Have you ever gotten hung up on a word for no particular reason?

One that quietly follows you around for weeks until you find yourself bringing it up in conversations that have absolutely nothing to do with it?

I've become mildly obsessed with the word discombobulated.

It has come up at least three times over the past couple of weeks, and every time I've found myself making the same argument.

If you can be discombobulated...

Surely, at some point, you ought to be combobulated.

English has a surprising number of these little linguistic oddities. We have disgruntled people, but almost never meet anyone who's gruntled. Hair becomes unkempt, but rarely kempt. We get overwhelmed, but almost never admit to feeling merely... whelmed.

But combobulate feels different.

It feels like a word we could actually use.

Maybe you're rolling your eyes a little right now, Reader.

Or maybe you're already mentally trying to work "combobulate" into a sentence.

Either way, stay with me.

As strange as it sounds, I think summer might actually be the season of discombobulation.

Summer has a funny way of taking a perfectly good calendar and tossing it into the deep end. Clients leave town. Kids are suddenly home. Vacations appear. The days get longer, but somehow less predictable.

By August, many of us are convinced we've lost our rhythm.

But maybe rhythm was never the point.

Maybe what we've really lost are the familiar landmarks we use to orient ourselves. The routines. The rituals. The little moments that quietly tell our nervous system, "You're home."

Maybe we're just... temporarily discombobulated.

I've been wondering if the opposite of being discombobulated isn't becoming more organized.

Maybe it's becoming combobulated.

Not by forcing ourselves back into the routines that worked a few months ago, but by finding a handful of dependable reference points that make us feel like ourselves again.

• Coffee before emails.

• A few minutes of mindful movement whenever the opportunity arises.

• A page or two of journaling—that sweet "brain drain" that lets the rest of the day come back into focus.

Not because these things restore your schedule.

Because they're little ways of reminding your nervous system, "You're home."

With that in mind, I thought I'd share one of my favorite ways to recombobulate.

It's a simple 25-minute sequence built around a DIY lower back traction setup using nothing more than a resistance band. It begins with gentle decompression before gradually layering in deep core activation, glute strength, hamstring engagement, and spinal mobility. Whether your lower back is feeling cranky or you simply need twenty-five uninterrupted minutes to reconnect with yourself, I hope it helps.

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As for me, my writing schedule will be predictably erratic over the next couple of months.

Summer has a way of rearranging priorities, and I'm happily leaning into it. I'll be soaking up time with my kids, traveling for art projects, teaching in new places, and hopefully making room for a little adventure simply for adventure's sake.

In other words, I'm giving myself permission to recombobulate.

Not back into who I was at the beginning of the year, but into whoever I'm becoming next.

Until then, I hope you find a few moments this summer that quietly remind your own nervous system:

"You're home."

Domini Anne

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