When Sleep Goes First

Sleep is almost always one of the first casualties of emotional upheaval. It's often the clearest sign that something underneath is asking to be dealt with. You lie down exhausted, more tired than you can remember being, and your mind picks that exact moment to start. The replaying. The what-ifs. The conversation you keep rewriting. Or you fall asleep out of sheer exhaustion and then jolt awake at three or four in the morning, heart going, wide awake, with the whole weight of it waiting for you in the dark.