"Nothing But Work, Work, Work All the Time"

Busy is Good. But Busy is Quiet.

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If I had my way, I’d shuffle to my desk every morning with my coffee and some hot sourdough and read and write to my heart’s content.

But alas, I cannot yet afford to do so, so I have to go do other work.

It figures that the real estate market is getting a bit tepid right at the moment that it promises to be our single best source of family income. About a dozen listings sit in our portfolio, waiting for buyers, in a city that is consistently ranked among the top places to live in the US and where real estate has been selling like hotcakes, even with higher interest rates.

Not a single one is under contract yet. Highly unusual. But we’ll get there.

In the absence of other job prospects, and no responses to any applications so far, I continue to deliver groceries as the best short-term opportunity to make some cash.

WAIT! I TAKE IT BACK! I JUST GOT A REPLY ON ONE AND…oh.

Anyway, I’ve been working much longer days doing the Instacart thing, even despite this damnable heatwave — it was 100 degrees yesterday with humidity topping 80% — and I believe I’ve lost about 4 pounds since last Saturday just from that.

It feels good to move throughout the day. I have never been handy, so I’m not much good with tinkering or fixing or building, but having work that keeps you physically up and going at a steady pace has a kind of bodily consolation to it. The work itself is kind of blah. It’s like a big scavenger hunt, or like a version of Pokemon Go except you’re using your phone to hunt down yogurt and bread and chutney. Still, spending my days alone, listening to books and podcasts or just driving in silence and thinking has had a profound calming effect on my nervous system. I noticed that yesterday afternoon I felt weirdly peaceful. I say weirdly because peace isn’t something I typically ever feel.

But the downside is that it keeps me away from doing this, and the prep work that goes into it. When I’m not working I’m usually making dinner or running errands or sitting, tired and sore and half-comatose, until I fall asleep in front of the television.

The situation is interminable, but not permanent. It will change. For now, I’m just trying to fill in all the gaps I can.

In fact, I’ve noticed over the past few days that I’m getting bombarded with dragonflies again. It’s weird, because I haven’t seen them since we completed our move last summer. Maybe I’m reading into things too much — dragonflies are most active in June and July — but just as I felt a change beginning to happen in myself, they started showing up everywhere again. Just in the past few days. Maybe it’s nothing. But it caught my attention.

If you don’t know what that’s about, here’s a thing I wrote last year:

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I also picked up a new voiceover gig thanks to a referral from a reader, so thank you, CS! I won’t call you out by name if you don’t want, but I really appreciate it.

So I can’t write as often as I’d like, but there’s much to discuss when I can. Things worth talking about. The world is changing fast, and we’re not ready.

Oh, and I’m working on getting a new podcast set up with my friend and colleague,

Kale Zelden

. I’m bogged down for the moment in figuring out branding and getting platforms set up, and working on all the little minutiae you don’t think of until you have to do it. But it’s coming. Sooner rather than later.

In addition to the fact that we are just aligned/different enough to have fascinating conversations every time we talk, I need someone like Kale who is organized, consistent, can make a schedule, etc., or I just won’t make shows. I haven’t done an episode of the Steve Skojec Show in months. I don’t want to monologue, but I can’t get my crap together enough to actually schedule guests, so that poor thing is just dying on the vine.

But that’s OK.

I’m happy to fail my way to the thing that works.

If I’m in a bit of a crucible right now, then I accept the refinement, however uncomfortable. I choose to keep going, keep iterating, keep fighting until I can piece together a life that makes sense again. Perhaps some day I will look back at this period on the Substack and see the seeds I didn’t know would ever grow into something more.

So hang tight. I’m not disappearing, I’m just not at my desk much for right now. But I’m absorbing a ton of information while I’m out driving around, and we have much to discuss when I have a chance to write it down.

This is where I thank you for your patience, and remind you that I would gladly accept the patronage of anyone who wishes to support my work. You can do so via Buy Me a Coffee or PayPal, if you so choose.

Thanks! More of substance to come soon…