Odd thoughts that are strangely comforting

[Swoopy]

When I can't sleep at 4am, I find it oddly comforting to imagine a woman thousands of years ago- Paleolithic era, say- who also couldn't sleep and lay awake worrying about similar sorts of things- how to get her DS to get up and go on the mammoth hunt rather than sleeping in or what to feed everyone in the morning when her family had eaten all the nuts last night that were supposed to be for today (possibly giving away my lack of knowledge of the Paleolithic here).

Does anyone else take comfort in odd things like this?

Yes, that one day we will all be dead and the problems/worrying will stop.

When I’m very stressed I often mentally revert back to my childhood and watch clips of old adverts/programs from that time period and find them oddly comforting.

I do that a lot!

Or that somewhere in a galaxy far far away, someone is worrying about the cost of a gin & tonic and can their boiler be repaired.

I live very close to an ancient monument. When I'm feeling stressed (especially if I'm awake at night) it makes me feel strangely calm to think about the fact that people will have been on the same land for thousands of years, all with their own worries, hopes and dreams. I think part of it is a sense of perspective- I may be worried about work/how my DC are getting on at school/money etc but I don't have the same daily life or death worries that the people who built and used our local monument would have had.

Lovely thread.
I sometimes think of the unbroken line of female ancestors who went before me, passing on their mitochondrial DNA to their daughters, grand daughters etc. I think of their lives and how mine is so different. I won't have grand daughters, but my grandmother had daughters and grand daughters so our female line will carry on.

All our ancestors who will have gazed up at the moon and admired its beauty the way we do now.

All the famous historical figures who will have done the same. Our constant silent, silvery companion.

I listen to podcasts now which helps by taking my mind somewhere else entirely but I have on occasion mentally walked myself through my grandparents' house where I lived as a child. It was amazing how much I could remember in detail and it felt very immersive - smells, textures, temperatures etc.

Very comforting.

Oh I read a post on here about this years ago that still sticks with me.

Someone said that at 3am when they're worrying about things, they imagine a huge and ancient blue whale swimming through the deep, as it has done for many many years, just winding its own way through the ocean, silently just continuously moving forwards.

I think that's quite magical, and now I have a painting next to my bed that evokes that exact image.

When I can't sleep, I think of the houses that I've lived in and remember their layouts

I just read my Kindle.
I can almost guarantee that any thoughts I have when sleepless in the wee small hours will not be comforting at all. Horrible things I’ve read or seen on films/TV, even from many years ago, come back to haunt me.

I’m very selective nowadays as to what I watch.

Oh yes so do I! I have no idea why. Or my grans old house or a childhood friend's.

I often think back to a holiday to Rome when I was 13. I remember, at the tome, looking round a bustling street and thinking ‘I’ll remember this street and these people for ever’. Now whenever I’m stressed, I bring up the memory again and wonder what everyone is doing now - the street vendor, the German tourists etc.

Time Team did an excavation of an Iron Age house that was on the same site as a modern house, and I've wondered sometimes what it must be like to live there and know a woman 2,000 years ago was in the same place, cooking dinner, watching the kids play in the field and waiting for the old man to come home.

I love the whale image @MurderousCheekbones I wonder what was in our road before the houses were built and what happened in my flat in the 140 years it's been in existence - who died? who was born? what were their lives like?

That's lovely. I will try and remember it when I'm trying to drop off to sleep.

As a child, I would fall asleep thinking that I lived in a cave with my family. There was a fire at the cave entrance to keep wild animals away. We slept on mounds of straw, sometimes cuddled up together, sometimes apart.

When I met my husband, I found he'd had the same thoughts.

When I was breastfeeding DD I used to think about all the women around the world doing exactly that in that moment… and then all the women throughout history who have fed babies when they were tired and sore and depressed. It made me feel calm and comforted as if I had the support of the universal sisterhood!

Such I great thread. I just want to placemark for later.

Agreed lovely thread!

If I can't sleep I imagine myself lying on a tropical beach; waves lapping on the shore, peace and calm, works every time

Great thread. 🍿

I think of how many people in our lifetime on the planet we have met.. and that we are all unique and all the same because we are all sharing this space at the same moment in time.
Not even an eye blink of the history of mankind, let alone the species on the planet, or the history of the universe..
.. and in less than a century from now for the majority of us, we will all be replaced by another set of humans.. and we will barely be remembered.
As it should be.
Truly blows my mind.

I had a moment like that in Spain when I was 19. I was looking down from a hill at the view of Madrid, and thinking how easy it seems to find your way to a place from here, and how hard it gets when you’re in among the crowds and noise and bustle and distraction. Much of life is like that, and that was my ‘so you think you know where you’re going?’ moment.

I sometimes think of all the people I have met that I'll never see again. Work mates from summers working abroad years ago, boys I kissed, old school friends who seem to have disappeared. Lots of cousins and second cousins we lost touch with, strangers who were kind to me etc. I hope they are all OK and happy.

I listen to an audiobook of Wind in the Willow. It's so beautifully written and soothing. My dad used to say if you can't sleep it doesn't matter. You're laying down and resting your eyes and that's all that counts.

@mylittleitalianhome I expect those people on your holiday are still there, queuing to get into the Basillica!!

@Alalalalalongalalalalalonglonglilong love that idea.

I used to do a lot of horse riding, and sometimes I go round a cross country course I did or one of our favourite rides; just me in my happy place with my best friend. I can't manage as much any more, so those memories are special.

The horse was my bf, I meant, so just me and her...

I think about a moment of absolute joy I had while travelling through Asia, was just stood on a very isolated empty beach at sunset (all alone) watching the tide gently coming in and sun going down, surrounded by palm reees. The beach was one of those picture perfect beaches and I felt so happy and privileged and amazed to be there , all at the same time. I had this moment of pure unadulterated radiating joy. I don’t think I’d ever felt it before or since and I like to try and recapture it at 3 am I’m the morning but never ever do. Still makes me smile though.