You spent all summer counting down to something. Now summer’s the thing you’re counting back to.

Attention has a habit of pointing at whatever is not here. All through June you were aimed at August, and now you are aimed backward at June. The good stretch gets identified only after it ends, which means the thing you are currently treating as filler is a strong candidate for the next thing you miss.

You cannot force yourself to love an ordinary Wednesday. What you can do is stop grading it. Once this week, catch yourself mid countdown and name one thing about right now that you would want back later. The bus window, the noise in the hallway, whoever is next to you.