I’ve been in a slump lately, no doubt. I had my reasons, and some of them were pretty good, but never mind that now.

My biggest obstacle has been an unshakable sense of powerlessness, leading to a deadening inertia. Fortunately, I can’t stand feeling that way for too long. I’ve been battling back in the best way I know how: by exerting control over my surroundings.

I’m not talking about basic maintenance, like washing dishes and making the bed. (No one who knows me would accuse me of meticulous housekeeping, but I do have some standards.) I mean movethefurniturescrubthebaseboards cleaning. I may not have cleared all of my mental cobwebs, but at least the ones behind my picture frames are gone.

There’s plenty more to do, but I can see what I have accomplished, which is a lot more than I can say about my recently reactivated hunt for the elusive ‘big girl job.”