3:12 AM REhearsals

There is no workload at 3:12 AM.
It clocked out at 5 PM.

There’s only wordload.

The meeting hasn’t happened.
The diagnosis hasn’t come back yet.
The numbers aren’t in yet.
The bank account hasn’t changed.

But your body has already responded.

And what most people miss?
Your brain sounded an alarm.
Even in a rehearsal.

Eyes open.
Thoughts racing.
Heart pounding.
Cortisol rising.
Jaw tight.

“What’s the school going to say?”
“There are going to be questions.”
“I should have said..”
“I could lose…”
“My boss won’t…”

Nothing happened.
But your nervous system said it did.

That’s the cost of unchecked language.
When we REhash the past or REhearse the future, your body acts as it if it’s occurring.

Right now.

The brain is wired for survival.
Not accuracy.
That’s not weakness.
It’s not even anxiety.

It’s biology.

The problem isn’t that you’re thinking.
The problem is you’re believing every sentence you think.

They aren’t always facts.
They’re forecasts.

And at 3:12 AM, forecasts feel final.

The longer the rehearsal, the louder the alarm.
The louder the alarm, the harder it is to sleep.
The harder it is to sleep, the harder tomorrow becomes.

And then we blame workload.

Long hours.
Ambition.
Pressure.

But workload sleeps.
Wordload doesn’t.

And wordload decides outcomes.

REplay the tape.
REcognize fact or fiction?
RElinquish the forecast.

REduce the drama before it becomes biology.

There are no meetings at 3:12 AM.
No appointments.
No emails.

Just rehearsals.
And rehearsals can be rewritten.