I’m feeling a bit under pressure lately. It’s all internal, mind you.  There are no thugs hanging at my door wanting explanations as to where my payment is. Yet, I’m feeling the pinch, the squeeze, the. . . why I am running out of overused expressions? I watch all those CSI, Law and Order, good guy wears blue shows. This is pitiful. Oh bother, fill in your own.

There is a process to my panic and it looks like this. First, I freeze in fear and assume the “deer in headlight” pose. Being a Californian, I assume the position beneath the nearest hard surface I can find. Wide eyed and frightened–withdrawn and silent.  I don’t blog this part of the journey, because it’s hard to type beneath the dining room table.

From there I move on to “The sky is falling” phase. I pace back and forth, waving hands in the air, repetitively driving IZ to distraction, “Oh dear, oh dear! What ever will I do?” Not blogging this part either! But this is a choice driven by vanity. I’m cool, collected, and I got my stuff together. That’s my story. . .

Whatever indeed! Eventually, IZ gets bored with my constant self- analysis and I realize it’s time to take control of the situation. Therapy by boredom. When your friends start yawning, you’re cured. You know who you are. . . YAWN.

Ahem, so in a “use every cliche I can muster move” I finally summon up all my courage and “pull myself up by my bootstraps” to craft a plan.

Typically, if I’m feeling under pressure it’s because I’m over extended. I’ve taken on too much without a real plan to juggle it all. A plan. . . I’m not so hot with planning. I’m delusional enough to believe I don’t really need one, until I find myself in a dither–procrastinating out of fear and obsessing over pointless details.  I could avoid all this unnecessary drama if only I’d be a bit more organized.  You may all laugh hysterically here.

So, I have a plan. A plan to redeem my sanity, a plan to regain my composure. And it means letting go of a few things. I’m going to put the plan beneath a fold. Those of you who know me, know that this entire post has just been me working up to WRITING the plan out. Putting it under makes it a bit easier for me to accept. Hey! Just because it’s not rational doesn’t mean it can’t work! Ooh, triple negative! Do I get extra points for that like in Scrabble?

Letting Go — The Plan

Evidently: I’m moving to a Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday blogging schedule.  It doesn’t mean I won’t blog more often, it just means I won’t blog less.  In truth, I blog incessantly–but most of it never makes it out of the dream-state of my partial insomnia. I find myself constantly saying to myself, “I should blog”. . . and it’s become about as pointless a reminder as “I should work out”. So, in some effort to enforce order, I’m putting myself on a schedule. Shudder.

Commenting on Evidently: Will remain open. But I am no longer publicly addressing each comment. This was a difficult decision, because I kinda pride myself on the personal interaction–on the fact that your comments aren’t ignored and that I “Hear” each of you. And I’m pretty sure I’ve said I’d never stop!  However,  it’s become clear to me that I just can’t keep that part up.  I’m still listening, and I still value your comment–but I’ll be responding via email when appropriate.

Thrifty Goodness: I officially closed Thrifty Goodness yesterday. It was surprisingly easy to do–but the decision to do so took a year. It was a fantastic experience and I learned so much. I think it was the step I needed to take before launching Mireio. The reasons are plenty and too much for this post. If you have questions, I’ll happily answer. But please know, I’m fine. It was time.

The Best of Etsy: I’m scaling back, now that the holidays are over, to Wednesday at 1 pm. I’ll have 7 picks for the week–and here on Evidently, there will be a The Best of Etsy post for those of you who do not Twitter. It’s more exposure for the artists I adore–and it gives me a bit of break. While I adore finding new people to promote, it’s beginning to feel like a full-time job to keep this pace. So, starting tomorrow, both on Twitter and Evidently, The Best of Etsy is once a week!

So that’s the public face of the plan. I’ve scheduled a bunch of other stuff like laundry and working out–but I’ve droned on enough, I suspect. You’re yawning—I’m cured!