On August 1, I kicked off a large project at work that saw me working roughly ten hour days for six weeks, plus some nights and weekends. In mid-September, when I rolled off that project, I rolled directly into a second one—no break, no downtime, no chance to catch my breath. I’m still head’s down on this second project, which I won’t finish until early November, and which has me working even longer days, plus more nights, plus most weekends.

In my day job, I write marketing materials for large corporations, so I spend all my time in front of a computer. I really try to be body-conscious most of the time, but when I’m working these kind of hours, I usually allow my body to override my brain and sit however the hell it likes. Mostly, it likes when I sit on my chair cross-legged. At around week seven of this crazy roller coaster, my legs started tightening up. Over the past few weeks, it’s just gotten worse. I know it would help immeasurably if I got up every hour or so, took a walk, stretched. But I’m really busy, right? If I’m on a roll, I’m not standing up. And if I’m not on a roll, I’m focused on getting back on a roll, so I’m still not getting up. As a result, whenever I do stand (to grab coffee, eat lunch, pee), I unfold like a sedated 90-year-old—hunched over, back creaking, legs trembling. It took me until last night to realize that it wasn’t my legs causing the problem, it was my glutes. Today is the first day my thigh muscles have relaxed in three weeks. The relief is almost too immense to describe. And I’m usually so good with words.

Busy, much?

Suffice it to say, I’m really busy. It doesn’t help that I run my company, so my attention has to shift constantly. Beyond the projects I’m working on, I’m taking phone calls on other files, briefing my staff on their work—and then reviewing it when it comes back, completing other small projects betwixt and between my main project because they need to get done (hello, nights and weekends!), and then, y’know, keeping up with “real” life—paying bills, buying groceries, doing laundry, checking in with my kids.

And the crazy part is, I know it’s not just me. Such is life. We all have responsibilities, and commitments, and jobs or chores or careers. We’re all running around trying to keep up with our obligations, cross items off our list, be good parents or spouses or friends. Which raises the real question I’d like to explore today: How the hell do we do it all?

The answer is: sometimes we don’t.

Emptied out

I’m going to talk to you now and pretend it’s me. In this little chat I’m going to have with you/myself, I’m going to remind us that perfection is a fallacy, doing it all isn’t always possible, and sometimes—even when we dig down to the depths of our being to try to find that eternal spark—we sometimes come back with nothing.

I’m all emptied out, my friends. Maybe you’ve experienced it too. But for those seekers looking for the secret, I’ll tell you this: Empty is awesome. Empty is ground zero. Empty is the white space that we can choose to fill with whatever we want—creativity, imagination, new opportunity, alternative options, or maybe just ice cream and sleep. Empty is the place where we come closest to eternity.

So if you find yourself overwhelmed, if you’ve forgotten that you’re supposed to fill your cup first so you can share from the overflow, if you’ve given into the impulse to put on someone else’s oxygen mask before your own—don’t despair. Just understand that you have stripped away the dross and made room for something entirely new to flow in. I’m so excited to see what we create next. Later. Probably after November.

Peace.