The 2 AM Anxiety Club: Why Successful Women Can't Sleep

Posted on September 11, 2025 by Stacy Braiuca, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

The 2 AM Anxiety Club: Why Successful Women Can’t Sleep

It’s 2:17 AM, and you’re staring at the ceiling again.

Your mind is hosting its own private circus: “Did I respond to that email correctly? What if I’m screwing up my kids? Everyone else seems to have it figured out—why don’t I? Am I even good at my job?”

Welcome to the 2 AM anxiety club—a membership no accomplished woman ever applied for, yet somehow we all end up with premium access.

If you’re a woman in your 30s, 40s, or 50s who appears to have it all together on the outside but secretly battles racing thoughts on the inside, you’re not alone. In fact, you’re part of a growing epidemic that researchers are finally beginning to understand.

The Science Behind Your Sleepless Nights
Recent data from the National Institute of Mental Health shows that women experience anxiety disorders at significantly higher rates than men, with 23.4% of women experiencing anxiety disorders compared to 14.3% of men in any given year¹. Research published in the National Institutes of Health found that women are 1.7 times more likely to develop anxiety disorders than men². But here’s what’s fascinating: the very traits that make successful women successful—perfectionism, conscientiousness, and high empathy—are the same ones that keep them awake at night.

Dr. Susan Nolen-Hoeksema’s groundbreaking research on rumination shows that women are twice as likely as men to engage in repetitive, negative thinking patterns³. Your brain literally gets stuck in loops, replaying scenarios and creating “what-if” spirals that feel impossible to escape.

Meet Your Inner Squirrels
Hello, my name is Stacy Braiuca and I am known as the Squirrel Wrangler because I guide humans to wrangle their inner squirrels of limiting beliefs, negative emotions and self-doubt so they can live in peace and enjoy. I work with people who feel like their minds are constantly racing, jumping from worry to worry, replaying past mistakes or spiraling into those what-if scenarios. You know that feeling when your thoughts are completely out of control? Those are your inner squirrels and they are exhausting you.

I specifically work with many women over 30 who are struggling with anxiety. You know those racing thoughts about whether you’re doing enough, being enough, or if you’re even making the right choices in life. Through my coaching, I help clients identify those mental patterns, understand where they come from, and most importantly, learn how to gently guide those squirrels back to calm. Because when you can wrangle your inner squirrels, you stop living in survival mode and you start experiencing the peace and joy that’s been waiting for you all along.

My ideal clients are women in their 30s, 40s or 50s who appear to have it all together on the outside, but are secretly battling anxiety on the inside. They’re accomplished, responsible and everyone comes to them for advice, but they’re constantly second-guessing themselves and lying awake at night with racing thoughts about whether they’re good enough, doing enough or making the right decisions. They’re tired of feeling like they’re running on a hamster wheel, or maybe it’s a squirrel wheel of worry and are ready to finally find the peace and confidence they’ve been craving.

One persistent problem that I help my clients solve is that constant mental chatter that keeps them awake at 2 AM—you know that voice saying “what if I’m screwing up my kids?” or “am I even good at my job?” Or “everybody else seems to have it figured out, why don’t I?” I help them quiet that anxious inner critic so my clients can finally trust themselves and feel genuinely calm instead of just pretending everything’s fine on the outside.

For 20 years as a clinical therapist helping others with their anxiety, I was secretly struggling with my own Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Oh, the irony wasn’t lost on me. I could guide my clients through their own mental health challenges, but I couldn’t quiet my own racing mind. I was lying awake at night second-guessing every decision, feeling like a fraud who had it all together professionally but was falling apart underneath the surface.

I know what it’s like to lay awake at 2 AM with racing thoughts, to second-guess every decision I made, and to feel like you’re drowning in your own mind.

I was like that duck that seems so calm on the surface and paddling like hell underneath the water.

The Night Everything Changed
Then on November 17, 2022, everything changed. I learned and experienced firsthand Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Mental Emotional Release® (MER®) techniques from Empowerment, Inc.⁷ and Dr. Matthew James, developer of the MER® technique adapted from his father’s pioneering work with Timeline Therapy®. These techniques don’t just manage my anxiety—they actually put my GAD into remission for the first time in decades.

My mind was quiet and I could finally sleep through the night. I could trust my own judgment without that constant inner critic. That’s when I realized I had to not only use these techniques with my clients, but I had to share my personal story too.

Why Traditional Anxiety Management Isn’t Enough
Most anxiety approaches focus on managing symptoms—deep breathing, meditation, cognitive behavioral techniques. These are valuable tools, but they’re essentially high-quality band-aids.

For 20 years, I had used that endless supply of band-aids with my clients all the time, but it was only a temporary solution. These techniques provided temporary relief, but they never addressed the root cause. I was essentially putting band-aids on a wound that needed deeper healing.

Now I use those same NLP and MER® methods that freed me from anxiety to help my clients wrangle their own inner squirrels for good instead of using that endless supply of band-aids.

Now I use my own proprietary Squirrel Wrangling Method, which includes a Four Pillar Framework system that transforms scattered shame, old programming, and other negativity into long overdue celebration for brilliant multi-passionate minds. Instead of feeling guilty about having multiple interests, you learn to celebrate your diverse capabilities as your unique superpower.

Instead of trying to fix scattered thinking, I help clients organize their multiple interests through a systematic rotation of body, mind, relationships and spirit to find and release old programming using a combination of NLP, MER®, Hypnosis, and many other methods.

Then we use and apply tools like Ellie Planner⁸ to propel their future. This gives us a systemic foundation to begin their journey and also a systemic foundation to launch their future goals and memories from. What makes this unique is how we use the Four Pillar Foundation to begin their journey.

But then we choose one specific area of life to address those negative emotions, limiting beliefs and self-doubt by using the Mental Emotional Release® process and other tools. So we not only address the concerns, but we eliminate them for good by reprogramming the very roots of where they began in their lives.

The Transformation Is Quiet But Profound
The result? My clients go from feeling broken by their scattered nature to celebrating their new clarity and their multi-passionate genius with concrete tools that actually rebuild the empowering structures in their lives, not just address the symptoms they were fighting.

One powerful result my clients get is they stop losing sleep because of racing thoughts. Instead of lying awake at 2 AM spiraling about whether they’re good enough or making the right decisions, they actually sleep through the night.

They go from checking their phone obsessively, second-guessing every email they send and constantly asking others for validation to making decisions confidently trusting their own judgment without that constant mental squirrel chatter.

What I love most is that moment when a client messages me and says something like “I slept through the night for the first time in months” or “I made a decision today without asking three people what they thought first.” What they report are not always big dramatic transformations. They often have those quiet everyday victories where they realize their mind isn’t their enemy anymore. And they are often more powerful than the nuclear level drama changes.

Your Peace of Mind Is Waiting
Because I have been exactly where you are. I’m not just somebody who studied anxiety in the textbook. I lived with Generalized Anxiety Disorder for years while working with others professionally to deal with the same thing.

I know with absolute certainty that the exact NLP and MER® techniques actually work because they put my own anxiety disorder into remission. You’re not just getting some mumbo jumbo theory from me. You’re getting a proven roadmap with specific actions from someone who’s walked down that dark path and found the way out.

If you’re exhausted from pretending you have it all together while your mind races with worry and self-doubt, like that duck that seems so calm on the surface and paddling like hell underneath the water, you don’t have to keep suffering in silence. That anxious voice in your head telling you you’re not enough. It doesn’t have to be your reality anymore.

I put my own anxiety disorder into remission using these very techniques, and I can guide you to do the same. Your peace of mind is waiting. You just need a navigator, someone who knows the way to show you how to find it and to walk alongside you as you do.

And after struggling with my own anxiety disorder for so long, witnessing someone else experience that magic moment when they break free from that mental prison and just breathe is everything to me.

Ready to wrangle your inner squirrels and finally get some sleep? Book your complimentary consultation with me and let’s explore how the Squirrel Wrangling Method can transform your racing thoughts into peaceful nights.

Because you deserve to sleep as well as you perform.

References and Resources
National Institute of Mental Health. (2023). Anxiety Disorders.
National Institutes of Health. (2021). Gender differences in anxiety disorders.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2021). Women Who Think Too Much: How to Break Free of Overthinking and Reclaim Your Life. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.
Harvard Business Review. (2022). The Imposter Syndrome Epidemic Among High-Achieving Women.
Psychotherapy Research. (2021). Mental health challenges among healthcare professionals.
Nature Neuroscience. (2020). Neuroplasticity and trauma recovery through targeted interventions.
Empowerment, Inc. with Dr. Matt James. NLP and Mental Emotional Release® Training.
Raroque, C. (2024). Ellie Planner – A Better Day Planner. Saint Yeti, LLC.

About Mental Emotional Release® (MER®): Mental Emotional Release® is a proprietary technique developed by Dr. Matthew James, adapted from his father’s pioneering work with Timeline Therapy®. Dr. Matt James is a Master Trainer of NLP and leads Empowerment, Inc., the world’s foremost organization specializing in alternative and integrative approaches to psychology, human understanding, and personal growth.

About Ellie Planner: Ellie Planner is described as “a better day planner” created by Chris Raroque (@raroque) of Saint Yeti, LLC. Designed to help organize thoughts and plan your day in a beautiful and simple app, it features time blocking, brain dump functionality, and integrations with Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, and Outlook. Available on iOS, Windows, and Mac platforms with features like Siri shortcuts, analytics, and time tracking.

About the Author: Stacy Braiuca, known as the Squirrel Wrangler, holds degrees as a BSW, MSW, MPH, and clinical licenses as an LCSW, LSCSW, and LICSW. She is a Master Practitioner of NLP, Mental Emotional Release®, and Hypnosis certified by the Association of Integrative Psychology. Through her coaching, she helps clients identify those mental patterns, understand where they come from, and most importantly, learn how to gently guide those squirrels back to calm. Because when you can wrangle your inner squirrels, you stop living in survival mode and you start experiencing the peace and joy that’s been waiting for you all along.