2025, books, Mysteries, TV, Uncategorized

Turn the Lights On!

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Dreams mean different things to different people.  For me, my dreams (the ones that I remember) tend to be my subconscious sorting through all my conscious flotsam and jetsam.  Over the years I’ve come to recognize that intense dark stuff – television shows, movies, books — can give me some whoopers to sort out.

This week there has been a perfect storm of dark stuff.  I’m reading Emperor of Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee.  The author calls it a “biography of cancer”.  It is EXCELLENT, however it is a bit gruesome in places and, of course, not very uplifting.  I’m also watching a series on Netflix named Dark Winds, loosely based (very loosely) on the work of Tony Hillerman. It’s much darker than the Leaphorn/Chee Skinwalkers tv show of twenty years ago.  Yesterday I fast forwarded through a bunch of the third episode because it was giving me the creeps.

As usual (I think I’ve talked about this before), I’ve been careful to only watch a couple of episodes a day and not after 7 p.m.  But the combination of the book, the tv show and my underlying low level of anxiety about our current political hellhole was a doozy.  I don’t even remember my dreams last night but I remember waking up three times pretty tense and anxious. 

Guess I might have to cut back to one Dark Winds episode a day and come up with some kind of soothing ritual before I go to bed. 

Any suggestions?  Thoughts?

36 thoughts on “Turn the Lights On!”

  1. I think we watched an episode of Dark Winds at some point but it was too dark and insufficiently entertaining for me. Robin would probably have continued with it but then she watches a lot of stuff I eschew and doom scrolls more than I do. She also has nightmares sometimes and I never do.

    If I take in dark or disturbing stuff, I prefer to read it rather than have it presented to me in live action. I am careful, perhaps to an extreme, about what I choose to take in as “entertainment” and considering how much of what is currently offered is dark, that presents something of a challenge to find things we can watch together.

    Have you seen The Residence on Netflix?

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    1. Bill, you told me about “The Repair Shop” which is both interesting and soothing. It is a sleep inducer with no nightmares (unless an unrepairable pogo stick presents itself on the show–their form of a nightmare).

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  3. leave it to beaver is how i start my day. on occasion it is how i end my day. i stick my head in on facebook and have some trusted sources i can pass on atrocities and disgust from who spend their days monitoring the lies liars and spineless sheep sitting in office who think playing political posturing in the Machiavellian model they have followed is leading the country in their voted position of trust and stewardship. the political world is showing itself to be broken today and there will be consequences but im not confident our media led world will make correct choices .
    maybe lavender is the answer wes. it sure cant hurt unless deflection of unwanted involvement leaves the door open for attilla to come and pillage the poor suckers who buy into the enemies he concocts to rally his pitchforks around.
    vs i think nightmares are appropriate. pick a positive mission to affect. any positive mission. get your positives moved up to front snd center.
    martha beck may help

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  4. Rise and Rest Up from that Anxious Night’s Sleep, Baboons,

    VS, that is the second time you have used that header picture. It really creeps me out and announces the topic accurately. I would prefer Nymphs and Faeries dancing in a field of daisies, please.

    I don’t think I have had a nightmare about “our current political hellhole” during the nighttime, but I certainly feel like I am living in a nightmare–because that is what this is. And this will get much worse as logical consequences come to bear. Case in point is the situation in Texas in which systems at various levels of government would not spend money on emergency systems, then a flood arrives, unheralded. Then the Federal Secretary Silly Pants will not sign off on FEMA requests for 3 days. People die. Suddenly no one at any level is responsible. Hmmm. How does that work?

    I never sleep really well, a lifetime problem. So before bedtime I watch Netflix fluff, then, as I mention above, turn on The Repair Shop for Lou. Sometimes I watch American Pickers which is a lot more energetic but non-anxiety producing. I have to stay away from shows with tension and darkness (unless it is Slow Horses which is quite dark, but hysterically and drolly funny). Slow Horses is an Apple show. The other stuff I find on Sling which has all kinds of inane entertainment options including Andy Griffith, Carol Burnett, and westerns in which only the bad guys die.

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    1. Header photo is absolutely creepy. I did scroll around looking for other nightmare photos, but just couldn’t find anything as awful as that so figured I’d reuse it.

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  5. 10 years ago when Sandy started to show signs of dementia, I gave up on all dark and violent things to read or watch. I am now a popular culture idiot. At that early time Sandy watched Hallmark, which I semi watched with her. I watched all of the repair shop as it came out and both antiques road shows and nature documentaries. I have worked my way through all of our dvds twice. Now there is little for me to watch.
    I did not get nightmares. I seldom do and they relate only to my real world. They triggered my depression and anxiety. In the terms of literature, I was over identifying with characters and could not keep my esthetic distance.
    Clyde

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  6. Oil of lavender on your pillowcase might help, and so may reciting a list of things and people you are thankful for. I am one to talk, though, as I wake up about 3:00 am every morning worrying about one darn thing or another related to our move and selling the house.

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  7. There was an article I thought I had saved somewhere, describing the phenomenon of reading all this horrible news every day, and yet having to just go on with our daily lives… there is a term for it, and I didn’t get around to reading the article yet.
    Anyone else come across this?

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  8. And to answer the question a bit – I need to find more comedy. I read all these murder mysteries – some of them, I give you, are humorous. But I’m going to try out something like A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole) – at least the review sounds interesting and funny.

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    1. I read that way back when it first came out. I never understood why it was lauded. Maybe because it was the author’s only book.

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  9. I most always enjoy my dreams. I remember many. Lately the dreams are about work. Last night my dream included the painter foreman, James. I had misplaced a wall cabinet (I don’t do cabinets) and in relocating it gouged the drywall. I said, ” James is gonna be pissed!”
    I related it to him today. Good laugh. It lead to a discussion about dream mythology.

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  10. I watch less than an hour of TV on a daily basis, usually a drama that is character-driven. Sadly, most of those things are detective shows. BUT, it’s the only TV I watch. It never invades my dreams.
    Am I proud of myself? Not so much. But I’m not overwhelmed by the news or by quiz shows or sports on the screen. It’s amazing what I miss, but I like this life.

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  11. I’ve been having a really scary dream lately. I don’t know how long I’ve been having it, but it ends up being the same dream each time I dream it. I’m somewhere doing something, then suddenly I’m behind the wheel of a car, driving, and I can’t see a thing. It is pitch black in the dream, and the car is moving along down the road. I have no idea where the edges of the road are or what else is on the road. I feel like I’m trying to open my eyes, which wakes me up. I kind of think this might indicate how I feel about the future. Things feel so uncertain.

    I certainly will never recommend reading “The Parable of the Sower,” by Olivia Butler. If you’ve never read it, don’t. It’s not for bedtime, and it won’t help with anxiety over our current political uncertainties.

    I knit in the evening. The repetitive movements are calming. I watch a lot of PBS programs. I eliminated my cable tv subscription, so I’m listening to what others like to watch too.

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    1. Interesting – for years I’ve had an occasional recurring dream where I’m driving down a steep mountain grade on a sheet of ice. I don’t remember what comes before, but I wake up and am so relieved to see it is a dream… Haven’t had it now for a while.

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  13. Hi-
    Lately I have to turn on some music to fall asleep. I set a time for 10 or 15 minutes, roll to my side, and I’m out before the first song is over.
    I just need something to get my brain to focus on. Without the music I hear all the sounds in the house.
    Lately I had a couple dreams that random women were making out with me. I told Kelly about it. Not sure what that was about.
    I love how the brain works while sleeping and the dreams we may have!

    Skip the scary stuff. don’t doom scroll.

    When I rarely get the TV, I go right to the ‘Modern Marvels’ ‘How it’s made’ channels.

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  14. I always have an audio book or Sleepy podcast close by when I’m sleeping or about to go to sleep.. Any time I wake up in the night I hit play, and I’m usually asleep within a few minutes.

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