Ode to Tylenol PM

Millions of Americans struggle with addiction.
Most need help to stop.
This is Laura and Andrew's story.

Those are the words that flash across the screen at the beginning of every episode of A&E's Intervention. For the past five years, I've been living with my own horrible addiction.

I don't really even know how it got started but, after I met Andrew, I started popping Tylenol PM every night before bed. He did it, so I did it. And then it became routine; an hour before bed, we'd make the mad dash to the medicine cabinet to get our sleeping pills. It became something we needed, something we depended on, to fall asleep at night. We wanted to stop, but we had ourselves so convinced we were unable to sleep without it that quitting seemed impossible


And then, back in November, we decided it was time. And we haven't looked back since.


The first couple weeks were really hard. We spent many nights tossing and turning. We started sleeping in separate beds so we wouldn't hinder the others (in)ability to fall asleep. But eventually sleep came, and with it the encouragement that things would get better. So we kept trying.

And now, six months later, it's hard to believe there was ever a time when we need to take drugs to fall asleep. Sure, we still have nights here and there where we have a hard time falling asleep, but we've discovered that it won't be the end of the world if we miss an hour or two of sleep. I can fall asleep within about 15 minutes of going to bed and I wake up more refreshed than I did while sleeping under the influence.

A month or two ago, when I was cleaning out the linen closet, I came across the bottle of Tylenol PM. I held the bottle in my hand for a moment, remembering. And then I threw it in the trash. We don't have any need for it in our house anymore.

Mind, Body, & Soul: An Explanation

8. Bike the Grand Rounds.
The Grand Rounds Scenic Byway is a linked series of park areas in Minneapolis that takes a roughly circular path through the city. We live south of Lake Harriet, so we are very familiar with the chain of lakes. We've also biked Minnehaha, and we both think it would be fun to do the whole thing.

9. Bike somewhere 50+ miles away.
There are tons of beautiful biking trails in Minnesota and now that we have nice road bikes, we want to check them out. We are up for the challenge!

10. Finish all 7 stages of my workout routine.
You can get all the details about #10 here.

11. Get a massage.
One of those guilty pleasures that I love but never treat myself to because, well, they can be expensive. Especially if you get sucked in to getting them on a regular basis. But everyone deserves to get pampered every once in a while, and I know I am going to love crossing this one off my list.

12. Get a pedicure.
In my almost 26 years of life, I have never once gotten a pedicure. I know some women get them all the time, but it's one of those indulgences I never got into. So I figure, what the heck? Sometime within the next 1001 days (well, 794 days) is as good a time as any to get my first one.

13. Eat dinner with the television off for one week.
Like I said in my post, what's the point of having a nice dining room table if you never eat at it? This is something that was completed a while ago and, while we don't eat every meal at the table, we do eat there much more than we did before.

14. Go a week without eating any sweets.
This was an incredibly difficult task, but I am so proud of myself for sticking it out. You can read about it here and the follow up here.

15. Quit taking Tylenol PM.
This one's been a long time coming, so I'll just let the post speak for itself.