Sunday Reset (Encore)

Speaker 1 Get more, Nothing Much Happens, with bonus episodes, extra long stories, and ad-free listening, all while supporting the show you love. Subscribe now.

Speaker 1 Have you ever wished you could visit the village of Nothing Much? Well, this is your invitation. Join me, Catherine Nikolai, for a live virtual event on Wednesday, November 19th at 6 p.m.

Speaker 1 Pacific, 9 p.m. Eastern.
It will be a cozy night of storytelling, music, and calm.

Speaker 1 I'll share three hand-picked bedtime stories, including one you've never heard on the podcast, brought to life with healing music from Aya Ayal and sound designed by Bob.

Speaker 1 We'll pause between stories for guided journaling and creative moments to help you slow down, reconnect, and rest.

Speaker 1 And you'll receive exclusive extras created just for this event, including a brand new illustration from the village, thoughtful journaling prompts, and a few playful surprises to enjoy at home.

Speaker 1 If you join the Dreamer's Inner Circle, you can stay for a cozy after-party where I'll answer your questions, share character updates, and reveal some behind-the-scenes stories that never made it into the podcast.

Speaker 1 You can tune in from anywhere, but it's one night only, so don't miss it. Go to PAVE.live to get your ticket.
That's p-a-ve-e.l-i-ve-e.

Speaker 1 If you've listened to me for a while, you know I'm a big believer in stacking habits that actually support the nervous system.

Speaker 1 Not just more sleep, but real restorative sleep. And that's why I started using CBN nightcaps from Cured Nutrition.

Speaker 1 They're formulated with 30 milligrams of CBD and 5 milligrams of CBN, two cannabinoids that work together in a really specific way.

Speaker 1 CBD helps calm the mind down and downshift stress, while CBN supports the body's natural sleep cycles, especially the deeper stages of sleep where recovery actually happens.

Speaker 1 And what I've noticed, it's measurable. I fall asleep fast, I stay asleep longer, and my sleep and readiness scores look completely different the next morning.

Speaker 1 And what's important is that there's no psychoactive effect and no next day gragginess. I just wake up clear, rested, and regulated.

Speaker 1 I take one about an hour before bed, right before I make tea and queue up a bedtime story. A story helps my mind settle.
The nightcap helps my body follow.

Speaker 1 If you've tried melatonin or OTC sleep aids and felt groggy or kind of chemically knocked out, this is a different experience. It works with your natural rhythms, not against them.

Speaker 1 Cured Nutrition is offering my listeners 20% off, so you can try nightcaps for yourself. Just go to curednutrition.com slash nothingmuch and use code nothing much at checkout.
That's cur ed

Speaker 1 nutrition.com slash nothing much. Coupon code nothing much.

Speaker 1 Welcome to bedtime stories for everyone

Speaker 1 in which

Speaker 1 nothing much happens.

Speaker 1 You feel good.

Speaker 1 And then

Speaker 1 you fall asleep.

Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai.

Speaker 1 I write and read all the stories you hear on Nothing Much Happens.

Speaker 1 Audio Engineering is by Bob Wittersheim.

Speaker 1 We are bringing you an encore episode tonight, meaning that this story originally aired at some point in the past. It could have been recorded with different equipment.
in a different location.

Speaker 1 And since I'm a person and not a computer, I sometimes sound just slightly different.

Speaker 1 But the stories are always soothing and family friendly. And our wishes for you are always deep rest and sweet dreams.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 just by following along with my voice

Speaker 1 and the gentle turns of the story I'm about to tell you,

Speaker 1 You will be training your brain to have a reliable response.

Speaker 1 That is to relax, focus,

Speaker 1 and tip into slumber.

Speaker 1 Now that response gets stronger with practice, so have a bit of patience if you're new to this.

Speaker 1 I'll tell the story twice,

Speaker 1 and I'll go a little slower the second time through.

Speaker 1 If you wake in the middle of the night, think back through any part of the story you can remember.

Speaker 1 Often that will put you right back to sleep.

Speaker 1 And if it doesn't, please don't hesitate to just turn the story right back on.

Speaker 1 The longer you wait to get back on track,

Speaker 1 well, you're missing sleep, but you're also giving the gears a chance to turn and build momentum.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 switch off your light.

Speaker 1 Set down your device.

Speaker 1 It's time.

Speaker 1 Make your body as comfortable as you can.

Speaker 1 If there are leftovers from your to-do list today,

Speaker 1 recognize they weren't, in the end, meant for today.

Speaker 1 And that's okay.

Speaker 1 Feel your limbs going heavy,

Speaker 1 your eyes softly closing.

Speaker 1 Breathe in through your nose

Speaker 1 and sigh from the mouth.

Speaker 1 Again, in

Speaker 1 and out.

Speaker 1 Good.

Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called Sunday Reset.

Speaker 1 And it's a story about a day

Speaker 1 set aside to plan for a good week ahead.

Speaker 1 It's also about sheets hung out on the line,

Speaker 1 drying in the last warm rays of autumn.

Speaker 1 A record spinning on the turntable.

Speaker 1 And a changed outlook after advice from a friend.

Speaker 1 Sunday Reset.

Speaker 1 It changed how I thought about it

Speaker 1 when I changed what I called it.

Speaker 1 Funny how that works sometimes.

Speaker 1 How words can reframe things.

Speaker 1 Change a perspective.

Speaker 1 I used to try to use my Sundays to clean.

Speaker 1 Sundays were for chores.

Speaker 1 And just thinking about that made me resent it a bit.

Speaker 1 I knew the dishes needed to be done

Speaker 1 and fresh sheets needed to be put on the bed.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 I begrudged giving a day of the week to it.

Speaker 1 Then

Speaker 1 I took some advice from a friend of mine.

Speaker 1 She talked about resetting her space at the end of the week

Speaker 1 to make the next week easier, more enjoyable.

Speaker 1 And I could get behind that.

Speaker 1 So I started to reset.

Speaker 1 To think of it not as what needed to be cleaned up from last week,

Speaker 1 but

Speaker 1 what would be a gift to future me

Speaker 1 and not just along the lines of food in my fridge or clear counters,

Speaker 1 but what would help me focus

Speaker 1 and feel rested and taken care of.

Speaker 1 It turned the day into something I looked forward to

Speaker 1 and took my time with.

Speaker 1 And today was a reset day.

Speaker 1 The fall was turning into winter.

Speaker 1 But as sometimes happens when the seasons change,

Speaker 1 Mother Nature was treating us

Speaker 1 sometimes it felt like she was teasing us

Speaker 1 by rewinding into weather from a few months before.

Speaker 1 So as the sun rose,

Speaker 1 I stepped out onto my balcony in my slippers

Speaker 1 with a blanket pulled around me

Speaker 1 and a hot cup in my hand

Speaker 1 and felt quite comfortable in the nearly warm morning air.

Speaker 1 I let the sun shine on my face

Speaker 1 and closed my eyes

Speaker 1 and imagined my battery charge percentage climbing point by point

Speaker 1 from the warmth and the brightness.

Speaker 1 On the street below,

Speaker 1 I could hear people walking,

Speaker 1 dogs barking.

Speaker 1 The coffee shop at the end of the block

Speaker 1 must be roasting beans this morning.

Speaker 1 I could smell the dark, chocolatey scent in the air.

Speaker 1 When my cup was empty,

Speaker 1 I stepped back inside

Speaker 1 and set it in the sink.

Speaker 1 Before I did anything else, I wanted to wash my face

Speaker 1 and get dressed.

Speaker 1 As long as I was in my pajamas, I was like a car in neutral.

Speaker 1 But once I was dressed,

Speaker 1 teeth brushed and face seen to,

Speaker 1 I was in gear,

Speaker 1 moving forward.

Speaker 1 I stripped my bed and started a load of laundry,

Speaker 1 opening a few windows along the way to let in some fresh air.

Speaker 1 Then I went from room to room, resetting.

Speaker 1 It didn't take long,

Speaker 1 hanging up the sweaters and jackets that had landed outside of the closet over the week,

Speaker 1 sorting through magazines and mail,

Speaker 1 untidying my dresser and coffee table.

Speaker 1 I swept the floors and wiped down the kitchen counters.

Speaker 1 I realized I was working in silence

Speaker 1 and wanted wanted a bit of music to keep me company.

Speaker 1 I'd bought myself a fancy vintage style record player for my birthday

Speaker 1 a few months before

Speaker 1 and was slowly growing my vinyl collection.

Speaker 1 I liked to play records while I reset.

Speaker 1 That way,

Speaker 1 every half hour or so, I'd need to flip the record or choose a new one.

Speaker 1 And it kept me on my feet and interested.

Speaker 1 I picked out an album that had first come out when I was a freshman in high school.

Speaker 1 It was wistful and angsty,

Speaker 1 a voice that had felt like a revolution at the time.

Speaker 1 I still knew all the words.

Speaker 1 I took the record from the sleeve, propping the sleeve on my now listening to shelf,

Speaker 1 and lowered the record carefully onto the turntable.

Speaker 1 It was an automatic player, so

Speaker 1 I just lowered the lid

Speaker 1 and turned the dial,

Speaker 1 and the arm lifted and positioned itself over the spinning disc

Speaker 1 until the needle found its groove.

Speaker 1 I smiled at the first few bars,

Speaker 1 thinking about my younger self,

Speaker 1 listening in my dark bedroom before falling asleep,

Speaker 1 sure

Speaker 1 that all the very big things I was feeling

Speaker 1 had never been felt quite like this before.

Speaker 1 In some ways, that had been the reset I needed then.

Speaker 1 Year by year,

Speaker 1 I'd gotten myself to the next day, the next season,

Speaker 1 and so I was grateful for all those previous iterations of me.

Speaker 1 I guessed one day I'd look back on the me of now

Speaker 1 with the same affection that I had for my younger self.

Speaker 1 We were doing our best,

Speaker 1 and it was enough.

Speaker 1 I heard the musical chime of the washing machine completing its cycle

Speaker 1 and took my clothes rack

Speaker 1 out onto the balcony

Speaker 1 in this warm sunlight my sheets would dry pretty quickly

Speaker 1 and the fresh air would seep into the fabric

Speaker 1 so that every time I turned over in the night

Speaker 1 And my nose found the pillow,

Speaker 1 I would breathe it in while I slept.

Speaker 1 I might even dream of summer wind and open spaces.

Speaker 1 I took the damp linens

Speaker 1 out in a big basket

Speaker 1 and started to shake them out

Speaker 1 and pin up each piece.

Speaker 1 It was something my grandmother had always done when she was hanging towels on the line.

Speaker 1 She'd shake them out vigorously, snapping the fabric over the grass.

Speaker 1 She said it made the towels fluffier.

Speaker 1 And though these were sheets and pillowcases,

Speaker 1 I still did the same thing.

Speaker 1 I clamped my hands firmly around the edges of my sheet

Speaker 1 and draped it over the railing as I shook it.

Speaker 1 I spotted my neighbor in the apartment opposite,

Speaker 1 watering his plants on his balcony, and we waved.

Speaker 1 The street was getting busier as folks took advantage of the weather.

Speaker 1 It made me think about

Speaker 1 what else would help set me up for the week.

Speaker 1 A walk in the park,

Speaker 1 a new book from the bookshop.

Speaker 1 I checked the fridge and pantry

Speaker 1 and saw that I was still pretty well stocked for lunches and such.

Speaker 1 But wouldn't it be nice to have a fresh loaf of bread from the bakery for sandwiches?

Speaker 1 While the sheets dried, I'd head down onto the street

Speaker 1 and pick up a few other things

Speaker 1 Epsom salts, and eucalyptus oil for a bath,

Speaker 1 a bouquet of fall flowers for the kitchen table,

Speaker 1 a quart of soup from the deli for dinner,

Speaker 1 and maybe a new record to listen to before bed.

Speaker 1 I was taking care of me in lots of little ways.

Speaker 1 Man, it sure felt good.

Speaker 1 Sunday Reset

Speaker 1 It changed how I thought about it

Speaker 1 when I changed what I called it.

Speaker 1 Funny how that works sometimes.

Speaker 1 How words can reframe things.

Speaker 1 Change a perspective.

Speaker 1 I used to try to use my Sundays to clean.

Speaker 1 Sundays were for chores.

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 just thinking about that

Speaker 1 made me resent it a bit.

Speaker 1 I knew the dishes needed to be done,

Speaker 1 and fresh sheets needed to be put on the bed.

Speaker 1 But I begrudged giving a day of the week to it.

Speaker 1 Then I took some advice from a friend of mine.

Speaker 1 She talked about resetting her space at the end of the week

Speaker 1 to make the next week easier, more enjoyable.

Speaker 1 I could get behind that.

Speaker 1 So I started to reset,

Speaker 1 to think of it

Speaker 1 not as what needed to be cleaned up from last week,

Speaker 1 but what would be a gift to future me.

Speaker 1 And not just along the lines of food in my fridge and clear counters,

Speaker 1 but what would help me focus. and feel rested and taken care of.

Speaker 1 it turned the day into something i looked forward to

Speaker 1 and took my time with

Speaker 1 and today

Speaker 1 was a reset day

Speaker 1 the fall was turning into winter

Speaker 1 but as sometimes happens when the seasons change

Speaker 1 mother nature was treating us.

Speaker 1 Sometimes it felt like she was teasing us

Speaker 1 by rewinding into weather from a few months before.

Speaker 1 So as the sun rose,

Speaker 1 I stepped out onto my balcony in my slippers

Speaker 1 with a blanket pulled around me

Speaker 1 and a hot cup in my hand

Speaker 1 and felt quite comfortable in the nearly warm morning air.

Speaker 1 I let the sun shine on my face

Speaker 1 and closed my eyes

Speaker 1 and imagined my battery charge percentage climbing point by point

Speaker 1 from the warmth and brightness.

Speaker 1 On the street below,

Speaker 1 I could hear people walking,

Speaker 1 dogs barking.

Speaker 1 The coffee shop at the end of the block must be roasting beans this morning.

Speaker 1 I could smell the dark chocolatey scent in the air.

Speaker 1 When my cup was empty, I stepped back inside

Speaker 1 and set it in the sink.

Speaker 1 Before I did anything else,

Speaker 1 I wanted to wash my face

Speaker 1 and get dressed.

Speaker 1 As long as I was in my pajamas, I was like a car in neutral.

Speaker 1 But once I was dressed,

Speaker 1 teeth brushed, and face seen too,

Speaker 1 I was in gear,

Speaker 1 moving forward.

Speaker 1 I stripped my bed and started a load of laundry,

Speaker 1 opening a few windows along the way to let in some fresh air.

Speaker 1 Then I went from room to room, resetting.

Speaker 1 It didn't take long,

Speaker 1 hanging up the sweaters and jackets

Speaker 1 that had landed outside of the closet over the week,

Speaker 1 sorting through magazines and mail

Speaker 1 and tidying my dresser and coffee table.

Speaker 1 I swept the floors and wiped down the kitchen counters.

Speaker 1 I realized I was working in silence

Speaker 1 and wanted a bit of music to keep me company.

Speaker 1 I'd bought myself a fancy vintage style record player for my birthday a few months before

Speaker 1 and was slowly growing my vinyl collection.

Speaker 1 I liked to play records while I reset.

Speaker 1 That way,

Speaker 1 every half hour or so,

Speaker 1 I'd need to flip the record

Speaker 1 or choose a new one.

Speaker 1 And it kept me on my feet

Speaker 1 and interested.

Speaker 1 I picked out an album that had first come out when I was a freshman in high school.

Speaker 1 It was wistful and angsty,

Speaker 1 a voice that had felt like a revolution at the time.

Speaker 1 I still knew all the words.

Speaker 1 I took the record from the sleeve,

Speaker 1 propping the sleeve on my now listening to shelf,

Speaker 1 and lowered the record carefully onto the turntable.

Speaker 1 It was an automatic player,

Speaker 1 so

Speaker 1 I just lowered the lid

Speaker 1 and turned the dial,

Speaker 1 and the arm lifted and positioned itself over the spinning disc

Speaker 1 until the needle found its groove.

Speaker 1 I smiled at the first few bars,

Speaker 1 thinking about my younger self,

Speaker 1 listening in my dark bedroom before falling asleep,

Speaker 1 sure

Speaker 1 that

Speaker 1 all the very big things I was feeling

Speaker 1 had never been felt quite like this before.

Speaker 1 In some ways,

Speaker 1 that had been the reset I needed then.

Speaker 1 Year by year,

Speaker 1 I'd gotten myself to the next day,

Speaker 1 the next season.

Speaker 1 And so I was grateful for all those previous iterations of me.

Speaker 1 I guessed one day

Speaker 1 I'd look back on the me of now

Speaker 1 with the same affection that I had for my younger self.

Speaker 1 We were doing our best,

Speaker 1 and it was enough.

Speaker 1 I heard the musical chime of the washing machine completing its cycle

Speaker 1 and took my clothes rack

Speaker 1 out onto the balcony.

Speaker 1 In this warm sunlight,

Speaker 1 my sheets would dry pretty quickly,

Speaker 1 and fresh air would seep into the fabric,

Speaker 1 so that every time I turned over in the night

Speaker 1 and my nose found the pillow,

Speaker 1 I would breathe it in while I slept.

Speaker 1 I might even dream of summer wind

Speaker 1 and open spaces.

Speaker 1 I took the damp linens out

Speaker 1 in a big basket

Speaker 1 and started to shake out

Speaker 1 and pin up each piece.

Speaker 1 It was something my grandmother had always done

Speaker 1 when she hung towels on the line.

Speaker 1 She'd shake them out vigorously,

Speaker 1 snapping the fabric over the grass.

Speaker 1 She said it made the towels fluffier,

Speaker 1 and though these were sheets and pillowcases,

Speaker 1 I still did the same thing.

Speaker 1 I clamped my hands firmly around the edges of my sheet

Speaker 1 and draped it over the railing as I shook it out.

Speaker 1 I spotted my neighbor in the apartment opposite,

Speaker 1 watering his plants on his balcony,

Speaker 1 and we waved.

Speaker 1 The street below was getting busier as folks took advantage of the weather.

Speaker 1 It made me think about

Speaker 1 what else would help set me up for the week.

Speaker 1 A walk in the park?

Speaker 1 A new book from the bookshop.

Speaker 1 I checked the fridge and pantry

Speaker 1 and saw that I was still pretty well stocked for lunches and such.

Speaker 1 But wouldn't it be nice to have a fresh loaf of bread from the bakery for sandwiches

Speaker 1 While the sheets dried,

Speaker 1 I'd head down on to the street

Speaker 1 and pick up a few other things

Speaker 1 Epsom salts, and eucalyptus oil for a bath,

Speaker 1 a bouquet of fall flowers for the kitchen table,

Speaker 1 a quart of soup from the deli for dinner,

Speaker 1 and maybe a new record to listen to before bed.

Speaker 1 I was taking care of me

Speaker 1 in lots of little ways,

Speaker 1 and it sure felt good.

Speaker 1 Sweet Dreams.