The other night I couldn't sleep.
And I started thinking about why.
It had been one of those days that starts at 7 and doesn't stop.
I was running late everywhere (and I love being on time) calls, meetings, a thousand conversations and that constant feeling of needing to go a little faster than I actually could.
When I got home, I kept the same momentum.
Cooked fast. Ate fast. Showered fast.
And then came what I thought was the moment to rest.
I stretched out on the sofa, took a breath, and picked up my phone.
But let me tell you something: that is not resting.
Even though my body was still, my head kept running.
A reel.
A photo.
An ad.
A friend who'd messaged me.
A notification that something I'd wanted to buy was back in stock.
The pasta timer.
And then off to brush my teeth (quickly, of course) and straight to bed.
It was then, lying there with the lights off, that I realized I was still scrolling. Just this time it was in my head.
Pending emails.
Things to do tomorrow.
Conversations from the day.
Loose ideas.
One thing after another, without stopping.
And that's when I understood something.
I didn't need to put my phone down before bed.
I needed to put it down when I got home.
Because if you spend two hours on the sofa scrolling, you haven't rested for two hours.
You've just swapped one activity for another.
So now, when I get home, I leave my phone on the dining table.
If I'm waiting for something important, I leave the sound on.
If something urgent happens, I'll find out.
Everything else can wait.
And above all, I try to remember something that seems very simple and that I had completely forgotten that day:
not everything has to be done fast.
Since I started doing this, I arrive at bed differently.
Calmer and more present.
And with much less need to keep scrolling, even when my phone is already far away.
Because you can put your phone down at 10:30pm.
But if you haven't stopped all day, your head can still be scrolling at 11:30pm.