Some stillness restores you and some only pauses you, and from the outside the two are almost impossible to tell apart. One settles the nervous system; the other just takes it offline for a while. The difference rarely announces itself — you notice it later, in whether you come back with anything or simply come back.

There's a question that surfaces years into healing: am I actually calm, or have I just gotten better at not feeling things? Numbing and genuine calm can look identical, even from the inside.