You close your laptop at 6:00pm. At 6:04, you check your phone. Just in case. At 6:11, you check again. Nothing new. And right before you brush your teeth, you check one more time. You tell yourself you’re just staying on top of things. But if you’re honest, it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like making sure nothing went wrong while you weren’t looking. This isn’t about emails. It’s about safety. Somewhere earlier in your life, missing something had a cost. Someone got upset. An opportunity passed. Not knowing wasn’t neutral. So your body learned a rule. Stay alert. Stay available. Don’t switch off too early. That rule probably helped you a lot. It made you capable. Reliable. On it. It also means that even when the day is over, your system doesn’t fully relax. It just waits. If you felt something reading this, even slightly, that’s not overthinking. That’s recognition. You don’t need to change anything tonight. Just notice what your body is still protecting you from.

You close your laptop at 6:00pm. At 6:04, you check your phone. Just in case. At 6:11, you check again. Nothing new. And right before you brush your teeth, you check one more time. You tell yourself you’re just staying on top of things. But if you’re honest, it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like making sure nothing went wrong while you weren’t looking. This isn’t about emails. It’s about safety. Somewhere earlier in your life, missing something had a cost. Someone got upset. An opportunity passed. Not knowing wasn’t neutral. So your body learned a rule. Stay alert. Stay available. Don’t switch off too early. That rule probably helped you a lot. It made you capable. Reliable. On it. It also means that even when the day is over, your system doesn’t fully relax. It just waits. If you felt something reading this, even slightly, that’s not overthinking. That’s recognition. You don’t need to change anything tonight. Just notice what your body is still protecting you from.