Everyone is exhausted because nothing demands our full presence anymore.

I sat in a café yesterday, watching a woman simultaneously drink coffee, answer emails, and half-listen to a podcast. The modern exhaustion epidemic isn't from doing too much. It's from never doing just one thing properly.

Our brains aren't designed for continuous partial attention. They're built for immersion.

I found myself shamefully reflected in her scattered focus. Last Tuesday, I boiled the kettle three separate times before actually making tea, distracted by notifications pulling me in eight directions at once.

The brutal truth: it's not events that drain us. It's the perpetual state of being almost-but-not-quite present in our own lives.

The solution isn't more rest. It's more presence. One task. One conversation. One cup of tea made without checking your phone.

Deeply unfashionable, I know. But so are my socks, and they're keeping me rather warm.