What have anyone been doing to not have their mind on what the sound is like when you first get up. Curious!!! For some reason i periodically listen for it as soon as i get up. Never use to do that

Hi everyone, I wanted to share an update on my habituation journey and ask the coaches and anyone further along a few questions. As some of you might know from my previous posts, I’ve moved past the 24/7 distress mode, but the tinnitus still demands a huge part of my attention. However, I recently had a really good phase: two weeks where the noise was mostly pushed into the background and felt very bearable. Right now, I’m in my second week of vacation. Unfortunately, the weather has been pretty bad, meaning I’ve spent a lot of time indoors. Because of this, the last few days have been much more exhausting. I’m noticing the tinnitus constantly, and honestly, I feel quite bothered and a bit down because of it. Despite these ups and downs, I haven't given up. I’ve managed to get through this challenging period without using any masking. If I can hold out until Sunday, it will be four full weeks (28 days!) without masking. Personally, I feel like this is a huge milestone for me. For me, actively choosing not to mask is my way of trying to practice acceptance and learning to embrace the sound. Looking at my journey as a whole—with these changing phases—I’d love to get some perspective from the coaches and the community: 1. Is this experience typical for the habituation journey? Do others also experience this pattern where the tinnitus recedes, then becomes louder and more noticeable again, yet you still find the strength not to resort to masking? 2. Is this what progress actually looks like? Is it a normal part of the process to hear the tinnitus more or less constantly, to feel that your days are somewhat dampened by it, but to still successfully carry out your daily activities—like reading, checking emails, or playing Xbox—without fleeing to masking? 3. Will it continue to get better? I am consciously showing my brain that the tinnitus can be present without being the center of everything, but it is exhausting. Will this eventually lead to the next level where the attention shifts more permanently?

We’ve had some really meaningful workshops recently, and one of the things I’ve enjoyed most is not just the teaching part, but the time where people could simply open up, share what they’re going through, talk about wins, challenges, routines, setbacks, and support each other in a very real way. So for this next event, I’m thinking of doing something a little more conversational: -> First 30 minutes: I’ll cover one tinnitus-related topic that the community votes for. -> Second 30 minutes: Open conversation, Q&A, and community discussion. This can be about what I covered, or it can simply be a space to talk about what’s been happening for you — challenges, wins, questions, daily life, coping, routines, anything that feels relevant. The event will be: 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟮𝟳𝘁𝗵 9:00 AM Pacific 10:00 AM Mountain 12:00 PM Eastern 5:00 PM UK / Ireland 6:00 PM Central Europe Please vote below for the topic you’d most like me to cover. 🎯 If your topic isn’t listed, please comment with what you’d like me to cover. I really want this to be useful and relevant to what people are actually dealing with right now. 🙏

I've been sleeping longer this past week & much less monitoring.

I wanted to wish Happy Father's Day to all the fathers in this community and around the world. I wish you all a great day and enjoyable time with your families! And... be safe! 😁😎