Sleepless in San Francisco: Politics, Pups, and the Price of Peace of Mind

By Richard Valdez - www.richardvaldezre.com

I couldn’t sleep last night. And not in the whimsical, stayed-up-too-late-sipping-red-wine-reading-old-journals kind of way. No, this was the insomnia of the concerned, the invested, the accidentally-too-informed.

At exactly 6:00 AM, I found myself wide awake, tangled in my sheets and my thoughts—both equally twisted. It started around 10 PM the night before with a simple tap on my phone. One YouTube news clip turned into two, then four, then a deep dive into what now feels like my new guilty pleasure: news as soap opera.

Yes, I admit it—I’m addicted. But can you blame me? Every headline comes with more drama than a season finale of Dynasty. Border detainments. Market fluctuations. Election-year whiplash. It’s like watching a slow-burning thriller where the stakes are your future.

I’m 60. Married to the same wonderful man for nearly 18 years. We don’t have children (unless you count our four fur babies, which of course we do—they come with vet bills and opinions). We've worked hard, invested wisely (or so we thought), and we’re five years out from retirement.

Cue: rising interest rates, stock market dips, and enough geopolitical uncertainty to keep even the most zen yogi double-knotting their mala beads.

Some nights, I lie awake wondering: is this just the emotional cost of being engaged? Or is it a warning bell we’re all trying to snooze?

I was asking myself …

if planning for peace of mind is even possible in a world that refuses to play by the rules.