Ja(y)den D. Harper -Author Collective

I usually know it’s time to unplug when I start forcing things that used to come easy.

The code gets clumsy.
The ideas get louder but less clear.
My body’s awake, but I’m not really there anymore.

I ignore it for a while.
Keep telling myself I just need to push through.
That one more task will give me back the rhythm I lost.
(It never does.)

Eventually, I crash in small ways.
I forget to eat.
I reread the same line four times.
I stop enjoying the things I built from scratch.

That’s when I know.

To actually unplug?
I have to trick myself.

Tell myself I’m just taking a 10-minute walk.
Just stepping away to make coffee.
Just opening a game “for five minutes.”
And sometimes, that’s enough space to break the loop.

Because rest doesn’t come naturally to me.
But if I can fake it long enough, I might just remember how to breathe again.

-Ja(y)