mechanism

Restlessness is charge without a target. The system is mobilised — energy, tension, readiness — but nothing has been chosen to spend it on, so it leaks into fidgeting, scrolling and starting things you do not finish. It is closer to fuel than to distress, and it responds to direction better than to calming.

not to confuse with

craving: the charge has one specific object · anxious: the charge comes with a forecast attached · energized: the same fuel, but already aimed · bored: no charge at all, just nothing worth attention

in the body

legs moving on their own, difficulty sitting, jaw and hands busy, sleep resisted even when tired

feel it

Do not try to calm it first — restlessness that is suppressed comes back as irritation. It is fuel: the question is where it goes, not how to switch it off.

what to do

Burn a little physically, then aim the rest at one thing that was already on your list. Ten minutes of movement changes the state faster than any decision made while pacing.

don't

do not scroll it away — that spends attention and leaves the charge · do not start three things at once · do not sit still and wait it out: this one wants motion

if you do nothing

The charge leaks all evening: half-started tasks, thirty tabs, a night of poor sleep. Tomorrow the same energy comes back as a short fuse, and by then it looks like irritability rather than unspent fuel.

after

what you aimed it at is worth logging — restlessness is one of the few states that converts directly into output · if it comes daily in the evening, look at movement earlier in the day

your track

6 episodes · median 5 → 2 · usual hour: late evening · best tool: ten minutes of movement ✓4

keys

0–9 set the scale · enter = next step · d = tool done · esc = close dialogs

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