I can’t control what other people think or do

A surprising amount of a hard year gets spent on an audience that isn't watching. Composing an explanation for a colleague. Wondering what the neighbours made of the ambulance.

Drafting a message to somebody who moved on to their own week a long time ago.

Most people are, gently, not thinking about you at all. They are thinking about their own boiler and their own results letter.

That's less lonely than it sounds. It means the account of yourself you keep drafting has no reader, and the hour can go somewhere with an actual result.