There’s a sharp difference between the way your mind settles in while helping a teammate untangle a knotty problem—focused, purposeful, almost soothed—and the way your body contracts before yet another round of meetings, already feeling the weight pull at your chest and shoulders. It’s as if one part of your day is quietly confirming what you’re built for, while the other asks you to shrink and perform a version of yourself that leaves you bracing. Underneath, there’s a sense you might be shaping meaning in small pockets, but spending most of your energy simply trying not to get pulled under—a tension that doesn’t quite have a name yet. ---