Seneca: It is hard, no doubt, for a mind which has…

After a serious blow, do not demand that your mind immediately return to its old speed. Recovery is rarely a dramatic switch. At first you may only be able to handle the essential things: sleep, meals, simple work, a short walk, a conversation with someone safe. Later, lighter interests can return—music, a game, a joke, a hobby, a book that asks little of you. Seneca sees this not as frivolity but as a sign that the mind is recovering its range. We sometimes judge ourselves for laughing after loss or for needing a break from heavy thoughts. Yet joy is not betrayal. Rest is not evidence that the problem never mattered. It is how a strained system regains strength. Pay attention to what your capacity is today, not to what you think it should be. Take one small pleasure without apology, and let it remind you that you are still capable of reentering life.