Some people say that there really isn’t anything like a
good night’s sleep to put things into perspective. They may have a point. However,
like everyone else, I expect that an occasional sleepless night is probably inevitable.
I call the preoccupations that trouble us in the middle
of the night, ‘three o’clock in the morning’. This is the time in the middle of
the night when sleep has eluded us, but whatever is bothering us continues to keep
us awake. No wonder we can’t sleep, when
our thoughts are racing around and around and around.
Strangely, usually one of two things happen when you
lose sleep over something that was bothering you. You either get so tired that
you stop caring about it, or you finally get such a deep sleep, that the
problem no longer has the power to disturb, depress or weigh you down.
I wouldn’t be surprised if doctors who suggest taking
two aspirin and giving them a call in the morning, get fewer call backs than do
those ready to see their patient’s anytime they ask to see the doctor.
In fact, sometimes I wonder whether many, if not most,
of our problems would go away more easily if we just ignored them for a couple
of days.
In the days of ‘snail mail’ I am happy to have once
saved a friend serious humiliation by convincing her to delay mailing her
self-abasing letter until the postal service resumed on Monday morning.
Unfortunately, today we can share our ideas and
reactions 24/7. I suspect that there must be some wild retractions and face-saving
going on pretty regularly these days ‘The Morning After’.
I may suggest that we delay quick action and reaction
to a problem, especially anything involving the phrase, ‘that’s it, I’ve had
enough’.
I doubt however, that many of us, when faced with
something really worrying, can do this. In fact, it seems actually to go
against every natural instinct we have to expect us to suddenly be patient and
calm at a time when we feel ready to explode.
More likely instead, most of us probably feel a compelling
and consuming need to deal with whatever problems we have head on. Unfortunately
this sometimes means we want/need to talk them out either with some long suffering
friend, or sometimes even with anyone in hearing range.
We somehow convince ourselves that doing something is
better than doing nothing. Maybe not. In fact, sometimes I think that telling
myself, ‘When in doubt, do nothing’, is the best solution to a troubling
problem.
I am convinced that there are times when doing nothing
may actually be a better choice, than acting rashly and hastily, in some usually
misbegotten attempt to immediately resolve an issue.
Experience has also shown me that ‘All Nighters’ aren’t
likely to find most of us making our best decisions or solving important
problems well.
If only we could pretend that today’s woes are long resolved
and behind us and were somehow able to miraculously skip the stress that usually
lies ahead, life would be so much simpler.
Maybe we can’t do that, but maybe we can see that,
whoever thought up the saying ‘this too shall pass’ probably knew that few
problems look the same the next day.
One way I have found, to sometimes help myself when
something is worrying me into exhaustion, is to try and completely stop
whatever I am doing, and concentrate as hard as I can to remember whatever was
bothering me on the same day last year. I usually can’t and I doubt most of us
could.
One thing is almost certain, a year from today
something else is probably going to be keeping me/us awake at night.
Like everyone else, I now accept that an occasional
sleepless night is inevitable. I guess it’s just another Life Lesson to remind
us that some things happen in life that we need to deal with in order to
continue moving forward.
By the way, sometimes I even take my own advice and
actually put my problems, and myself, to bed and determine to deal with
whatever is bothering me in the morning…after a good night’s sleep.
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