You keep trying to pray, or journal, or “be present,” and instead it feels like someone left a radio on inside your chest.   Not peaceful music. You’re having a five stations at once scenario.   You sit down to be still, and your mind immediately sprints: What did I forget at work?  Did I sound stupid in that text?  Should I be doing something more productive than this?  Is any of this even real?   Your heart joins in with its own noise:  Why am I so angry?  Why am I so numb?

There is a particular kind of fear that shows up in quiet moments.   It sounds like questions that do not resolve.   Did I miss my calling?  Did I take the wrong path ten years ago?  Is it too late to become who I was meant to be?   Sometimes this fear comes after a big transition, when the dust has settled and life does not feel like we imagined. Sometimes it leaks in around the edges of a busy, successful life that looks “fine,” but does not feel like a fit. Sometimes it co