Picture a scene that may feel painfully familiar. It is late, the day has been long, and you have been chaining tasks together: work, responsibilities, dozens of small and big decisions. At last the house is quiet. You sit down. For the first time in hours, you are not responding to anyone.
And then a thought shows up: “I could eat something.” It is not quite physical hunger. It is more that, just by imagining food, something inside loosens. As if eating marked the end of the day — permission to stop holding everything up.