What’s the tiny ritual you do to make the world feel less chaotic?

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Keep things on simmer.

Keep the storm to a drizzle.

Prevent your nerves from melting like cheap ice cream.

Stop your brain from going from decaf to espresso in 0.2 seconds.

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My son used to organize our DVDs alphabetically.

Then, once that was done, he’d be like, “Cool… now studio.”

Then genre. Then back again.

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Movies are his special interest, and watching him do that was like watching his brain exhale. You could literally see the calm land on him. Like, “Ah, yes… the world makes sense again because Pixar is where it belongs.”

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If I don’t have music or something to read, I’ll start counting stuff around me.

Chairs.

Lights.

Tiles.

Whatever.

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And sometimes I’ll close my eyes and listen to the chatter in my head like it’s a crowded coffee shop.

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That’s where story ideas often show up.

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It’s like my mind is tossing paper airplanes in the background all day, and when I finally stop moving for a second, I notice one landing in my lap.