It’s day two of me leaving my day job, and I’m still getting used to having time to do things other than work, eat, and sleep. For the past several years, as I got more serious about writing and reaching for the goal of pursuing it as a career, I felt horrible about setting aside housework more often than I thought I should. There were weeks where dishes did not get thrown into the dishwasher until Sunday morning before church, or clean laundry piled up in the basket until it was a mountain. I just didn’t have time to do everything. It wasn’t realistic.Working outside the house while transitioning to full time writerly work was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it was well worth it.
There was a stretch of about six months were I had unexpected health trouble, and I couldn’t write. I would go to my day job, come home exhausted, and have to go straight to bed. I was miserable during that six months because I wasn’t able to do what I loved.
I think the piece of advice that helped me most over the past few years is something Gabriella Perera says in her DIY MFA material. “Honor your reality.” As Weems points out in this article, there are going to be times when things come up that prevent you from pursuing your goals as steadfastly as you want to. That’s just life. It doesn’t mean we won’t be disappointed or upset that we can’t do what we feel we need to, but it does mean we can stop and realize that this isn’t something we can control, and sometimes just knowing that helps.
