The other day, I had a new project launching, plus double my usual number of meetings.

I also had been away. That meant that I had a bunch of bags to unpack, there was little in the way of groceries, and I stayed up too late.

I’m sure there are plenty of people who would be fine with all of that, but a lack of food and sleep easily throws off my equilibrium. I had to figure out what to do to make it work.

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Rural Maine, like a lot of rural places, has a lot of two-lane highways.

Most of these winding roads have a double yellow line down the middle. But on some stretches, you’ll see the dotted line that tells you you’re allowed to pass the car in front of you if there is no one coming. That way, those who want to go faster can do so.

There’s a tension between maintaining the speed of the person in front of you versus bumping out and around them. When you pass, you’re taking a risk. What if you can’t make it back to your lane in time?

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With a couple of major projects wrapped up, others delegated, and others dropped, I have found myself in a slow season.

First, I took a vacation. When I went to set the autoresponder on my email, I learned that I hadn’t done so since the summer of 2018. Yikes! Even if I didn’t go anywhere, this complete holiday from my laptop was necessary.

I further decided that, upon my return from my vacation, I would strip away everything from my to-do list that wasn’t essential.

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Over the years, I got really used to not knowing how I was going to make it to the end of the month.

It was a terrible financial habit that became a bit of a superpower in terms of learning to manage anxiety. When I had no choice but to keep going despite the uncertainty, I learned to deal with the uncertainty and work around it. This has proven to be a useful skill lately.

On the other hand, I’m no longer willing to compromise the financial well-being of my business or household for further growth in this area. In other words, I wish to have a financial cushion that’s much bigger than I had in the past.

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It’s such a luxury to have a well-stocked kitchen, isn’t it?

It’s a joy to be able to walk in and prepare virtually anything in my normal repertoire of snacks and meals. I’ve got baby carrots, minced garlic, poblano peppers, my favorite brand of peanut butter (Teddie), and on down the list.

All I have to do to create this result is go to the grocery store, buy the stuff, and bring it home.

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