It’s been quite some time since I blogged at this hour. Last year, it was a semi-regular occurrence, thanks either to my buggered-up body clock, failing to blog until the late evening (or in some cases, until after I’d gone out and come back again) but for the most part, this year the datestamps on my work have been for the correct day. Tonight I’ve been recording a podcast, though, and I didn’t think to write something earlier, largely ’cause I was working.
I like night-time. I’ve often thought that night-time is the period in which my brain works best. Well, I’m not sure about “best” because I doubt if I wanted to do anything which could be called “work” right now that I’d do it to the best of my ability, but my brain certainly is at its most creative.
This is both a blessing and a curse; it means that the imagination can run wild, allowing you to picture wild and fantastic scenes as you attempt to lull yourself to sleep, but it also means that you can worry about things like taxes, cancer and alien invasions. It’s strange that the time of day at which you should theoretically be most exhausted is actually the time at which your brain seems most keen to get up, jump around and keep tapping you on the shoulder.
Perhaps it’s the fact that there’s no other distractions. By the time it gets to this hour, hopefully you have no “commitments” to worry about, no work to do, nothing you absolutely must do right now. As such, your brain decides that it’s playtime and starts wandering around looking for things to do when in fact all your body wants to do is get to sleep.
Sitting in darkness with a total lack of distractions is a good time to get things sorted in your mind. Given that we live in a world where we are surrounded by devices, websites, pets, siblings, partners, family members and various other things which all demand our attention to varying degrees, the opportunity to sit in the darkness and be, for once, alone with your thoughts is something which should be welcomed and cherished. You don’t necessarily have to come to any conclusions or make any big decisions—but the simple act of taking a moment to listen to what your brain is telling you is often enough to make you feel better about something.
And remember, whatever your brain might be telling you at 2AM, the eventual outcome will never be as bad as you’re expecting. So in many senses, those anxieties that you might find yourself feeling at stupid o’ clock in the morning may, in fact, just be setting you up for a pleasant surprise a little way down the road.
Now I’m going to go to sleep before I babble on about any more crap.
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