Insomnia, oh how I hate you, but how I love you, too. I toss and turn at night until my thought machine tells me what I should/can do.

A lot of people complain about Insomnia. Exhaustion, dark circles and many other things can be negative effects from this beautiful sleep disorder. Insomnia can be so much more than all of these though. All you have to do is let it happen.

Sleep issues have been an issue of mine since... well, as far back as I can remember. Constant movement, nightmares and waking up randomly throughout the night were just a few I experienced. I have seen many doctors and been on medication, but nothing felt right. I now don't take anything for sleep assistance. It helps me fall asleep, yes. However, I do not stay asleep.

Alright, so how about we get to the actual benefits of Insomnia?

I have accomplished many things I would not have if I slept through the night. Last night, for example, I brainstormed topic ideas for my articles, read half of a book, picked up a new song on guitar and a few other things.

Do you know how much time that helped me put aside for today? Enough time for me to relax for both today, and all the time I had left over until this morning. I can do anything I want today.

When I was in high school still, this helped me more than you could imagine. The more I got done in other people's "hours for sleep," the more I was able to do what I wanted during all of my study halls (I had at least three a day), and the more I could hang out with people after school (because that was the real goal...).

On the rare occasion that something does not get finished, you can get some leeway if you're usually pretty good about getting stuff done. I do NOT suggest skipping out on purpose. You better be trying to get that assignment done and do a good job. The only time I really needed extensions were when there were family emergencies.

Anyway, those were my benefits in a high school environment.

Outside of school was even better. Getting stuff done and getting it done as soon as possible builds trust. If people know they can count on you to get stuff done, I really don't see the downside in that... This can also give you leeway and more of a possibility to get extensions on work projects, or with what your parents ask of you.

Now again, I am NOT saying to purposefully slack off at work or with chores. That would just be plain disrespectful. However, if something happens in the future and you need some help catching up, you are going to need people to have your back and get you back on your feet to work. You need your people.

Put everything together and insomnia helps you with quite a few things. In order to gain benefits like leeway and respect, you can't use them unless you need to. You don't even have to have Insomnia to gain these benefits. You just need to be a hard-worker and respect the people around you.

If you don't have Insomnia don't purposefully try to have it (yep, I have heard of people trying), that is just dumb. The negatives of Insomnia are real. The key is to use them to your advantage.