I\u2019ve lived with sleepwalkers.
I\u2019ve worked with sleepwalkers.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s hard to imagine \u2014 but you can wake up one day to the realisation that after living together for over three decades…
you never really got to know someone.
Not until years later \u2014
or worse still, after they\u2019ve left or passed. \ud83d\udd6f\ufe0f<\/p>\n
You don’t truly know someone unless you\u2019ve been immersed in every aspect of their world \u2014
life at home,
at work,
in their friendships,
in the way they show up to care for others,
in the way they handle projects, passions, responsibilities, and dreams,
in how they navigate setbacks, conflict, growth, and change \u2014
in all the messy, human spaces where character is revealed, not just performed \u2014
and the caveat: retro-understanding who they were before you even entered their story. \ud83d\udcd6<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how you get to know who you are related to, married to, or live with:<\/p>\n
how they deal with adversity,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
how they manage conflict,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
how they resolve problems,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
how they treat their customers,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
how they treat their loved ones,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
how they treat the people they can\u2019t stand,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
who they are, what they say, and what they do when they think no one\u2019s listening or watching. \ud83d\udc40<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
But first \u2014 they have to become aware that there\u2019s even a problem.
Good luck with that one.<\/p>\n
Because sadly, not everyone wakes up \u2014
not unless their comfort blankets are stripped away and they lose everything they\u2019ve ever cared about. \ud83d\udc94<\/p>\n
And in some cases, even then, it doesn\u2019t happen immediately.<\/p>\n
No matter what situation they find themselves in, it can sometimes take another two decades for anything to truly shift \u2014
because they\u2019ve unknowingly and unconsciously been driven by psychological wounds, generational trauma, and even past-life pain,
recreating the very conditions that triggered them back into survival mode, operating from outdated programming, vulnerabilities, and insecurities they have no awareness even exist. \ud83d\udd04<\/p>\n
The real work may never even begin without a catalyst \u2014
a medical diagnosis, a devastating loss, a full-blown crisis \u2014
something powerful enough to finally crack open their carefully constructed world
and allow the real narrative to start surfacing. \ud83c\udf2a\ufe0f<\/p>\n
Two decades of sleepwalking before something \u2014 a loss, a diagnosis, a collapse \u2014 finally tears open the door to acceptance. \ud83d\udeaa<\/p>\n
Only then do you begin piecing together what really happened to you.
Only then do you realise how long you\u2019ve been trying to heal something you could never quite name \u2014
because, like me, you might discover you were the one who was sleepwalking,
or the one who woke up to the realisation you were living with people who had never woken up \u2014
and some of them still don\u2019t see why they ever would.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just someone wandering the house at night.
It\u2019s someone wandering through life without seeing, feeling, or consciously choosing.<\/p>\n
It looks like:<\/p>\n
Staying in jobs, relationships, and routines that hollow you out.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Missing the tiny moments that build real connection.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Numbing yourself with busyness, distractions, or denial.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Postponing dreams until “later” \u2014 a later that may never come.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
And it’s everywhere:
The coworker who clocks in and out without ever really being there.
The parent who forgets how to be curious about their child.
The partner who stops really looking at you across the room.
The driver who doesn\u2019t even realise they’re veering off course. \ud83d\ude97<\/p>\n
Sleepwalking feels safe.
It demands nothing.
It shields you from risk, pain, and the hard work of living awake.<\/p>\n
But here\u2019s the truth: Sometimes you wake up slowly \u2014 a nudge from inside that something isn’t right. You wake up to find:<\/p>\n The people you loved have drifted away, or passed on. \ud83d\udd6f\ufe0f<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The marriage you thought would last has crumbled into silence.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The dreams you shelved “for now” have gathered dust, untouchable.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The version of yourself you once loved is a stranger in the mirror.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n You wake up surrounded by death, divorce, disconnection, disappointment, and dreams deferred.<\/p>\n And you wonder: It\u2019s easy to think: It won\u2019t happen to me. Because staying awake is hard. It\u2019s easier to coast. Until one day… Waking up isn’t a one-time event. And here\u2019s the hope: You are still here.<\/strong> If you are living with a sleepwalker \u2014 You can’t wake someone who doesn’t want to be awake. What you can do is stay awake for yourself. And if you ever have to walk away to save your own life \u2014 And for those who are navigating this for the first time, the second time \u2014 maybe even the hundredth time \u2014 Because pretending you\u2019re still safe inside the fantasy I\u2019ve been wanting to crash the car for a very long time. But when the wrecking ball finally swings, it won\u2019t be chaos \u2014 I trust in what follows. I just know I will. And just like Frank Sinatra said \u2014 I\u2019m doing it my way. \ud83c\udfb6 Because I refuse to rebuild the old life. The worst thing isn\u2019t waking up to find things broken. So if you\u2019re reading this and feel the tiniest stirring inside you \u2014 Listen to it. Wake up. \ud83d\udce3 If this resonated with you, or if you\u2019ve ever woken up to a life you no longer recognised, I\u2019d love to hear your story. \u2728 Sleepwalking Through Life: The Silent Epidemic and the High Cost of Not Waking Up I\u2019ve lived with sleepwalkers.I\u2019ve worked with sleepwalkers. And it\u2019s hard to imagine \u2014 but you can wake up one day to the realisation that after living together for over three decades…you never really got to know someone.Not until years later […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopeful-elgamal.88-208-215-195.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopeful-elgamal.88-208-215-195.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopeful-elgamal.88-208-215-195.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopeful-elgamal.88-208-215-195.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopeful-elgamal.88-208-215-195.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hopeful-elgamal.88-208-215-195.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopeful-elgamal.88-208-215-195.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopeful-elgamal.88-208-215-195.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopeful-elgamal.88-208-215-195.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Life doesn\u2019t wait for you to wake up.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThe Wake-Up Call \ud83d\udea8<\/h1>\n
Other times, life rips the ground out from under you. \ud83c\udf2a\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n
How did I miss this?
Where was I?<\/p>\n
\nThe Cost of Sleepwalking \ud83d\udcb8<\/h1>\n
But it does.
It happens to the kindest, smartest, most capable people I know.<\/p>\n
It means facing discomfort.
It means risking rejection.
It means grieving what you thought would be \u2014 and choosing to live anyway.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easier to convince yourself you have more time.<\/p>\n
you don\u2019t. \ud83d\udd70\ufe0f<\/p>\n
\nChoosing to Wake Up \ud83c\udf31<\/h1>\n
It\u2019s a choice you make over and over again.
It\u2019s noticing when you\u2019re drifting.
It\u2019s shaking yourself when you get numb.
It\u2019s choosing presence \u2014 even when it\u2019s painful.<\/p>\n
Even if you\u2019ve been sleepwalking for years,
Even if you\u2019ve lost things you can never get back,
Even if you\u2019re waking up to devastation \u2014<\/p>\n
You still have breath.
You still have choices.
You still have a chance to live fully, fiercely, and awake. \u2728<\/p>\n
\nAnd for Those Living with Sleepwalkers… \ud83d\udcac<\/h1>\n
someone who cannot or will not wake up to the life unfolding around them \u2014
I see you.
I know how lonely it feels.
How exhausting it is to carry all the awareness alone.
How heartbreaking it is to watch someone you love drift further and further away from themselves \u2014 and from you. \ud83d\udc94<\/p>\n
You can’t force someone to see what they refuse to look at.<\/p>\n
You can choose presence, even when they choose absence.
You can grieve the reality you thought you had \u2014
and honour the reality you live in and are consciously striving for.
You can love someone without losing yourself to their sleepwalking.<\/p>\n
you are not selfish.
You are awake.
And sometimes, waking up means knowing when to stop waiting for someone else to open their eyes.<\/p>\n
\nWhen You Can\u2019t Save It Anymore \ud83d\uded1<\/h1>\n
sometimes you just have to crash the car,
burst the bubble \u2014 and the emotional explosion that comes with it \u2014
swing the emotional wrecking ball right through the life you thought you were building,
shatter the illusions you\u2019ve been clinging to,
and let the pieces fall where they may. \ud83d\udca5<\/p>\n
only keeps you trapped in a life that\u2019s already slipping away \u2014
or one you\u2019ve already mentally detached from.<\/p>\n
What I thought was me screaming for an emergency stop
was actually me just jumping off \u2014
I didn\u2019t manage to stop the runaway train.<\/p>\n
it\u2019s already crystal clear.
And it\u2019s intentional. \ud83c\udfaf<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve had a lifetime of picking myself up and dusting myself off.
Now that I\u2019ve rebuilt my foundations, end to end,
and know with certainty what I\u2019m capable of after destruction \u2014
I don\u2019t need to know exactly how I\u2019ll execute it,
or how I\u2019ll bring it all together again.<\/p>\n
Because I\u2019ve been here before.<\/p>\n
And it feels great.
Calm.
Still.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m building a brand new one,
brick by brick,
breath by breath \u2014
and this time,
it\u2019s mine.<\/strong> \ud83e\uddf1\u2728<\/p>\n
\nFinal Thoughts \ud83e\udde1<\/h1>\n
The worst thing is never waking up at all.<\/p>\n
a nudge,
a discomfort,
a whisper:
There\u2019s more to life than this \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n
It\u2019s your soul trying to pull you back.
Back to the life that\u2019s still waiting for you.<\/p>\n
Come back.
Before it\u2019s too late. \ud83c\udf1f<\/p>\n
You\u2019re not alone.
Let\u2019s start a conversation about what it really means to live awake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"