Food truck festival. Big table. Familiar faces. Old colleagues from years ago. I sat down and felt it right away. That tired, surface-level energy you only notice when you’ve moved past it.

I stayed, but I focused on the ones who felt different. A guy I know, grounded and present. And a girl from Italy, open, easy to talk to, just there to have fun and connect.

That was enough to shift the whole evening.

It reminded me that you don’t always need to leave. You just need to tune in to the right people.