It's that time again... Mama Kat's Weekly Writing Prompts. Writers pick one of the five prompts, with sometimes an option for a vlog instead, write their stories, and link up together on Thursdays. This week I chose number 5:
Tell us about one of the scariest moments of your life.
I never had any kind of near-death experience or anything like that. My scary moment may even seem a little silly to some of you, but if you've ever experienced it, you'll know why it's frightening.
It's called Sleep Paralysis, and it's happened to me three times.
Basically, what happens is that while you are sleeping, you have a feeling of being awake, but you can't move. You feel that your mind is alert, and you can think, but your body has no sensation, and physically you cannot speak or move at all, not even your eyelids.
It's terrifying.
The first time it happened, I had no idea what was going on, and I had an overwhelming feeling of complete terror. I remember it vividly. I was lying in my bed, on my back, desperately trying to move my limbs or open my eyes. Staring into the darkness of the inside of my eyelids, I felt awake, alert, and aware, but was absolutely clueless as to why I could not move. Was something wrong with me? Did I have some unknown hidden condition that decided to surface? All I knew was that no matter how hard I tried, I could not make any muscle move, even a flinch.
After I regained control over my body, I described to my best friend, Roger, what happened and how frightening it was. To my surprise, he knew exactly what it was, and explained Sleep Paralysis to me. After that first circumstance, it occurred twice more thus far. The first two times happened as I was waking up in the middle of the night, and the last time occurred as I was falling asleep. The two different types are described in the link above.
Apparently, it's pretty common, as up to four out of ten people may have sleep paralysis. Many factors may be involved, but I think the ones that pertained to me were lack of sleep, and a changing sleep schedule. I used to suffer from insomnia, and would go days without sleeping, or sleeping only minutes at a time, and that's when it occurred the first time. The last time, I was teaching 45 minutes away from where I live, plus house sitting for my uncle, waking up at 5:00 in the morning on weekdays and trying to "catch up" on weekends (you really can't).
It's difficult to illustrate the fear that overcomes you during this situation. The only way to truly know is to experience it, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis?
Tell us about one of the scariest moments of your life.
I never had any kind of near-death experience or anything like that. My scary moment may even seem a little silly to some of you, but if you've ever experienced it, you'll know why it's frightening.
It's called Sleep Paralysis, and it's happened to me three times.
Basically, what happens is that while you are sleeping, you have a feeling of being awake, but you can't move. You feel that your mind is alert, and you can think, but your body has no sensation, and physically you cannot speak or move at all, not even your eyelids.
It's terrifying.
The first time it happened, I had no idea what was going on, and I had an overwhelming feeling of complete terror. I remember it vividly. I was lying in my bed, on my back, desperately trying to move my limbs or open my eyes. Staring into the darkness of the inside of my eyelids, I felt awake, alert, and aware, but was absolutely clueless as to why I could not move. Was something wrong with me? Did I have some unknown hidden condition that decided to surface? All I knew was that no matter how hard I tried, I could not make any muscle move, even a flinch.
After I regained control over my body, I described to my best friend, Roger, what happened and how frightening it was. To my surprise, he knew exactly what it was, and explained Sleep Paralysis to me. After that first circumstance, it occurred twice more thus far. The first two times happened as I was waking up in the middle of the night, and the last time occurred as I was falling asleep. The two different types are described in the link above.
Apparently, it's pretty common, as up to four out of ten people may have sleep paralysis. Many factors may be involved, but I think the ones that pertained to me were lack of sleep, and a changing sleep schedule. I used to suffer from insomnia, and would go days without sleeping, or sleeping only minutes at a time, and that's when it occurred the first time. The last time, I was teaching 45 minutes away from where I live, plus house sitting for my uncle, waking up at 5:00 in the morning on weekdays and trying to "catch up" on weekends (you really can't).
It's difficult to illustrate the fear that overcomes you during this situation. The only way to truly know is to experience it, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis?
I have never experienced sleep paralysis. I do remember having a dream where I was frozen and couldn't move, but I don't think that would be the same. Anyway, hope you never experience that fear again!
ReplyDeleteYes, I've had those dreams too. It is definitely not the same, although dreams can also feel very real. Thanks for reading.
DeleteThat sounds so scary! I've never experienced it, but I can tell that it would certainly freak me out if I did. I hope you don't experience it too often!
ReplyDelete(I'm visiting from Mama Kat's link-up)
The first time is clearly the worst, because you have no idea what's going on. But even now that I know what it is, it's still scary! I've only had it three times, and it seems to happen when I am utterly exhausted and/or my sleep schedule is crazy. Thanks for reading.
DeleteSounds scary to me too! Like claustrophobia except the space you're trapped in is yourself. That would be enough to make you not want to go to sleep. wishing you many sleepfull nights without anymore of those occurrences.
ReplyDeletehi from mk's
Thank you for the well wishes. Most of the time I can sleep fine now. My insomnia is no more, but as I mentioned in the comment above, it seems to happen when I haven't gotten much sleep at all or my sleep schedule is constantly changing. I hope no one here experiences it either!
DeleteOMG, I haven't done this in quite a while, but there was a period of several years where it would happen to me ALL THE TIME. I'll never forget the first. I thought for sure I was in a coma or something!
ReplyDeleteFrom the front of the house, my bedroom was below ground level. If one of my cousins would stop by and the lights were off upstairs, she would knock on my window to not wake anyone up. I heard a knock on the window and assumed it was her - opened it to see another friend, with a bunch of others in tow in her car asking if I wanted to go clubbing with them. I said no since I was already in bed and reading at the time. Next thing I knew, they were dragging me out the window. That was when I realized I was dreaming and thought oh, OK, I'm awake now and tried to roll over, but I couldn't. I was completely paralyzed and scared to death!! It seemed to last forever, but I'm sure it was probably only a few minutes.
I remember one other time vividly for some reason. I heard what sounded like a gunshot outside. Knowing one of my neighbors had their car shot before I lived there, and knowing it was late at night, I figured I should at least make a note of the time in case it really was a gunshot and not just a car backfiring or something - again, I couldn't move. That time I had the creepy feeling of someone looking in on me, as if to see if I was OK. I have since read that a lot of people experience what they perceive as someone sitting on them or pressing on their chest. That's even creepier!!
Hope this never happens to either of us again!!! (And yes, I've been an insomniac since I was around 12 or 13.)
Wow Chris! I'm sorry you had to deal with this issue also. It's not something I would wish on people. You can't really understand the terror unless you experience it yourself. I tried explaining it to my boyfriend once early in our relationship, and he just kind of had this blank look on his face, lol. I feel like it sounds silly to other people, but if you go through it yourself, then you understand. I've read that sometimes people hallucinate during it also. I haven't had that happen either, and I hope I never do. I would feel like I was going insane. Wishing you never go through it again either! Thanks for reading.
DeleteIt is really weird. You keep thinking if I can just inch this hand off the side of the bed, it will get me moving and I'll come out of it ... ha, nice try! At least after the first few times it happens, you know what's going on and it's not as scary.
Delete