When you’re feeling down, or uninspired, or listless … check the dashboard.

Are you hungry? Are you dehydrated? Have you been getting enough sleep? What have you been reading? What have you been watching? What have you been eating?

If you’re feeling off, you might not have lost your connection to the Muse. You might not have run out of good ideas. You might not have an underlying illness.

Of all the possibilities, begin by checking in on the simple things.

There’s an old saying in medicine: If you hear hoof beats, think of horses, not zebras.

You may indeed have some complex things going on … but tending to the simple things can often pay outsized dividends.