I had an emergency room trip a few years ago that included IV fluids. I didn’t think much of it at the time — I laid back and accepted the pomp and circumstance of hospital procedure. However, when I later realized that this treatment had cost several hundred dollars, I wondered why I couldn’t have just downed a couple of glasses of water.

Something similar came to mind in an online forum where a parent was asking about things she could buy to make recess easier for a group of children, hers and others, that she’d be educating at home. There were over fifty comments when I happened upon this post, recommending everything from chalk to orange cones to specific toys.

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I’ve had the privilege of helping many people to prepare for sensitive or challenging conversations.

We talk about how to set the tone, how to make sense of the situation to potentially create a win-win, and how to stand your ground.

Then they ask, “Well, then what will she say? And what will I say next?” But we’re not writing a script. We’re getting ready for an interaction that can go virtually anywhere from its starting point.

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My process for writing articles is pretty straightforward.

I sit down to write and simply wait for an idea. Within a couple of minutes, an idea appears, and I write.

You could say that’s pretty woo-woo, but I find it to be incredibly practical. Why shouldn’t an idea simply be there when I’m looking for it?

Where else would it be, if it’s not already in my head?

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One of my favorite restaurants is a fluorescent-lit paradise called Little Bangkok, in Atlanta.

The restaurant doesn’t have enough parking, so people double-park and you can’t leave until the guy behind you comes out and moves his car. Their color scheme is soft pink and baby blue — with bright red booths. The decor is kitschy. They don’t take AMEX. The neighborhood is not that great. What’s more, their website is generic.

And yet, I go to Little Bangkok every chance I get. I love the food, the people, and the experience. I don’t need them to have a fancy website.

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As a business owner, I often hear from friends (and friends of friends) who are headed down that path. They’re looking for advice and encouragement.

Often, I can’t help very much — we have a mismatch of values and priorities.

One woman called wanting to learn about finding commercial space for a school she hadn’t started yet. She was disappointed in my recommendation that she start humbly (for instance, leasing from a church) instead of forging ahead with a multi-year commercial lease in a high-traffic area. Her plan was to raise money, which sounded terrifying to me.

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Many parents are faced with the impossible task of being parent, teacher, and employee, all at the same time. Mercifully, the “teacher” role is soon to end, but the overwhelm has taken its toll already.

Whenever there are two or more things to do at once, we might bounce, like a human pinball, back and forth from one to the other. Which one is the loudest? Which one is the most insistent? Which one is the whiniest? With so many pings and people vying for our attention at any given moment, we quickly become overloaded. How can we possibly function?

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