There is a moment I keep returning to my memory. I was standing in the middle of a noisy gathering, voices competing, music pressing against the walls, conversations pulling in every direction. And somewhere in the middle of all that noise, I noticed something unsettling: I had become a different person. Irritable. Closed off. Reactive.

The day I walked from home to town, I stumbled upon a truth that would reframe the rest of my life. There is a road I know well. It stretches from home to town, no shortcut, no alternative. Just your two feet and the distance ahead. One morning I set out on it, the way