Articles

“How are you?” “Fine.” It’s the most automatic exchange in the language, and for most people it’s harmless. But for some of us, “fine” isn’t a pleasantry.…

You finally sit down. The jobs are done — or done enough. The evening is yours. And for about ninety seconds, it’s lovely.

You know who’s tense before they’ve said a word. You feel the mood of a room from the doorway. You catch the flicker on someone’s face mid-sentence — and…

It’s Friday, and part of you is still in Tuesday’s meeting. You know the one. The conversation went fine — probably fine — but there was that one…

When I was a boy, Sunday evenings had a feeling all of their own. The weekend would be winding down, the light going, and somewhere around early evening it…

Somewhere along the line, rest became a wage. You don’t just rest, do you? You *earn* rest. Enough jobs done, enough people looked after, enough boxes…

You remember leaving. You remember arriving. Somewhere in between, a capable adult handled twenty minutes of traffic — made the turns, stopped at the…

By now, you’ve tried everything sensible. The planners. The systems. The early starts. The course on habits, the book about discipline, the fresh Monday…

Day two. That’s usually when it shows up. You’ve made it — the leave was booked months ago, the out-of-office is on, the pool is right there. You’ve been…

For most of my life I’d have told you I wasn’t an angry person. I was quietly proud of it. Other people lost their tempers; I stayed calm. Everyone said so.…