Is This a Feeling or a Side Effect?

Sometimes you’re not having an existential crisis.

Sometimes you’ve had four hours of sleep and three coffees.

We tend to treat every feeling like it has arrived carrying profound information.

I feel anxious, so something must be wrong.

I feel irritated, so I must be unhappy.

I feel disconnected, so maybe I need to change my entire life.

Maybe.

But before we burn the village down, it might be worth checking the basics.

Have you slept? Eaten? Been under ridiculous stress? Started or stopped a medication? Had too much caffeine? Been scrolling for three hours? Spent the entire week overstimulated and pretending you’re fine?

Our feelings are real, but the story we attach to them isn’t automatically accurate.

Sometimes anxiety is telling you something important.

Sometimes your nervous system is simply exhausted.

Sometimes sadness deserves your attention.

And sometimes you need dinner, water and eight uninterrupted hours horizontally.

The trick isn’t dismissing your feelings.

It’s getting curious about where they came from before handing them the keys to your life.

Feel it. Notice it. Investigate it.

Then decide whether it deserves a life decision…

or a sandwich.