Powering Through

Accepting The Suck

I am tired. Very tired. Exhausted actually. I have felt this way more often lately, but I can really feel it at this moment. It is late at night as I write this, having gone long on a podcast recording. But I haven’t written anything yet for today, so I must write something. So, here I am, writing this article.

I’m powering through.

Sometimes, that’s your only option.

In my journey as a creative and making a go to build a career out of it, in numerous ways, I’ve started to structure aspects of my work and life. I’ve been building systems and schedules into my routine to attempt to tame the chaos that is daily life (and my scattered mind).

Now I know I will never achieve total control, but with all of my different interests, ideas, and projects, I need a modicum of organization and predictability in my life.

And when things don’t go according to plan or life throws a curveball, which feels more and more like a daily occurrence, I’m in a better place to adjust and make do with the given set of circumstances.

But even then, with the best laid plans, there are times when it all feels like it goes to shit. Be it one big thing or a dozen little small things that cause my day to depend into chaos, it has a common effect. Time compresses, organization goes out the window, and I do whatever I can to tread water.

This happens more often than I would like it to but I’m coming to the realization that this is just how it is. I’ve come to accept it. And the ‘it’ being The Suck. The Suck, cribbed from military speak, is the general idea that can be applied to any context where you’re in a situation of necessity when exhaustion sets in and the only way out is through determination, grit, and doing the work that is needed to get out. Or in another way— powering through.

Acceptance is the key perspective I’ve been employing recently, any time when I am in less than idea circumstances. While it is important to understand why you are in those circumstances, it is also important to acknowledge you are here in the present and to work within those boundaries to move past them.

Because dwelling on why doesn’t change that something needs to be done now.

And that is where I am at, in this moment. Writing this article because I can’t break the chain. And whether it was because I didn’t plan properly or events out of my control kept me from writing earlier in the day, it doesn’t matter. Because holding yourself to routines and deadlines is the best way you move your work forward.

So here I am bleary-eyed and dozing off….

But I’m putting pen to paper (or fingers to the keyboard), after blabbering for two hours into a microphone, after making and eating dinner, after putting a toddler to bed, after a long day of work, after a morning run.

Because there are times you have no choice but to power through.