What did this month ask of you?

Patience

My mother moved in on the fourth. I have said "that’s fine" more times this month than in the whole year before it, and about half of those were true.

Saying no

Turned down work I would have taken a year ago. Spent the week after wondering whether I had made a mistake, and the week after that not wondering.

Showing up unfinished

I brought a half-built thing into a room of people who bring finished things. Nobody flinched. I did.

Sleep, mostly

The baby is seven weeks old. This month asked me to be a person who functions on four hours. I am not, and it turns out that is survivable anyway.

Letting it be smaller

I cut the project down to a third of what I promised. It is better now. I still have not told everyone.

Staying

Every instinct said leave — the job, the city, the whole arrangement. I stayed. Ask me in November whether that was courage or inertia.

Asking

I asked three people for help this month, which is three more than usual. Two said yes immediately. I have been thinking about the year I spent not asking.

Being wrong out loud

I argued hard for something in March and it did not work. This month was telling people that, one at a time.