Robert Nikic: The Problem You Didn't Mention at Dinner

You have a problem right now that nobody knows about. Maybe it's money. A statement you've stopped opening. A payment that's a week late and about to be two. Maybe it's the job, the one you walk into every morning telling yourself it's temporary, three years in. Maybe it's the business that stalled six months ago, which you've been calling a slow season. Maybe it's at home, a conversation you've been avoiding so long that avoiding it has become the relationship. Maybe it's your body, the appointment you keep moving and the sleep you keep promising yourself. Maybe it's nothing you can point to, just the feeling, every time you pick up your phone, that every other man is ahead of you. You know which one it is. You thought about it this morning before your feet hit the floor, and you didn't say a word about it at dinner.