Random Thoughts That Keep Me Awake at Night

I find myself thinking about the most absurd things when I am trying to fall asleep. Why do I wonder about such silly things as I desperately attempt to get some rest?

Forget counting sheep. I need to know if penguins have knees. I want to know the truth about the JFK assassination. Did Marilyn Monroe really have an affair with JFK? How exactly did Norma Jean find herself in the middle of so much Hollywood drama? Speaking of Hollywood, why do people flock to Los Angeles knowing they cannot afford to live there? That brings me to homelessness. How have we not found a solution to the overwhelming amount of homelessness here in the United States?

My mind will continue down a rabbit hole and eventually land on a path headed straight to sheer nonsense.

Stuck in overdrive with no end in sight

I could blame this on a creative mind working on developing possible plots for future works. Maybe I could convince you that somehow it makes sense to run through a million thoughts that make absolutely no sense. The truth is it is simply an extremely tired mind running amok. The problem is I cannot turn off the random thoughts and go to sleep.

A brain in overdrive can keep you from falling asleep, but your brain may be in overdrive due to lack of sleep. It seems like I just cannot win. While my husband is sleeping peacefully, I am trying to figure out why we have not found a cure for the common cold or made more progress in medical research for a number of ailments. My mind wants to try to solve world hunger and figure out how to negotiate world peace. Why are we still campaigning to save the whales? We should have figured out how to save them and done it already. In the wee hours of the morning, my brain is convinced it can figure it all out and solve the problems of the world.

Driving down Silly Lane and heading to Absurd Avenue

Once I get past the random questions racing through my mind, I am met with pressing questions that demand answers. I cannot sleep until I answer these questions. How much radiation is still lingering around Fukushima? Has the solar minimum ended?

This starts with a search engine query and ends somewhere just this side of oblivion. It continues to erode into questions and thoughts that make less and less sense until I finally fall asleep just short of asking what the color purple tastes like.

Eventually slipping into sleep

No matter how hard I try to quiet the madness, it continues to grow increasingly worse. I often fall asleep just as I am about to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.

How do we deliver food to the polar bears to keep them from starving to death? I fell asleep right before I figured it out, but I think it might have involved an app named Polar Eats or Arctic Dash.

Putting it in neutral and coasting to a stop

As I lie in the dark alone with my thoughts, I sometimes do try to work out potential plots or fill in holes in existing plots. The random ideas that keep me up rarely make enough sense to make it into any of my writing. I am sure you see why they do not make the cut.

For all of you plagued with an overactive mind, take comfort in knowing there are others (me) who think thoughts that make far less sense than yours. It is perfectly okay for you to need to know if giraffes are color blind at 2 in the morning.

What random thoughts keep you awake at night? Have you found any helpful ways to quiet the chatter? Please share in the comments below.