This week the stress found my jaw before I even noticed, clenched through a few meetings until someone across the desk said I looked like I was bracing for something. Mondays start fine, then it climbs, and by midweek my shoulders are up near my ears without me doing it on purpose.
Stepping outside between back to back calls helped some, nothing fancy, just not looking at a screen for a few minutes. It didn’t fix much but the clench let go a little, which felt like ‘progress’ even if it’s a small one. Thursday undid most of it though, a long call, stomach in knots, jaw right back. Next week I’m blocking the walk breaks on the calendar instead of hoping I remember, since hoping clearly doesn’t work.