Dragonfly Tales: There's a hidden tax on everything you do

Saturday, March 21, 2026

There's a hidden tax on everything you do

The Tapping Solution

Nick Ortner at his desk writing a personal note to you

Hi Gini,

Have you ever noticed how some days you're exhausted before you've really done anything?

You wake up and your brain is already running — the meeting later, the email you haven't sent, the conversation you're dreading. You make a simple phone call and it takes everything you've got. You put off a ten-minute task for three hours, not because it's hard, but because it feels hard.

Everything has this invisible drag to it. Like there's resistance on every single thing you do.

I started calling this The Friction Tax.

It's what an unregulated nervous system does to your life. It adds friction to everything. The conversation that should be simple isn't. The decision that should take five minutes takes all day. The rest that should recharge you doesn't.

You're not doing too much. You're just doing everything with the brakes on.

And most of us have been paying this tax for so long we don't even notice it anymore. We just think this is how life has to be.

It isn't.

When you regulate your nervous system, so it's not bracing for impact before every interaction, the same tasks take a fraction of the energy. The hard conversation is just a conversation. The decision is just a decision. The phone call is just a phone call.

That's what Tapping does, really. It takes the brakes off so that everything you're already doing costs you less.

I talk more about The Friction Tax in my new book, REWIRED. And if you want to feel the difference right now, try this free Tapping meditation in the app. It's a good place to start:

Free Tapping Meditation in The Tapping Solution App

Tap Along Now

Until next time… Keep Tapping!

Nick Ortner

P.S. Here's a quick way to tell if you're paying the Friction Tax right now: think about something on your to-do list that should be simple. If the energy it takes feels completely out of proportion to the task, that's the tax.

Ask yourself: What's one thing I can do today to relax my nervous system, so it stops over-taxing me on everything I do?

How did you like today's email? Tell us here

NICK ORTNER

NY Times Best-Selling Author of "The Tapping Solution"
Featured in Psychology Today and The Today Show

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id: 2026-03-17-17:25:41:860t