The Limits of Thinking

I don’t sleep enough. 

From everything I’ve read – getting a solid 8 hours of sleep a night is good for basically everything – your mental health, your physical health, stress, long life, happiness – you name it. 
 
And yet… even though I know this, I still find myself up past midnight watching YouTube videos of questionable production value… What is going on? 
 
Well, if you asked me to explain it, I’d say that the night time is the only time that is my time.  During the day, I am at the mercy of my kids or my business and at night (after the dishes are done), I can finally do what I want.
 
But I know this, and I STILL think I should be getting 8 hours of sleep every night.  I remind myself of this often. And yet – I wouldn’t be surprised to find myself up again tonight or tomorrow night past bedtime.

What’s going on here? Turns out “reasoning” with yourself has its limitations. The reasoning part of your brain is influential, but can only do so much.  Other parts of our brains and bodies show up in powerful and perplexing ways. 
 
What I’ve learned is that spending time with someone else – a coach, a therapist, even a curious and trusted friend can help to uncover some of the patterns going on under the surface.

You might learn of an underlying need you didn’t realize was there. You might feel more compassion for yourself by looking at the issue through someone else’s eyes. Or it might just feel good to know you are not the only one who makes “illogical” choices sometimes. 
 
And if change is really important to you, that other person and the accountability they naturally inspire might be just the push you need to experiment with a little bit of behavior change. 

Often, doing can teach us a lot more than thinking can.