The best way out is always through.
– Robert Frost, American poet

Thus ends another week in which a lot happened and yet I didn’t accomplish much. It is never a good thing when you go to bed and wake up thinking about work and what you need to do, how you’re going to fix a problem when the visibility is near zero, how time is ticking away as you take on the role of Sisyphus. While I’m glad it’s Friday, I look back to Monday and realize that I didn’t finish anything that I started. Not one, but two projects blow up in the course of a week. There are still fires to put out and people to please. I face yet another weekend of work. My seventh.

Baubles for a Friday: Grayling earrings (Jenny K, El Cerrito, CA), Anthropologie bangle, necklace (Wyler’s, Portland, ME), Sundance stack of rings, and Elizabeth Ng antique button ring (Abacus, Portland, ME).

And yet, I cheer myself on with various pick-me-up lines such as “this, too, shall pass.” This is a teeny tiny blip in my life. Get through this and you will have hit the jackpot of life. Get through this and my novel awaits me on the other side. Restful sleep awaits me. Breathe deeply. I can do this and be a stronger person. Go me!

Throw red at navy and white polka dots.

And while I try to cheer myself on, I can’t help but think about one of the famous lines from the 1983 movie Risky Business. Joel’s father says to him: “Sometimes, you just gotta say, ‘what the heck.'” (Not what you thought!) Indeed. What. The. Heck. So if you’re going to have to work on the weekend, at least start the weekend off right by going to a party Friday evening. Have that “what the heck” moment or two. And then work hard and get those problems off your back.

My “What the heck” Friday look: comfortable yet ready to get things done.