Anna Kept Trying to Solve Tomorrow Before Bed
Anna’s body was tired. Her brain had apparently scheduled a planning meeting.
Anna was tired.
Properly tired.
The sort of tired where making tea seemed to involve an unreasonable number of separate operations.
She went to bed.
Her brain took this as a signal that the working day could finally begin.
Night-time Anna had a lot on her agenda
Anna knew she should sleep.
Unfortunately, telling herself she should sleep made sleep feel like another task she was failing to complete.
So she tried to solve the problem that was keeping her awake.
Then she discovered another problem underneath it.
And another possible explanation.
And one more conversation she might need to have.
The night-time problem-solving loop
Some problems really did need thinking
Anna did not want to treat every worry as meaningless.
Sometimes something genuinely needed attention.
A decision might need to be made. A conversation might need to happen. Information might need to be found.
But there was an important difference between a problem that could be acted on and a problem Anna was repeatedly circling because there was no clear answer yet.
Uncertainty was often the part Anna was trying hardest to eliminate.
Anna liked resolution.
She liked knowing what had happened, what it meant, whose responsibility something was and what should happen next.
Unfortunately, life was surprisingly uncooperative about supplying definite answers.
Sometimes another person had not made a decision yet.
Sometimes Anna needed information she could not get until morning.
Sometimes there simply wasn’t a perfectly satisfying answer.
No amount of 2 am analysis could change that.
Anna practised parking instead of solving
Tired brains were not always Anna’s best advisers
Anna also began noticing that the quality of her thinking changed when she was exhausted, overloaded or highly activated.
Problems could feel larger.
Possibilities could feel more certain.
The need to fix something could feel much more urgent.
This did not mean Anna’s concerns were automatically wrong.
It meant she did not necessarily have to reach a conclusion while her capacity was at its lowest.
Anna’s good-enough line
If something can be acted on tonight, choose the next small action.If it cannot, give tomorrow’s Anna the note instead of the whole problem.
Anna did not have to feel completely certain before resting.
Some things were allowed to remain unfinished overnight.
Anna did not suddenly become somebody who switched her thoughts off at bedtime.
Her brain still occasionally presented a five-year family problem at 2:13 in the morning as though a decision was required by 2:15.
But Anna became a little better at recognising the invitation.
She could write it down.
Decide whether there was anything useful to do.
And sometimes say:
“This may matter. But it does not have to be solved tonight.”