Kuala Lampur, Jan. 29 -- I notice this most clearly when I am driving. Especially when I'm on my own.

You know the kind. Very late afternoon, sky already dimming, traffic building up just enough to make every decision feel slightly consequential. You reach a junction you have passed hundreds of times. One lane usually moves faster. The other looks clearer today. You hesitate for a second longer than usual, weighing a choice that does not really matter, yet somehow feels like it does.

You signal, choose a lane, and commit.

Sometimes you arrive earlier. Sometimes later. Most of the time, it evens out. But the discomfort in that brief pause, that moment of not knowing, is familiar. And I think it mirrors how many of our bigger decisions a...