I went through this a couple months ago. It sucks. Cannabis + NyQuil was the only thing that worked for me.
It's anxiety bro. I had it. I only had it when I worked for other people or thought about working for other people. You are laying in bed thinking about "who is going to give me a job", which means somebody else has control over an important part of your life. After I started my own businesses and had control of my own income, destiny, and what time I wake up in the mornings - my anxiety disappeared.
If the OP has racing thoughts when trying to fall asleep, weed will just make it worse. Try all the other good advice in the thread and if it doesn't work you might consider seeing a doctor about panic/anxiety. If it's only happening when you try to go to sleep you'll probably just be prescribed a low-grade sleeping pill. I've tried them all (except Ambien -- to scared of sleepwalking since I used to make a habit of it). Temazepam worked pretty well for me for a while. It's a low-grade hypnotic. Eventually that stopped working and I had to upgrade to Seroquel (anti-psychotic also used for insomnia). Then I had to double that. Then again. Now I use that plus a low dose of Tizanidine, a muscle relaxer, and a low dose of Klonopin, a benzo that is less serious than Valium or Xanax; attacking it from three sides at once. But I also have pretty serious anxiety/panic issues. Something much simpler should work for you. If the non-med advice doesn't work, try something over the counter. If that doesn't work, ask for a mild sedative from your GP.
Flashback to your most drug-frazzled state of mind years ago when you actually cared about not sounding like such a wuss. Maybe you were being torn internally over some unresolved parental woes or battling a script. Seems to me you lived the party life and actually enjoyed it before being befuddled into a sterile state of finger wagging.
I always have prescribed xanax in handy. Takes me over a year to go through them, take them as needed.
What a weird post. Where did I wag my finger? I don't care what anybody else does re: partying. I've quit, yeah, but it's not because I'm a wuss. Unless you consider going ahead and doing everything I can to manage my bipolar disorder being a wuss. I just said weed might make it worse. When I smoked it and had been having stressful thoughts it didn't ease those thoughts; it made them more intense. If you want to go with the whoohoo party boy method, he should take a Xanax or a roofie -- that's what I used to do to get to sleep after too much blow or meth or acid. Or he could drink himself to sleep. I did that for 25 years and it worked like a charm. I didn't have insomnia until I quit drinking. So there are some non-wuss suggestions. Sorry I didn't go right to suggesting ways to black out first.
