This is not my orchid. It's one I saw at the Greater Omaha Orchid Society show a few weeks ago. I can't grow this kind of orchid. I know my limits. This particular variety and I don't get along--yet. Maybe someday.
It's good to know your limits in every part of your life. I've recently been thinking about how much work I can handle. I've taken on some extra freelancing again. I have assignments twice a week on top of the daytime work I'm doing. Luckily, they are two completely different things. The freelance articles have nothing to do with educational publishing. This actually helps. I get to switch modes, and it keeps me from breaking any contract moonlighting agreements. It also saves me from having to get a different part-time job and driving somewhere after work to do manual labor for piddle pay.
Do I really want to be working two jobs? No. Do I need to? Yes. Especially since Dorothy's tax package showed up in the mail this morning. Learning how to survive financially as a freelancer is something that is much harder than I ever realized. I have to pay "self-employment" taxes, which just about kills me. Sigh.
But then there is Suze Orman. Bless her heart. The other day, she did a financial show on Oprah. She literally got down on her knees and begged us to not think about what we had but focus on what we have. Yes, we've all lost half of our 401ks. Yes, we are all feeling the crunch. But she wanted us, her viewers--all of America--to sit back and look at our current surroundings. What do we still have that's good?
I'm reminded once again of Apollo 13 and how they built a carbon dioxide filter out of duct tape, socks, and some plastic wrappers. You can do anything when you really need to. You just have to learn how to be creative about it and look for those hidden opportunities for greatness.
So even though I have regular work to do, a freelance assignment due on Friday, a sink full of dirty dishes, taxes to pay, a birthday cake to bake for Little, and Easter Weekend Family Time headed my way (which is fun yet exhausting), I know I can do this.
- I will not think about the job I had, which was stable and paid health insurance. I will only be happy that the money I'm making now pays my Cobra and my rent.
- I will not think about how easy it was when my yard was concrete, and I didn't have to pick up 10,000 twigs and branches and mow the damn thing all summer. I will only be happy that I had enough money last year to purchase a nice, used mower which works very well.
- I will not think about how emotionally taxing this last year has been. I will only look forward to the spring when I can garden and sit in my lawn swing.
- I will not worry about Farmhouse Villa being sold out from under me (I recently learned the owner will keep the house, so I get to stay). I will only be happy that each time I pay my rent, I buy another month of a whole house instead of space on the corner somewhere in a cardboard box.
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