Reading — Rules I Try to Live By

Rules I Try to Live ByOn Setbacks · Rule 15

On Setbacks

Rule 15Chapter IV

Feel it, then function

Why this rule exists

Feelings ignored don't leave; they go underground and steer from there. But feelings left in charge will happily wreck your afternoon. The trick I keep relearning is that you can honor an emotion without obeying it. Let it be real, let it move through, and then still do the next right thing anyway.

Rules I Try to Live By

In practice

When something hits hard, give it a little room first. Name it, breathe, take the walk, write the paragraph you'll never send. Then ask what still needs doing and do that part, even carrying the feeling. I try not to make big decisions inside the spike, and not to pretend the spike isn't there.

When it doesn't apply

Some feelings are too big to simply feel and move past, and grief keeps its own clock. When an emotion won't lift for weeks, functioning isn't the goal; that's a time to reach for help, not willpower.

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