Eating lunch alone for a week is lonely. It’s also the week you learn you can survive your own company.

Sitting by yourself in a room full of people is genuinely hard, and pretending otherwise does not help. Underneath the discomfort, something useful is happening. You find out that being on your own is survivable, which means the fear of it loses some of its grip on your choices.

If this is your week, give yourself something to do at the table instead of scrolling for cover. A book, a notebook, a set of problems. Notice by Friday whether it still feels as loud as it did on Monday.