What to eat when you're just tired

It’s that familiar, low-grade fatigue that settles in by Friday evening. You’re with friends, the weekend is here, but the thought of making one more choice—especially about food—feels like a monumental task. You’ve all been scrolling, sending links back and forth, but nothing gets decided.

The menu tabs left open for days

Someone will mention a place, and for a second, there’s a flicker of possibility. Then someone else remembers the wait, or the parking, or that one dish that wasn’t great last time. The conversation loops back on itself. I’ve watched people add things to a delivery app cart and just leave them there, a digital monument to indecision, for three days straight.It’s not about the food, not really. It’s about the mental energy required to navigate preferences, budgets, and moods. The question ‘What do you want?’ becomes a black hole. You’re not hungry for a specific cuisine; you’re hungry for the absence of having to think about it.

When the debate is more exhausting than the day

There’s a particular sigh that happens around the forty-minute mark of these discussions. It’s the sound of a group collectively realizing they’ve spent the emotional equivalent of a workout just trying to pick a restaurant. The joy of the meal gets overshadowed by the labor of choosing it.You start to wish for a neutral third party, something with no opinion, to just point a finger and say ‘there.’ The desire isn’t for the perfect meal anymore. It’s for a good enough meal that arrives with zero debate attached. The relief of a decision, any decision, becomes the real treat.

A quiet surrender to chance

So you stop trying to win the discussion. You let the list of ‘maybe’ places just sit there, and you hand the choice over to something random. It feels less like losing and more like putting down a heavy bag you didn’t realize you were carrying.

The strange peace that follows

And once it’s done, once the wheel lands on an option, the dynamic shifts completely. The fatigue lifts, just a little. You’re not arguing for a preference anymore; you’re all in it together, facing the same outcome. The mental work is over.