I’m in the midst of knitting a sweater with lots of bobbles. Eighty-four of them, to be precise.

I’m counting because I’m desperate to be done with the dang bobbles. I guess I forgot how much I hate them. A single bobble requires that you first knit into one stitch three times. Then, you take those three stitches and work each of them again. Then again, and then again, and finally your misery is over and you turn the three stitches back into one, resulting in the finished bobble:

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My process for writing articles is pretty straightforward.

I sit down to write and simply wait for an idea. Within a couple of minutes, an idea appears, and I write.

You could say that’s pretty woo-woo, but I find it to be incredibly practical. Why shouldn’t an idea simply be there when I’m looking for it?

Where else would it be, if it’s not already in my head?

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“Everything is falling apart, and I can’t hold on.”

“I find myself being a collector of other people’s bad feelings.”

“I worry about being invisible.”

These statements are all metaphorical. The circumstances they are describing cannot be literally true (except that the first one could perhaps be true in an earthquake or tornado).

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I was hanging out in a bus station (as one does), eavesdropping (as one does) as an an older man made conversation with the slightly younger one behind the counter.

“So…do you get free travel?”

“Yes.”

“Year round, or just two weeks a year?”

“Year round.”

“Ahhh…but you don’t have year round vacation,” said the older man with a note of regret in his voice.

“I’m working on that,” said the man behind the counter.

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Running is painful.

Sure, every runner lives for those moments of glory where the endorphins are kicking in and it feels like flying. But there are lots of times where your muscles ache and your lungs burn and you’re hungry and sweaty.

There are times when you’re huffing and puffing and it's tempting to slow to a walk. My rule has always been, "no walking until you get to the top of the hill." If you’re still in agony when you hit that goal, fine. But not until then.

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