Copilot vs. My 2 A.M. Brain

I’ll be honest: I didn’t think much of Copilot at first. I was all-in on ChatGPT, and Copilot felt like a lightweight version of something I already used. And because this is my job, I couldn’t exactly slam it, but I wasn’t impressed at first.

Over time, though, I’ve found small but meaningful ways Copilot has made a difference for me. This is one of them.

As a Gen X’er, I remember when the internet was going to “take all our jobs.” It didn’t; it changed them. AI feels similar: bigger, faster, closer to the work we do every day. And for me, Copilot has shown up in one very personal way: helping me manage social anxiety.

I’m not shy. But I do live with social anxiety. Which means my brain can take the smallest moment in any interaction and spin it into hours of second-guessing.

And it’s not just in the moment. Anxiety is the kind of thing that gets you at 2 a.m., lying awake, replaying a comment you made in a meeting two days ago, convinced it sounded wrong or was misunderstood.

My voice doesn’t always cooperate; it is unreliable, shaky, hard to project, or does not come across the way I intend (I promise I am not yelling at you). That’s a real barrier in meetings, and it adds another layer to the spiral. Did they hear me? Did I sound confident? Did I just confuse everyone?

That’s why I lean on Copilot with meeting transcripts.

Instead of replaying everything in my head, I can check. I can ask Copilot:

• “Did Alex actually assign that task to me?”

• “Was his question a joke?”

• “Was my point captured clearly?”

It’s grounding. It’s proof that my anxious brain is exaggerating.

Like the time my manager said: “Liz, could you pull together some notes for next week.” I left convinced that meant, “You’re running the whole presentation and you probably sounded awkward saying yes.”

Later, I asked Copilot. The transcript showed it word for word: I was asked to send notes. Nothing more. My answer was clear. Spiral over.

And then there’s the stuff I miss in the moment. I’ll get so deep in the technical weeds that I miss a cue, or I freeze up instead of asking a clarifying question. Cue more 2 a.m. worry. Copilot gives me a way back in. I can ask, “What questions should I have asked?” or “What risks did we gloss over?” and it helps me re-engage without shame.

For some people, transcripts are just productivity. For me, they’re peace of mind. They quiet the voice that says I messed up, they remind me I was heard, and they keep me from re-living every meeting on a loop.

Over time, this has done something bigger: it’s helped me trust myself more. My anxious brain is often just louder than reality.

Copilot can’t rewrite how my brain works. But it helps me separate the noise from the facts, and that reminder that I was heard, and understood, makes all the difference.