Open Loops
This week a close friend helped me to visualise something I’ve been feeling for a while.
The presence of open loops.
Some large and loose. Others small and manageable.
All quietly undermining my wellbeing.
Some of my loops have been open for years:
Ongoing pressure and intrusion linked to my former employer after I sought permission to publish my first book.
Continued and unjustified police involvement connected to that same situation, which shifted again this week.
Challenges in business that I don’t have neat answers to yet.
The unknown outcome of our next ROW4MND expedition - rowing the Irish Sea and north to Scotland in a couple of weeks.
None of those loops are closed.
The more open a loop feels - especially when you don’t control how it closes - the more it seems to sit uncomfortably in the background of your mind.
It hums.
You carry it into meetings.
Into training.
Into conversations and moments designed to create peace.
It keeps you awake at night.
Not loud enough to stop you functioning.
Just loud enough to drain you through distraction.
The interesting thing is this.
Not every loop carries the same weight.
Smaller ones may often feel worse than we dare admit.
The email from your boss you haven’t replied to.
The letter from the bank left unopened in the kitchen.
The gym membership you’re paying for but not using.
Each one is a loose thread.
On its own, insignificant.
But it’s woven into who you are.
Left long enough, loose threads start to make holes in even the most tightly woven sweater.
Pull enough loose threads and the structure begins to weaken.
You don’t notice it happening until it’s often too late.
Before we go any further, let’s debrief together:
What loops are open in your life right now?
Which ones are genuinely outside your control?
And which ones are open simply because you’ve delayed closing them?
No judgement.
Just ownership.
You can’t close every loop immediately.
Some depend on other people.
Some depend on patience. Some just on time.
Others require trust in the process and an acceptance they exist.
But many of them can be closed today.
Send the email.
Cancel the membership.
Pay the bill.
Make the call.
Each small closure frees energy.
Each tied thread strengthens the sweater.
Your mission this week (if you choose to accept it):
Identify three open loops you control.
Close them.
Don’t overthink it.
Don’t make it dramatic.
Just close them.
Then keep an eye on the ones you can’t yet resolve.
Monitor them.
Prepare for them.
But don’t let them unravel you.
Stress often isn’t about the weight of the world.
It’s about the number of open loops we’ve allowed to dangle.
Close what you can.
Tie up the loose ends.
Protect the sweater.
That’s enough for now.
More next week.
Mike
Hold the line. Do the hard things.
