Start where you actually are.

These are the fifteen difficult states a human system falls into. There are no others.

Find yours, and the practices that work on it.

• Anxiety and worry

  Something is going to go wrong. You do not know what. Your body has already decided.

• Overwhelm

  There is too much. Too many things, too many decisions, too many open loops.

• Anger and frustration

  Small things are landing hard. The slow driver. The badly worded message. The sound of someone eating.

• A mind that won't switch off

  Your body is heavy. Your mind is not. Thoughts keep looping — unfinished conversations, random fragments, the same worry in a slightly different costume.

• Exhaustion

  The tank is empty. Not sleepy — empty.

• Emotional numbness

  You know what you should feel. You do not feel it.

• Procrastination and avoidance

  You know what to do. You are not doing it.

• Low mood and heaviness

  Everything is heavier than it should be. Getting up. Getting dressed. Replying.

• Feeling torn

  Part of you wants it. Part of you does not. Neither will stand down.

• Self-criticism and shame

  The voice is running. It has been for a long time.

• A scattered mind

  Your head is full and nothing is in order.

• Burnout cycles

  You go hard. Then you collapse. Then you go hard again.

• Physical tension

  Your body is holding. Shoulders, jaw, neck, gut — something is always tight.

• Stiffness and immobility

  The body does not move the way it used to.

• Low physical energy

  The body feels sluggish. Heavy. Slow to start.