.

I guess being an insomniac isn't all that bad, though. Some days you get to see beautiful sunrises and others you get to be productive late at night (like I am right now, right?)

Maybe you should check Facebook just one more time.

This feeling isn't anything new. As a child I would tiptoe down the stairs at one in the morning for a bottle of water, just something to do because I seriously could not sleep. My mom would tell me to just lay still, but that never helped. My mind was too active for stillness.

That wind is really annoying. You should focus on that and only that for a while.

Insomnia is hard to deal with. I've had people tell me how jealous they are that I'm a night owl, but I'd honestly prefer not to be. It is drastically boring and it's hard to find a source of clean entertainment this late at night. Your mind starts anxiously counting down the minutes until you have to wake up and as time grows shorter so does your need for sleep. You eventually reach the point where it seems natural to be awake-- like there's a glaze over your eyes and it's going to keep you alert in a fuzzy kind of way.

So, if you or a loved one is affected by insomnia, just know it's not their choice to be awake. Be patient if they call you at 2:30 a.m. just to see if you're awake because they are bored out of their minds. And to all of the insomniacs reading this: I hope you're not reading this in the early morning hours, but if you are, I sincerely hope you find some sleep tonight.