Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - The Night Train (Premium)

Episode Date: December 10, 2019

This is a preview episode. Get the full episode, and many more, ad free, on our supporter's feed: https://getsleepy.com/support. The Night Train Narrated by Abbe Opher. Jake stumbles upon a mysterious train that turns out to be the perfect place to get some rest.   About Get Sleepy Premium: Help support the podcast, and get: Monday and Wednesday night episodes (with zero ads) The exclusive Thursday night bonus episode Access to the entire back catalog (also ad-free) Premium sleep meditations, extra-long episodes and more! We'll love you forever. ❤️ Get a 7 day free trial, and join the Get Sleepy community here https://getsleepy.com/support. And thank you so, so much.  Tom, and the team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, Thomas here. You're listening to a preview episode. You can enjoy the entire story tonight by subscribing to our supporters' feed. There you'll get access to the entire back catalogue, bonus episodes, and more, and it's all completely ad-free. Click the link below to learn more and thank you so so much. Me and the team really appreciate your support. Jake stood at the fork in the path. his pack was heavy. He could feel the weight of the thick straps tracing a line over his shoulders and pulling them down. His back was tired from carrying the camping stove, the tent, the sleeping bag, the warm fleece jacket, the bags of dehydrated food, even the water bottle seemed to weigh more than it should.

In this moment, he wanted nothing more than to undo the waistband and finally set the giant backpack down. Take a nice long rest. But he couldn't do that just yet for one very inconvenient reason. Somewhere back there on the trail Jake took a wrong turn. somewhere back there on the trail Jake took a wrong turn and now he found himself lost. It wasn't the worst thing to be lost out here, it's one of the reasons he chose this particular route. He first heard about it in the brochure he picked up last year at the States Park. This trail promised easy ambles over a gentle landscape.

He remembered the words chuckling to himself. Easy ambles wasn't quite how he'd describe it. It also said he would see small, picturesque towns and rolling hills dabbled with late afternoon sunlight. There would even be little detours he could take each night, conveniently leading to some nice warm supper and even a soft bed if he didn't feel like pitching a tent. Those last parts were true for the most part. He did see picturesque towns, quite a few of them actually, and he did manage to find a few cozy little spots to eat. Really, it had been a pretty comfortable hike so far, he's supposed.

Before he left, Jake packed all the essentials. He got new hiking boots and wore them around so his feet wouldn't hurt on the trail. It took a while to get used to the high tops which held his ankles snug. He got a new backpack in the recommended size for the length of his trip, which he wore around the house to get used to how it felt. It was a strange feeling for him. He never really had to carry around anything he'd need to survive before. But now, on the trail, he also felt the weight of food and water, soap and shampoo. Even his fork made a difference in this pack. To be honest, Jake had admitted to himself in those early moments of planning, he had no idea what he was doing.

But it was for precisely that reason that he was determined to do it. People hiked, other people hiked. Jake didn't hike. But after this trip, Jake would be a hiker. He was new and exciting and he was going to give it his best shot. It all went pretty smoothly for the first 60 miles or so. Sure his feet hurt a little. He could feel the muscles working in places he didn't even know he had muscles.

He was out in the wild. The air was fresh. He was alive and at peace, far from his computer and cubicle. Every morning on the trail, he'd wake up to the sound of birds twittering in the trees. He lay there in his tent as the sun began to cast a glow around his blue nylon walls. The sound of birds filling the morning air, he wondered if the birds did this every morning or if they were putting on a show just for him. He unzipped the large flap on the side of his tent and took in the cool morning air. Every leaf sparkled with drops of morning dew. He took particular delight in gently nudging the tip of each tiny green leaf and watching

the droplets roll off the end and plunk softly into the grass at his feet. Morning smelled different out here. His smell of freshly turned earth, of trees and green living things. It was positively exhilarating, yet calming, every cell of his body relaxed relaxed in contentment.