A difficult meeting may end, but the body does not always receive the message. The conversation continues internally. The jaw remains tight. The mind rehearses what should have been said. The urgency of the moment follows us into the evening.
I have learned that completing an event does not necessarily complete our response to it.
This is especially relevant in an age when digital work has few physical transitions. One video call ends and another begins. The screen changes, but the body remains inside the same state of readiness.
Small transitions matter. A walk, several quiet breaths or a few minutes without new input can help mark the boundary between what has happened and what is happening now.
We cannot remove pressure from executive life. But we can become more deliberate about not carrying every finished moment into the next one.
An event may be over in the calendar while the body is still living inside it.