I was checking the mail one afternoon, chatting with a neighbor, when I mentioned I had surgery coming up. She asked if she could make us a meal. Then she said something that has stayed with me: bringing meals is one way our neighborhood shows up for each other. So I set up a meal train, and she passed it along. For over a week, dinner arrived at our door every night. It isn’t the first time. Our neighbors supported us when I had surgery four years ago. And nearly nine years

For most of my life, I thought reactivity was productivity. I didn’t call it that at the time, of course. I called it… Being driven. Being responsive. Being efficient. Being passionate. Being ambitious. But underneath all of that was a nervous system that had become deeply accustomed to urgency. A pattern that was quietly undermining my happiness, my success, and my health. And despite knowing better for years, I couldn’t do better. An idea would come to me, and I’d inst