Discard what doesn't help

Discarding should only be done after careful assessment as in the case of friends and family. There are people who we view as friends in this life that do nothing more than feed off of us. These are the types to be discarded. Often it is a job, like you said, as well. If the insomina is a huge issue, get some sleep aids from the doctor to help break the cycle. Each problem compounds off the other. If the alcoholism is the central issue then that must be treated first. If sleep is causing the biggest issue then treat that first. Maybe once you are rested a bit you will be better able to indentify the core issue. Now I'm going to go climb up my mountain and wait for more pearls of wisdom to come my way.

Unfortunately, everyone has to find their own path through depression and what works for one may not work for another. Insomnia is a pig because it works with the depression in a vicious cycle. I discovered that part of my problem is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and using a SAD clock to simulate dawn and dusk, with a strict sleep regime, not only wakes me up naturally (when the Hag Phenomenon doesn't wake me first!) but also seems to help me sleep through once I do manage to get off. I use this all year round, not just in the winter. Light therapy treatment also been found to help elderly people with dementia with their sleep patterns and mental confusion. I have heard the worst thing to do if you can't sleep is watch stimulating TV/films. Hot milk has also been proven to have a soporific effect and I have found that a mug of cocoa helps. However, Sweetladyjane is spot on with her suggestion to tackle the biggest mountain first.

Insomnia is a bastard, never had a problem until marital issues about 8 years ago. Still suffer and always linked to periods of stress. I go straight to sleep then wake in the early morning for three or four hours. Tried tablets but found that they just increase the dizzyness that I naturally get if I just get up when I wake and stop trying to sleep. Find after three or four nights of three or four hours sleep max, I finally get a full night...What has changed though, and helps me to cope is that I've accepted this problem and try hard not to dwell on how I may feel the next day if I can't sleep...easier said then done I know. Finally, when going through this, I try and clear a day, turn off phones, take out doorbells, and spend the whole day in bed, reading, dvds and snoozing...really helps me. Fight Club is another insomniac film...though slightly far fetched!!! Good luck.

I did the 'ignore all your friends' thing. Didn't work. Couldn't change locations and jobs as the family would have just followed me so I went the anti-depressant route. Despite the pills, I never managed to haul myself out of the big deep ditch of sadness and the sleepless nights during which I ran through the problems which I had, or could still have in the future. Tried the "count your blessings" thing: that didn't work either. I just decided that I must just be suffering from a bad case of terminal selfishness.
Against my better judgement, saw a counsellor who told me to ditch the tablets immediately. I did and gradually - over many, many months of just talking to someone, with whom I had no personal connection at all, things improved. Maybe this was just perspective which comes with time but Sally's mention of SADs isn't daft. I was always worse during darker months and haven't had a depressive moment since moving to a more sunny clime.

Having said all this if some do-gooding old bat like me had written a comment like this to me at the time I would probably have told them to "sod off", so don't mind me!

I now swing (without the aid of medication or a safety net) in quite the opposite direction of over-excited mania (which sometimes is just as bad ... but at least I can sleep.
Keep on in there!