Before sleep you scroll through the news one more time, and then lie awake.
Take this situation apart. Each piece goes in one box: yours, or not yours. There is no third box, and almost nothing falls in one piece.
Yours
- The scrolling, and what you do tomorrow.Picking up the phone was a choice and putting it down is one too. If you want to do something for the world, do something small tomorrow that actually helps; tonight, sleep is the most useful thing you have to offer.
Not yours
- The news itself.Wars, markets, disasters: all outside your box, and at eleven at night entirely so. Lying awake feels like involvement, but worrying is not a contribution to anything.
- That your head continues with what it saw.The images keep turning for a while after the screen is off; that is not weakness but afterglow, like eyes still ringing with light. This rattling on dies down by itself too, faster the less you fight it.
The reasoning. The world asks nothing of you tonight; tomorrow’s alarm does.
- The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which depends upon tomorrow and wastes today.Seneca
Nearby situations
More on this topic: Fear and the future