When the self-talk, the part I don't let out of my head starts to look like this,

What's a good time? I mean, what's not a terrible time, while we're at it? What's in between 6 other things, balanced on the edge, probably not falling down and therefore a viable solution?

Oof. That's a lot, right? And that's the sanitized version.

Anyway, when it happens, when I hear myself saying it to myself, in my head or out loud like a crazy person, I have two things I need to do pretty immediately:

I should take more walks.

I should clear some stuff off the calendar.

Other people (and dogs, ahem) in my life appreciate it when I notice this and start adjusting accordingly. It helps my focus. It helps - let's call it, my disposition.

I don't need to live life like it's Excitebike and the turbo button (it was B, I looked it up to make sure) is perpetually mashed to the verge of overheat.

It feels like I do, but I don't, actually.

So I take a breath. Let a little piece of it go. See the world didn't end when I did it. I can do what I can do and that's ok.

(I thought I should write this down in case any others of you needed to hear that, too.)