When i’m feeling overwhelmed, I allow myself to step back and breathe.

Nobody is standing over you refusing permission. The strange part is how much you feel you need it — some official reason to stop, a fever, a cancelled meeting, anything other than simply deciding you have had enough for now.

Ninety seconds in a stairwell counts. So does sitting in a parked car outside the house before going in. Stepping back isn't a retreat from the day; it is what lets you rejoin it as somebody able to think. The people who take it are not doing less. They have just stopped trying to steer with the windscreen fogged.