16/52 :: you take the good, you take the bad.

You take the good

You take the bad

You take them both

And there you have

The facts of life.

The facts of life.

--

A couple of weeks ago, before our Washington D.C. trip, before my employee resigned, before the proverbial poop hit the fan, before, before, before, I told Jordan my new mantra was, "You win some; you lose some." That particular week, I had made huge progress in a meeting for our One Book program coming this fall, but I'd also sent out a store email with rather large errors and confused the dates and times for two big shop events. The old Annie would have beaten herself up over the mistakes, but the new Annie knows: In entrepreneurship, mistakes are inevitable and frequent. 

You win some; you lose some. 

So last week, while Jordan and I were finally in D.C. on a trip we'd been planning since November, it shouldn't have surprised me to get an email from an employee, resigning from her post as the shop's resident social media and event guru. This employee has been a life saver these past nine months, but retail isn't for the faint of heart, and turnover -- no matter how hard you try -- is high. These are jobs with big responsibilities and little pay, and I know often, The Bookshelf is a stop on someone's journey to a job that's bigger, better, more in line with their career goals. 

All of this, then, is just life, but that doesn't make the news any easier when it's 11:30 p.m. on your last night of vacation, and you're realizing the summer -- which was supposed to be laid-back and relaxing -- just got a whole lot more stressful. 

I have been scrambling this week to fill the position, to get people in the store who I think will love it as much as I do. And you know? It's been okay. I think that's what I'm learning from all of this: The good, the bad. It's going to be okay. Maybe not perfect, maybe not better than before, but okay. Problems are solvable, and if I learn to take things in stride, the little blows that come with this job won't be as earth-shattering -- they'll just be hiccups in the growth of my business. 

When I was younger, I would watch reruns of The Facts of Life on TV Land. I've been humming the theme song to myself for weeks: "You take the good; you take the bad; you take them both; and then you have..." The facts of life aren't easy, but they also aren't going anywhere; these aren't details and struggles we outgrow. 

Last month, my family was able to go to the beach together for a few days. It was incredibly life-giving and fun, but I watched as my dad handled stresses of both work and home -- even on vacation. My grandmother had taken a fall, and there we were, six hours away, unable to help or get there quickly enough. My dad didn't mope about the hours he had to spend on the phone or the time it took to handle those life emergencies. That's just it; they're a part of life, and they don't go away just because you're on vacation or you're not mentally prepared to handle them. 

This is life. And it includes trips to the hospital and emergency surgeries and employees who quit and visits to the beach and vacations with your husband and family members in poor health. It includes job interviews and afternoons paying bills and good books and burnt dinners and phone calls and texts and emails you don't want to receive. 

You take the good. You take the bad. You take them both, and you know? It's all going to be okay.