At 3 a.m. your thoughts sound like facts. By breakfast they’re mostly just tired rumors.

Late at night the part of you that checks claims has gone offline, and whatever is left speaks with total confidence. Tiredness narrows everything: the problem grows, the timeline shrinks, and any counter-evidence stops being available. What feels like clear seeing at that hour is usually a brain running low.

When the loud thoughts arrive after midnight, treat them as things to look at later rather than conclusions to act on. Write one line down if it helps, then go back to bed. Read it in daylight and see whether it still holds, because often it does not.