A ticking clock goes sixty times a minute, never louder, never faster. Nobody notices steady things until they stop.

Reliability is invisible while it is working. Something that does the same thing at the same rate stops registering, which is why the steady people in your life occupy almost none of your attention until the day they are not there. Consistency is the one form of contribution that goes unthanked by design.

Name the steady things around you this week: whoever makes the meals, opens up, drives, asks how you are. Thank somebody for the ordinary version rather than waiting for an occasion. Then check whether you are somebody’s steady thing and keep it going.