Sometimes we must put ourselves to sleep, like an overly tired child. Nothing more can be done in this day. The signs of weariness are showing.
Go on! Go upstairs to bed. Don’t come down again. Lie there until you fall asleep.
When the kids have had a full day, they start to crash. Literally, they crash into things, they crash on the floor and throw tantrums, they no longer communicate well.
I watch my little girls at night, after a big day. They don’t want to get their pajamas on. They fight with each other, over little things. The signs are clear: they are tired. They need to go to bed, to sleep until morning.
I find it quite appropriate to treat myself in the same way. You’re tired, Jim. It could be that after a long day of working and commuting and reading stories and doing dishes and looking at bills … that you’re tired. Maybe that’s why you seem to run out of energy, of drive, of ideas. Very plausible, indeed.
When I get exhausted, I lose my patience more quickly. I snap at people, rather than demonstrate the paragon of understanding and sympathy. My level of creativity and problem solving hits bottom.
So I put myself to bed. Often the late hour gives me a clue, but more frequently does my mood, my behavior. Drained or cranky, or perhaps excessively worried over things that cannot be controlled after eleven o’clock on weeknights.
Put yourself to bed. Yield to the day; no more can be done. No more needs to be done. Rest.
Maybe you can even get your children to tuck you in.