There are moments when an idea hits with such clarity and brilliance that it feels like a gift. It might come in the middle of the night, during a walk, or while you’re doing something entirely unrelated. You think to yourself, “This is important. I’ll remember it.” But then, it slips away. Maybe you didn’t write it down. Maybe you did, and the note got lost. The thought is gone, and no matter how hard you try to recreate it, it won’t come back in the same form. And that’s okay.

We are not vaults. We are not machines designed to perfectly store every spark of insight. Human thoughts are fleeting, shaped by mood, environment, and timing. A good idea lost is not proof of carelessness or failure. It’s simply a part of the natural rhythm of thought.

Trying to hold on to every good thought can become a kind of anxiety. It builds pressure to be constantly productive, to preserve every clever phrase or insight. But not every thought is meant to stay. Some ideas do their job by passing through you, shifting your mood, tweaking your direction, or influencing your next thought even if they disappear after.

What matters more than capturing every idea is creating the kind of life that invites them. The more you engage with meaningful work, honest conversations, and challenging questions, the more often those thoughts will return—not as exact replicas, but as evolved echoes.

Trust that if it was worth something, something like it will come again. And if it doesn’t, maybe it did exactly what it needed to do in the moment it arrived. Letting go of the need to catch every thought opens space for better ones to land.

Good thoughts don’t always stay. They don’t need to. You do. Keep showing up. That’s enough.