Quiet signs you're running a deficit

You say yes before checking whether you have the capacity. You keep a mental ledger of who owes whom. You finish a hard session and go straight back to your desk without so much as two minutes of easy movement.

None of these look like fear from the outside. They look like competence, which is exactly why they last so long — and why the deficit compounds quietly for years.

The tell is the end of things. How you finish a workout, a workday or a conversation says more about your reserves than how you start it.

Pick one ending this week and treat it properly: a real cooldown, a proper close to the working day. Recognition is the first step, but repair is the one that changes anything.