We brush our teeth because we don't want cavities. We service our cars before they break down. But when it comes to our mental health, many of us follow a different rule: we wait until something feels wrong enough to do something about it. We tell ourselves, “It's just a stressful week” or “I'll feel better once this deadline is over”. We keep going until exhaustion becomes normal, irritability becomes our default, or something we once enjoyed starts feeling like another task. So, what would...

Imagine your emotions arriving at a dinner table. Joy walks in. Everyone smiles and immediately pulls out a chair for it. Gratitude is welcomed warmly. Excitement gets invited to sit right in the middle of the table. Then Anxiety walks in. The room goes silent. Sadness arrives next and someone quietly suggests it should leave. Anger is not given a seat either. Fear is politely ignored. But just because they have not been given a seat doesn't mean they disappear. They linger in the room. And...

We all know that person. Nothing seems to bother them. Someone cuts them off in traffic? Just smile. A colleague takes credit for an idea they spent weeks working on? They smile. Their boss schedules a meeting titled "Can we talk?"... only to cancel it at the last minute after they've spent the entire day worrying? Still smiling. You wonder if they have reached enlightenment? Meanwhile… At 2 a.m. they're replaying a conversation from 2019. Their jaw hurts because they've been clenching it...