In my day-to-day living, I seek out the familiar. Because the familiar doesn’t need to be analyzed. And in that there is ultimate refuge for me. Familiarity can come in multiple shapes and sizes — in a predictable routine, a familiar voice or face, a soothing melody, a favorite movie or book, a pattern of speech. When I am unable to find predictable retreat in the familiarity, or when something pulls me into overload, especially when I am already at full capacity of input, I cannot help but to go into shutdown. It is automatic. My brain understands no other way to refuel and get back to a place of semi-peace. Unfortunately, the space of shutdown is not always comfortable; yet, sometimes, it is a necessity to get me from one place to the next, like a tattered bridge, booby-trapped in a war zone, strung across and over a deep chasm of unknown.