✨ The void stares back

How overwork restructures your brain

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My brain hasn’t fully returned to my body when I reach over to grab my phone off the stand and squint at the screen. What time is it? 5:30… Shit. Wasn’t I supposed to get up at 5? Or 6? No no… 5:30 is right.

I was going to get up at 5:30 so I could bake the pie and get the dressing ready before I need to put the turkeys in at like … 9. And then I should have plenty of time for them to cook just in case it ends up taking like 5 hours or something. And I can use all this time to do the pie and the dressing and the cheesecake. Right right right.

I blink a few more times and rub my eyes hoping they’ll come into focus faster. In the kitchen I find Past Melissa has left a neat check-list of everything that needs to happen and in what o…