No "What Ifs" Or Cranky Talk After Noon

Might be good hostage advice, and an excellent life habit......
"First rule—no what ifs or if onlys. We agreed, first tacitly and subsequently explicitly, that it would be perilous, counterproductive, and downright self-indulgent to wallow in any musings about what had brought us to this pretty pass. Thus we neVer—not once—discussed whether or not I should have accepted this assignment from the UN Secretary-General; whether Louis should have agreed to sign on as my assistant; if we really had to make the trip from which we were abducted or whether we ought to have remained by the pool at the hotel in Niamey that Sunday afternoon; or, indeed, to play the blame game of wondering if we would be in this pickle if only the other guy had....
Second rule—no discussing bad stuff after midday. Very soon we realized that if we shared our worst worries and fears late into the night, we would not be able to sleep with such thoughts chasing each other toward what my brother, Bruce, calls “the hour of the wolf”: that period just before dawn when even at the best of times everything looks bleak. Thus, in a ridiculously effective act of self-delusion, we decreed that those dark thoughts could be aired and dissected in the morning, and they regularly were, but not after lunch."
(Robert Fowler. A Season In Hell: My 130 Days In The Sahara With All Qaeda)