05/14/06 - 8:50 p.m.

So it's weird. I feel like I have friends now - now that I moved back to where I used to live.

Taking time off from work was good, too. I got a chance to write something I've been wanting to write for a while. And had unstructured time. And throughout the week would stop and try to get in touch with myself.

I invented a trick I call the "whining break." Basically, you tell yourself it's okay and even kind of funny if you complain all at once about everything that's bugging you. (Silently, to yourself.) If that's the mission, then you start letting loose with your list of complaints. And there they are. Out in the open.

If I were to do it today, my complaints would be that I have to go back to work tomorrow. I'm not finished with my writing project, and there's some tricky last steps. And: that I'm tired. So how can I get all this done if I'm so amazingly tired?!

The other trick I invented was just the check-in-with-yourself moment. When you feel like you're overwhelmed, like you've got too much going on - STOP! I've got lots of time. So let's just pause for an overview. How much time DO I have, and what - without any pressure - am I trying to accomplish?

Approached coolly and rationally, things cease being a big jumble.