The Absent Uncle: Just thinking ...

Sometimes trying to think about a subject for this column and I just come up dry. Some of you may say – just skip this week – it’s OK.

So I reached back and thought about the other night when I couldn’t go to sleep (my doctor has termed this insomnia – I resist that label, but she may be right) and all kinds of thoughts were flowing through my head.

It would be just great if it was just one line of thought. Maybe I could just shut that one down. But no – my brain is running multiple lines. Early in life, possible things to worry about, and mistakes in judgement from the past all at once. Jumping back and forth so quickly it is impossible to slow things down.

So I lay there, trying to remember the coping mechanisms that I have read about. Count backwards from 100; get up and redo my going to bed routine; try to slow the brain down.

I’ve an idea that other people have the same problem – that I am not alone in trying to get a good night’s sleep. So to all of you that share my problem, to those of you who lie awake just trying to go to asleep – just know you assisted me in writing this column. See you in my dreams – one of these nights.