A single meeting can keep taking energy after it ends. Following several voices, reading the room and deciding when and how to speak leave your thoughts slow and your social capacity spent for the rest of the day.
Looks vs reality
The same Experience can look very different from the outside than it feels on the inside.
"You were pretty quiet in that meeting!"
My brain was running a thousand background processes: tracking the conversation, decoding subtext, managing my facial expressions, and trying not to say something weird. It’s fried.
"You seemed totally fine, really on top of it."
That 'on top of it' look was a high-energy performance. My social battery is now blinking red and I might need to reboot in a dark room.
"Why are you so tired now? The meeting wasn't that intense."
The adrenaline from the social performance just wore off. This is the crash. It's less about the topic and more about the massive cognitive load of just *being* in the meeting.
"You're suddenly so checked out. Is something wrong?"
Nothing's wrong, my system just went into low-power mode to recover. All non-essential functions—like speaking—have been temporarily suspended for system maintenance.
"Want to grab a coffee and debrief?"
My brain has just exited a social triathlon and cannot form another coherent sentence. The only 'debrief' I can handle involves silence and staring at a wall.
Understand what’s happening—and help someone else understand.
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