I think what you said about keeping yourself awake has been SO true for me. I find myself aimlessly scrolling my phone or reading more chapters of a book that I’m not REALLY focused on to probably stay awake instead of allowing myself to relax and go to sleep. It’s been a goal of mine to journal before I go to sleep to avoid this very thing. You’re always 5 steps ahead of me!

I used to think I “wasn’t tired enough” to fall asleep early, then I realized that I was keeping myself up by doing things that were stimulating (I realized this while I was telling parents not to stimulate their baby at night if they wanted the baby to sleep!). It wasn’t that I wasn’t tired, I was just keeping myself awake. Sometimes I still do that, but I’ve realized when I do, it’s usually because there’s something bothering me that I haven’t sorted out yet. So I’m reading random articles to avoid just lying alone with myself. Now for myself, if I get that feeling of being “sucked in”, I try to figure out what I’m avoiding and write it out or talk it out. Has helped immensely in many parts of my life!