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Original poster

Odd thoughts that are strangely comforting

121 replies

Swoopy · 27/03/2024 14:41

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?

OP posts:
FFSNorman · 27/03/2024 23:32

I think of the peculiar animalistic thing of going to sleep. All humans. Everywhere. Regardless of how sophisticated, they lay down and go unconscious. Most of us in little rooms designed for that express purpose, and with a thing built for it. When you think about it, it’s almost weird, we all do this lay down and just switch completely off.

other times I imagine being in a little tent in the Antarctic or in a small boat, drifting on a calm sea.

strawberrycheesecakey · 27/03/2024 23:39

I can get quite bad insomnia at times . The thing that always always helps me fall asleep is imagining being an autumn leaf of a very very tall tree amongst a forest of similar tall trees, the forest is in its full autumn glory , and I am the leaf... slowly slowly drifting from the tree down to the ground .... zzzzzzz 🫠😴

DoYouSmokePaul · 27/03/2024 23:42

The moment I like to relive for comfort, is when I was in the back seat of the car being driven by my parents back home from my grandparents house in Dumfries on a Sunday evening, having visited them for the weekend.

Usually the top 40 chart was on the radio. Being cosy and safe while the world outside was dark. Then as we leave the motorway and reach the city, more street lights appear and then we start to see signs to our home town and all the familiar streets and looking forward to being back in my own bed.

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BrightNewLife · 27/03/2024 23:49

Statsinyoureyes · 27/03/2024 22:01

When I can't sleep I sometimes think about all the other people in my town who might be awake and why - eg mums with new babies etc - and then extend that out as far as i can- so, the motorway service station down the road from my town will be staffed and have customers; doctors will be on shift at the hospital in the nearest big town, Etc etc. I find it comforting to know I'm not the only one awake.

Ha! I do the same. I imagine people up and down the country going off to shifts, at hospitals, having tea breaks in police stations etc, whoever’s driving on the motorway. I also like to think of airports and that some places will be bustling right now.

Another go-to is imagining another single parent, like me somewhere else in the world and I imagine what’s she’s doing now, what her house is like etc. I usually project to New York or imagine a woman in the suburbs of Germany, just random places in the world.

The best thread!

ByUmberViewer · 27/03/2024 23:51

|I'm truly astonished that so many people think about old houses they know of and go from room to room in that house, and how many people think back to caveman times I do that too - often while listening to The Clan of the Cave Bear.

I wonder what a psychologist would say about rooms and caves being calming and comforting.

penjil · 27/03/2024 23:55

perimumma · 27/03/2024 16:32

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

Well, that's a new one on me.....😬

blackpear · 28/03/2024 00:03

I walk round places I’ve known in my mind too. Former houses. My old school.
And this sounds morbid, but I sometimes think about not being afraid to die because I can’t wait to hug some people again. It’s not a sad thought, more that it will just be so nice to see Molly and other people I’ve loved.

Icanttellyouanything · 28/03/2024 00:13

In my head I go to the edge of a remote lake in Wales. It's a really hot sunny day and I watch the Red Kites circling in a heat haze high above and listen to the Curlews.

SheerLucks · 28/03/2024 00:16

Gratedpotato · 27/03/2024 22:46

When I was young and would wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning I used to panic, feeling like the only one awake in the world made me feel really unsafe and scared.
My grandpa had been a baker all his life and when I stayed at his house he told me how you are never alone early in the morning because that is when all the bakers are up making bread and croissants for everyones breakfast. He said if I stood very still by the window I might even smell the baking coming in on the morning breeze.
He had big warm hands that he said were perfect for bread and terrible for pastry and he would hold my shoulders until I calmed down. Talking in his deep quiet voice about how the bakers would be lining up all the buns on the trays and polishing the display cases and waiting for the deliveries to come in. And to think of them, all floury, getting ready for the day and it was okay to be awake too.

As an adult, feeling stressed and exhausted on nightshifts at 4 am, I still like to think of all the bakers getting up and putting on their aprons and getting things all ready in their little shops.

What a lovely post - made me properly tear up!

PoochiesPinkEars · 28/03/2024 00:19

If I feel The State Of The World bothering me too much, I think about how the human species has existed for a fraction of the time the dinosaurs did and they have all gone and are just fossils now even though they were far more successful then we (so far) from a longevity of species pov.
Helps me feel it's all just a passing thing.

Wiseoldminerva · 28/03/2024 00:20

The shipping forecast, on radio 4!

it’s so nice to hear all the different regions, and so uniquely British too. I imagine all the fishermen out there in the sea and say a little prayer for the ones in peril, whilst thinking about how lucky I am to warm and safe and cosy.

It’s a strange language to which has evolved with it - “moderate or good, occasionally very poor.” Love it!

Squirrelsnut · 28/03/2024 00:24

I mentally pull away into the sky and then space and 'look back' at the earth. I realise my problems are absurdly small.

Mrspatmoresspoon · 28/03/2024 01:08

Love the Sylvia Plath quote - I find the Bell Jar in general is a calm read

Toquitit · 28/03/2024 01:30

bluebunny1 · 27/03/2024 21:57

What a lovely thread.

I often think about my grandmother. Her and her dad were sent to the Siberian Gulag when she was 10 years old. As the train was passing through the village, her dad took an opportunity to lower her off the train, so that she could run off. She survived by going from house to house, offering to babysit & do housekeeping until she was old enough to work in a factory. She had 5 children (all uni educated) and a great adulthood.

I imagine her DNA in me and that if she could survive that, then I can f**king survive anything.

That's so sad and so full of love (how your Great Grandfather loved your Grandmother) - all at the same time ❤️

BensonStabler · 28/03/2024 02:27

Awww 🥰 This is my new favourite thread. Such an interesting and comforting read, thank you to each of you who posted. These thoughts and stories are wonderful.

I do a few that pp’s have said already, so nothing to add sadly.

QueenOfTheEntireFuckingUniverse · 28/03/2024 02:36

My most comforting thoughts are

One day I'll die and then I'll be OK. (Sounds morbid, but it's not)

And the thought that someone is on a train right now. I think that's because I could hear the trains from my bedroom as a child and I used to lay awake worrying that everyone in the whole world was dead except me. Then I'd hear a train and I knew that at least the driver was still alive and I wasn't totally alone.

Mariannelovesconnell · 28/03/2024 02:49

@Loopsielou that's made me cry, my mum used to say that exact same phrase, I've never been a good sleeper, hence me posting at this time lol, but she used to say that thing of resting your eyes and it will all be good.

augustusglupe · 28/03/2024 03:09

thepastinsidethepresent · 27/03/2024 14:46

I do that a lot!

Show quote history

Me too. Old programmes and songs. Mostly from the early 70s, when I was 8/9

NAMECHANGE87554 · 28/03/2024 03:12

Orangedoll · 27/03/2024 17:17

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!

I'm currently up feeding my 5 month old and reading that has made me feel all warm and fuzzy!

Crankyaboutfood · 28/03/2024 03:16

GoodnightAdeline · 27/03/2024 14:45

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 this too—watch the oldest stuff and I feel such comfort.

Coldia · 28/03/2024 03:25

I don't think anything quite as concrete as your scenario OP. But sometimes when I'm walking in the forest I think that humans have always walked in forests and seen and heard the same things as I do. Birds and trees and insects. I couldn't begin to guess what they thought when they did so, though, so long ago.

Lwrenn · 28/03/2024 03:47

I'm an atheist so this sounds weird but after my grandparents passed away, I lost a baby and it was absolutely devastating for us.
But my grandparents always wanted lots of dc but it never happened for them.
So in the depths of grief I'd imagine, and still do actually, my wee nanny and grandad raising my baby together. Pushing a pram, singing baby to sleep, grandad teaching them to play football.

I was asked did I want to hold my baby/know baby's sex etc and I didn't want to see them, I just couldn't, but I imagine a little boy, being doted on by my grandparents and one day I'll meet them all. I hope I'm wrong in my atheism and my wee day dreams are right.

ChewbaccasMrs · 28/03/2024 04:51

I think back to my childhood alot and my parents(they've both passed) I think about the holidays we went on and the days out we had an the in jokes we shared and it actually brings me alot of comfort.

hurdyhurdygurdy · 28/03/2024 05:35

Always think of my great great granny, who well over 120 years ago used to walk past a particular tree age 12 on her way home from her job. She would say ‘that tree looks as lonely as me; I wonder who will last longer.’

It’s still there to this day, dozens of relations have been to see it - her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great, great x 3…

I ended up somehow living on the same street that her mother had lived on in the 1880s (i checked census records and got a shock). There was a clock that chimed every hour, and I would imagine this woman in the Victorian years in a Salvation Army shelter lying listening to the same chimes. Her life always sounded horrendously sad to me - in and out of workhouses, lost three babies and two children moved from inner city to Scottish highlands. I always admire her strength in accepting help; that decision ultimately meant her daughter was able to marry, which meant they had their children; and so on - if it wasn’t for the fact that she hadn’t asked for help I wouldn’t be here; and yet I am sure asking for help was terrifying.

She would never have imagined her descendant going to uni on the same street in that city 140 years later. One of the offices l’m quite often in at uni looks onto the ruins of the shelter she was in and I sometimes look out and wonder, and think ‘if they could do all that; so can I…’

Powderblue1 · 28/03/2024 05:44

StopStartStop · 27/03/2024 17:10

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.

Not to go all juju but perhaps this was an memory? I've recently done a past life regression and I went back and remembered two previous lives. I vividly felt my husband in my past life too (as a different person) and the lady said soul mates often travel through lives together but they can be siblings, let's, friends etc in different lives.

Just a random though I had reading your comment