Why I Stopped Watching TikTok Under the Covers

This week I found myself hiding under my blanket so the light from my phone wouldn’t wake up my sleeping baby. We share a room right now, I’m not ready to move her yet (that’s a story for another day).

Honestly, I need a good 10 minutes of TikTok before bed. I don’t know why I pretend otherwise. For some reason, though, I was torturing myself—turning toward the wall, pulling two blankets over my head, and squinting at captions just so I could sneak in a video or two.

Finally, I decided to change things up. While I brush my teeth and wash my face, I let myself watch or listen to TikToks. Then, once I climb into bed, it’s lights out.

And here’s the thing: it changed everything. I’m no longer twisted up in some weird pretzel shape, straining my eyes to read tiny captions. I just put my head down and actually rest.

It reminded me of something I forget all the time: sometimes the smallest tweaks are the ones that make life feel lighter.

Motherhood is full of these little negotiations with yourself—when to let go, when to shift, when to admit you need a different rhythm. And it’s rarely about the “big fix.” It’s usually about giving yourself permission to make things easier.

So if you’ve been white-knuckling something—bedtime routines, how you sneak in downtime, or even how you fold the laundry—maybe this is your nudge to find a tiny shift that makes life smoother.

Because sometimes rest isn’t about eight hours of uninterrupted sleep (ha, what’s that?). Sometimes it’s just about not watching TikTok under a blanket.