But I think I knew this was coming. I think I could see this ending. I just didn’t want to admit it.

Let me make this clear; this break-up is very specific. I’m done playing standard, No-Limit Hold ‘Em poker cash games where the buy-in amount would hurt me if I lose it. And honestly, sometimes that’s just $100. That’s what most people play and it’s probably going to be 99 percent of the chances to make money in poker.

I didn’t get into this game, don’t stay in it, don’t cover it, don’t take photos of it, don’t adore it and deplore it for the money. It’s the little things. The feeling of chips and cards flying. The battles. The numerous types of games. The camaraderie. The stories. The characters.

I never considered making a living from this game and likely never will by playing it, but somehow I’ve been blessed enough to survive by being in the room.

But that’s the difficult part. The part I wrestle with. The fact that I’m not the man in the arena. That I can’t wage war and come out victorious. I don’t have the guts, stupidity or bankroll to lay it all on the line just to avoid a regular job. I stand on the sidelines.

I’m not some mega genius. I likely don’t have a fucking clue where I’m at or what is the “right play” most of the time. And yes, it is part of the beauty of Hold ‘Em… there are no single answers for most situations.

But I think I’m at a section of my life where that bothers me. I’m bothered by the fact there’s ambiguity and I can’t shake it. I can’t tell you what the percentages are of skill, luck and circumstance that play into my successes or lack thereof in poker.

Some Painful Poker

All this started a couple nights ago while I was playing a home game. Playing someone I have little experience but knew his general style, I seemingly threw all sense out the window and triple barrel bluffed off my entire $400 stack on J77QQ with ten-high. I was both complemented and consoled by my peers at the table for the bluff attempt.

I was mad… but what am I mad at? That I lost? That it was a dumb spot to do it? The wrong person to bluff against? Or maybe that… after the dust had settled, I wasn’t really mad at the result at all? Almost pleased that I could be released from the pressure.

Then, just two hours later, I scroll across this tweet from poker vlogger Brad Owen. I am mad with how true this rings for me.

If you have a good answer, you shouldn’t have been playing in the first place

— Brad Owen (@TheBradOwen) July 22, 2023

After losing $400, immediately I had a good answer to Brad’s question: That’s this month’s car payment.

Yeah, I’m done for a while.

Just Numbers, to Some; Real Money, to Others

During that same home game, we were watching a high stakes poker livestream where pots of $50K to $300K were commonplace.

But I don’t think I can see it as a number anymore. That’s a new car. Someone just bet a year’s college tuition on the flop. We’re all in for a median size American house on the river.

And I just bluffed off a fucking car payment.

When the result didn’t go my way, I didn’t love it. I don’t love the game when I’m losing. And when I had a winning session last time? I’m not sure that it really fulfilled me. There was a pain of knowing I could have gotten more. Maybe you can’t say I actually love the game if I don’t love it all the time.

Satisfaction and success are two very difficult words to define as a young 20-something in 21st Century America. Everyone is at different stages in life, and somehow you find a way to pluck people younger and older than you that have more money or just seem a bit less troubled in finding their flow. Or they have a larger Hendon Mob total. Or more posts showing the work they’re doing.

Or their bluffing you. Or your mind is bluffing you.

Fuck, would you look at that; we’re back at the beginning.

How did bluffing off a car payment get me so in a twist?

See that’s the thing; I can’t say for sure. It’s lots of things. Some to do with poker and some with the circumstances of the world in that moment.

I love this game when it’s friends drinking and playing all kinds of mixed games for beer money; enough sometimes to feel happy, but not enough to be bothered by losing.

I don’t love it when I lose grocery carts. Or a bag of dog food. Or a domestic flight to most US cities round trip.

But my real struggle with this situation is whether or not I can accept this and live with it. That it’s okay not to be some up-and-coming grinder looking to make a name for himself.

I hope, in time, the answer will be “yes.”

Healthy love of something is not blind faith, boundless adoration, or chasing it to the ends of the Earth. It is recognizing and accepting flaws, but also setting boundaries when you need to.

It’s s time to set a boundary. To go back to the kiddie table. Join some friends for a $20 game and chat about random shit…

…and make a car payment on time.

No one is immune to tilt. Things will happen while you play poker that will throw you off. However, good players are fully aware of this and they have mechanisms in place to either prevent tilt from happening or quickly control it to minimize its harmful effects. If you have problems controlling tilt yourself, these 10 tips could come in really handy.

1. Recognize Your Triggers

Not everyone tilts for same reasons. Some people are triggered by bad beats, while others will become annoyed by a prolonged run of bad, unplayable hands. Still others will tilt when they feel they’re being targeted by an aggressive player.

The first step towards making sure you don’t tilt at the poker table is figuring out what your personal triggers are. Be honest with yourself and admit there are some things that get under your skin. When you know what triggers you, you’ll be prepared for whatever emotions might come your way ahead of time and will be able to handle them much better.

2. Don’t Start a Session When Tired or Irritated

If you play poker professionally, you might feel like you need to put in the hours no matter what. After all, your profit at the end of a week, a month, and a year is directly connected to the number of hands you play during that period of time.

However, sometimes you’re better off sitting one out. If you’re in a bad state of mind due to not having enough rest the previous night or because you’re dealing with a big non-poker related issue, you probably shouldn’t be playing. When you feel this way, you’ll be much more susceptible to tilt. Things that trigger you in general will become annoying much more quickly and you might even discover some brand new sources of tilt.

3. Take Occasional Breaks

Cash game players have the luxury of being able to take short breaks without it mattering too much. You’ll miss a few hands but, unlike in tournaments, you won’t lose any of your chips. Taking breaks every couple of hours to get some fresh air and sort out your thoughts is another great way to stop tilt from taking over. Tournament players have breaks built in to the schedule, of course, so be sure to make proper use of those times.

It is sometimes hard to be fully focused while you’re sitting at the table, watching cards and chips flying around and the opponent who put a bad beat on you stacking the chips. A brief change of scenery, even if only for a few minutes, will give you a different perspective of things. If you’re playing online on a site like dewapoker, you can simply sit out for a couple of orbits and come back when ready.

4. Understand and Accept Variance

The number one reason why poker exists is the variance. It’s because of it that even casual players win on occasion and these wins keep them coming back to the tables. If best players won all the time, amateurs would quickly get tired of the game.

All players need to accept and embrace variance. Don’t get tilted because someone is running hot during a session. Whenever you start to feel these negative emotions, make it a point to tell yourself that these bad beats are actually a good thing in the long run. They are what makes game going.

5. Avoid Complaining Too Much

Bad beat stories and constant complaining aren’t just annoying for other players to listen to; they’re also very bad for your mental state. Poker tilt can sometimes last long after a session end and you’re only prolonging this tilted state by insisting on recounting your bad luck.

It’s fine to share some really brutal beats with your friends, but if that’s all you do you’re setting yourself up to start the next session already tilted by those previous experiences. That’s really not a starting position you want to be in.

6. Don’t Get Goaded by Table Banter

Some players are really good at table talk. Even if they don’t play poker that well, they have a way of getting under your skin and getting you to make mistakes you’d never make if you were playing with a clear head.

You don’t have any way to silence these players – they’re allowed to talk and do their thing as long as they aren’t being abusive or insulting. So, the best thing you can do if you know this to be one of your triggers is to avoid getting into conversation with them. Just ignore them and don’t give their remarks any significance.

7. Don’t Play Above Your Limits

Getting into a higher-stakes game or a tournament with a buy-in that’s bigger than what you usually play can be quite tempting. If things go right, you could easily increase your bankroll by a substantial amount. However, this is usually not a very good idea for a number of reasons. One of them is that you’ll struggle to play your best game.

All your tilt triggers will be much more pronounced when you’re playing in a setting where you don’t feel as comfortable. Every bad beat will hurt more, and every bad decision you make will have a more profound effect on your mental state. If you want to avoid tilt, you definitely don’t want to be playing over your head.

8. Try to Not Overstay Your Welcome

Not all forms of tilt happen all at once. Sometimes, when you play long sessions, there will be dozens of small things along the way that slowly get under your skin. Eventually, it might start to affect your game.

This type of tilt is quite dangerous, as you might not even notice it. There isn’t a particular point in time that you can recognize as the trigger. That’s why it’s important to constantly be aware of how you’re playing, your mental state, and be honest with yourself. If you notice you’re starting to make decisions that you can’t really explain, it’s time to call it a day.

9. Beware of Winner’s Tilt

Going on a hot run of cards is one of the best feelings in poker. You get to rake in pot after pot and it seems like you just can’t lose a hand. Your big hands hold up, your bluffs go through, and it seems like the entire universe has aligned just perfectly.

The problem is, this can give you the false feeling of invincibility. Eventually, your hot run will end and if you aren’t careful, you might continue to play recklessly, thinking it’s your day and you just can’t lose. This is known as winner’s tilt and can be just as dangerous as any other form.

10. Have a Personal Checklist in Place

It’s not always easy to recognize tilt. That’s why you should have some sort of checklist in place so that you can go through the items on the list to see if you’re still playing with your head, not your heart. You can memorize this list or even have it on your phone as a written reminder that you need to keep a cool head.

Some of the things to monitor every now and again are:

• Am I playing too many hands?
• Have I been limping too much lately?
• Have I been making any plays that I knew I shouldn’t but I still went on and did it?

The important thing here is to stay honest with yourself. If you notice there are few items on your list that aren’t the way they should be, it’s a pretty good sign you might be tilting. Take a breather and see if you can get back in the zone. Alternatively, consider ending the session right then and there. Anything is better than just continuing as is when you know tilt is creeping up.

The 2009 WSOP Main Event champion was deep into another historic run at the 2018 Main Event, and when a 20-minute break came after Level 26, Cada unassumingly exited the Amazon Room and slipped outside through another set of doors at the Rio Convention Center.

Cada was the biggest name remaining in the field of about 70 players at that point, but no one noticed as he exited past the All American Dave food stand, went around a corner and disappeared with a couple of buddies for a few precious minutes away from the lights of the feature table.

Joe Cada, at the 2018 WSOP Main Event Final Table, facing Tony Miles

Had he chosen to exit into the bustling main corridor of the Convention Center, Cada very well might have run into a slew of well-wishers and media. By utilizing the lesser-traveled pathway outdoors, however, Cada got a few minutes of much needed quiet time en route to his eventual fifth-place finish.

It is essential for players to use the break time wisely at the WSOP, with most events requiring 10+ hours of play per day. The standard event structure includes 15-20 minute breaks every two hours, and a one-hour dinner break in the middle of the day.

First-time players at the WSOP might be overwhelmed by the madness of the breaks, which involves a mass exodus of players into the halls of the convention center, and long lines at the restrooms and the Poker Kitchen.

For poker veterans like Daniel Negreanu, having a plan for the break times is key. I caught up with the six-time WSOP bracelet winner on a break during the $3k Pot-Limit Omaha Six-Handed event, but only after Negreanu recorded a vlog entry for his YouTube channel, hurried out of the Amazon Room through a restricted area, and came back to his table with about five minutes left on the break. (Starting at around the 4:05-minute mark in the clip below, I can be seen in the background over Daniel’s left shoulder as he walks out into the corridor, then I take a seat on a bench, awaiting his return from break.)

“I go to my trailer and get away from people,” Negreanu said. “And eat. I’m a vegan, so I have a chef prepare food for me in my trailer.”

With nearly $40 million in live tournament winnings in his career, Negreanu has the luxury of a personal chef and a private trailer, but first-timers at the WSOP need to have their own plan for food, bathroom breaks, and time to unwind away from the tables.

Negreanu said he’s never been late coming back to his seat off of a break, and advises that newcomers plan their break strategy ahead of time.

Have a purpose for the breaks; so whatever that is for you, focus on doing that.

Daniel Negreanu

“For me it’s just different than other people. I need space from people. I don’t like to be bothered on the breaks. I don’t mind while I’m playing, but when I’m on break it’s my break. And I want to go pee and be left alone.”

WATCH: Interview with Daniel Negreanu

Players exit the Brasilia Room during a break at the WSOP

I watched Antonio Esfandiari bolt from his table and run through the halls of the Rio to wherever he was going on his dinner break on Day 5 of the Main Event, which is certainly one way to beat the crowds.

Others, like Dan Shak, take a more relaxed approach to the break. The 59-year-old high-roller wasn’t in a hurry on a 20-minute break from the $5k Turbo NLHE event, taking some time to check his text messages and giving me the opportunity to pick his brain about his break-time habits.

“The biggest priority at my age is bathroom,” Shak said with a laugh. “Basically the closest bathroom, or else I don’t like the crowds, so sometimes I’ll go a little further. But I’m not a bathroom snob, I’ll use the back bathrooms.”

Like Negreanu and Esfandiari, Shak is a veteran of the WSOP and knows the layout of the massive convention center well. He did admit, however, that he’s come back late from a break a few times.

“Dinner break I’ve timed it wrong,” Shak said. “A regular break I’m usually good. And I really don’t like rushing back, so I try to get back a couple of minutes before, because I don’t like the stress of missing hands and things like that. “

Shak recommends knowing your food and bathroom game plan ahead of time to maximize the break opportunities, but also advises using the time to take a mental break from the game as well.

The biggest priority at my age is the bathroom.

Dan Shak

“If you played a hand badly, or taken a bad beat, or had a severe hit to your chip stack, and you’re heading in the wrong direction, it’s a good time to reboot and try to get a fresh start after the break,” Shak said.

Spectators at the WSOP should plan their break strategy as well, as trying to get into the restroom or get food at any of the nearby options is an almost impossible task if a large-entry tournament has just gone to break. Come to think of it, you’d probably have better luck playing one of the property’s thousands of slot games.

As a fan of the game, the breaks are better used as an opportunity to take in the bad beat stories that swirl around as hundreds of players spill out of the playing areas and into the halls. It’s also a good time to try to get that selfie with your favorite player that you’ve been trying to take, although fast movers like Esfandiari are pretty tough to catch.

Another great place for bad beat stories and possible celebrity poker player sighting are the front steps of the convention center, where you might catch your favorite player taking a smoke break, or sometimes (unfortunately) taking a permanent break and heading out to the parking lot after busting out of an event.

The breaks are a fun and fascinating experience to take in as a fan during the WSOP, and when you see a big-name player just remember that the better they’re faring at the tables, the more approachable they’ll be on the break!

Whatever the reason, now you’re ready to jump back into action. Before doing so, it may benefit you to do a bit of planning so that your newest venture into online poker is a successful one. Below are five things to reconsider before returning to online poker after a break.

1. Move Down in Stakes – Or Start All Over

If you’re returning to online poker after an extended absence, consider dropping down in stakes. For example, if you were playing $.50/$1 on a site pre-2011, then you may want to start playing $.25/$.50 when you decide to open a new account at Global Poker.

The reason behind this is multi-faceted. First, poker has changed and the relative strength of games is increasing. A $.50/$1 game may play as tough as $2/$4 used to play “back in the day.” You may even want to observe some of the current games to gather more information before jumping in.

Also, it’s been a while since you were at the tables and it may take a little while for you to re-acclimate to the games. While adjusting, you should consider playing lower to protect your bankroll.

PTOTD: When learning a new game, drop down in stakes and work your way up, don’t play for same stakes you’re used to in other games.

— PokerTips (@PokerTipsOrg) May 26, 2011

Honestly, the best course may be to start all over and work your way up from scratch. Sure, it may not seem ideal to work your way up from $.01/$.02 or $1 tournaments, but it may be the best way to protect your bankroll until you see where your game stacks up against the current competition.

2. Get Used to Playing Without HUDs

If you were used to playing online poker with a Heads Up Display (HUD), then you better start learning how to play without one. Many sites now outlaw the use of HUDs and those that don’t ban them tend to make their software incompatible with most popular HUD units.

Do you play with a HUD? (RT) Or are you a purist? (fav)

— PokerWinners (@PokerWinners1) January 18, 2015

For some of you, this will be a dramatic shift in how you play. It will require more focus, personal note-taking, and the ability to adapt your game without the aid of a computer. In other words, you will have to use your live poker skills on an online level. Are you up for the challenge?

3. Be Ready to Pay More Rake – And Rakeback? LOL

If you’ve been following online poker news for the last couple of years, you’ll notice that rake across the board is going up. Some rake changes have been widely publicized while other sites have either quietly phased in rake hikes or they start with a high rake.

When looking into a site to play, check out their rake structure and make sure that it is something that you are comfortable with. This is especially important if you plan to play online poker as a source of income rather than recreationally.

For those of you who have been gone for more than a couple of years, one of the biggest shocks will be rakeback – or rather the lack of it at most sites. Many sites have either completely done away with rakeback or have changed their rewards structure to where true rakeback is extremely difficult to obtain.

Most player reward structures benefit recreational players and greatly reduce the rewards that regular and pro players can achieve. Again, you’ll need to check out a site’s reward structure to see what type of rakeback, if any, you can achieve. Granted, that’s not to say that rakeback doesn’t exist at all, but those of you who relied on rakeback as a way to make a profit at online poker will find it far more difficult to do so in today’s “recreational” culture.

4. Study – Actually Study This Time Around

The games are getting tougher. That’s not just a cliche anymore. That’s a bona fide fact regardless of the stakes you play. As such, it is important that you spend time studying and working on your game if you hope to improve and rise up through the ranks.

Also, the quality of training material that you use is important. Many poker books written more than five years ago are barely relevant to the modern online poker game. Those that are relevant tend to only apply up to a certain point. By and large, once you move past the lowest stakes, you need training material focused on the modern game and game structures.

man poker is weird, sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing Time to hit the lab and gain back some confidence!

— Buehlero (@henribuehler) December 8, 2016

Luckily there is a world of content online including poker courses that you can use to learn the game. In addition to training sites, there are numerous pros and competent amateurs that give away free training materials on sites such as Twitch, YouTube, and others. You don’t have to pay to get quality training.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that investing in your poker career isn’t a smart decision. If you choose to sign up for a training site or hire a coach, conduct your research into the site or player and see if their strategies will actually benefit your game or if the training is merely a money grab.

5. Open Up Your Game More

Poker is constantly evolving and this means new ways to play the game. If you’re limiting yourself by mastering just one form or variant of poker, you’re leaving money on the table. This includes Texas Hold’em.

Back in the day, you could feasibly make a good living specializing in one form of Hold’em such as Heads-Up or Six-Max play. Nowadays, you had better work on other aspects of your game if you want to stay competitive. There’s nothing wrong with specializing in a particular area, but you need to expand your game if you want to remain profitable long-term.

Way higher edge in the Mixed Games than NLH tbh, you get people who literally don’t know how to play some of the games and in NLH you can kind of get away with that, in the mixed stuff you can’t!

— Pokerbrahs (@PokerBrahs) April 26, 2018

Also, you need to work on expanding your skills in other areas. Remember how the game changed when Rush and Zoom Poker came along? The players who embraced those games were among those turning massive profits when the games became staples.

When something new comes along in online poker, it is a good idea to work on your skills in that variant early so that you can be among those turning a profit once the game goes mainstream.

Losing at Poker Sucks

It’s never fun to lose thousands of dollars, but I can honestly say I had a great trip and don’t regret going to Vegas. I was able to get a lot of great meals in with old friends I rarely get to see, as well as connect with people in the poker community who I’ve been wanting to meet for many years. I got in some great workouts and spa sessions during my comped stay at the Rio and got back to Red Rock for an unforgettable solo hike.

Despite the fact that I ended my trip very much in the red, I did actually win a majority of my sessions and, by and large, had a great time while playing. It was just almost every time I took a shot and two very unlucky $1/2/5 PLO sessions where I lost money. Compared to the games I normally play in Cleveland, people at the WSOP were much friendlier, there was a lot more table talk, and people seemed genuinely excited to be there. While there were some people who would not say anything and often had headphones in (myself included, sometimes, near the end of a long session), the action and vibe was much better than I’m accustomed to.

My Post-Vegas, Poker-Free Adventure

After leaving Vegas, I knew that I would not be able to play another hand of poker for three months!

I’m writing this post from Amman, Jordan and before arriving here I was in Israel visiting friends and playing some shows. When I’m not playing, teaching, or discussing poker on my podcast, I’m likely doing something music-related. I accepted a two-month job opportunity in Jordan to work for a composer and, one month in, I don’t regret it at all. After accepting the offer in April, I realized that gambling is very much illegal in Jordan; that’s not a law I’d want to mess around with, so I better be careful when talking about roulette secrets or anything else casino-related.

I started to get a little sad knowing that I would have to take such a long break from playing cards. Since beginning to take the game seriously and poker becoming my primary source of income a few years ago, the longest I’ve gone without playing some form of poker – be it online or live – has probably been three weeks, and that has rarely happened.

The Silver Lining of “No Poker”

Nonetheless, my ‘break’ from playing poker doesn’t mean I have to take a complete break from the game of poker. I love the game too much to go two months – let alone one week – without thinking about the game a little bit.

I’m a big podcast listener when in transit or doing chores around the house. There are three poker podcasts that put out episodes weekly; I can’t remember the last time I’ve missed one of them. On top of that (and putting my own podcast on repeat), I have a small group of students I Skype with on a weekly basis to discuss hands they’ve played and how to improve their understanding of poker theory and mental games. Lastly, I’m actually more intense studying out here in Jordan than I was in the States over the last few months.

Typically between preparing for my podcast and working with my students, I end up studying several hours of poker a week without actively making an “active” effort. That said, there is no substitute for the tough, mathematically rigorous studying one can only do by themselves. Since beginning my transition to PLO a few months ago, I’ve been incredibly excited to study the game in depth. Reading Advanced PLO Theory and constructing sample ranges for the average 9-handed PLO table at which I’ll find myself in Cleveland has been surprisingly fun.

In Conclusion

After my Vegas trip, I definitely wanted to take at least a week off after running so poorly over such a short period of time. While I hadn’t planned on that break stretching to two months, I’m still excited to be thinking about poker all the time and feel very lucky that I’m able to do so while residing in a country where gambling is not an option.

Note: I actually did manage to play in a home game while I was in Israel, but I’ll let Robbie write a post about the crazy game he plays in weekly another time

This isn’t to say I haven’t been doing any writing at all. I’ve also continued to co-host the Top Pair Home Game Poker Podcast, and we’ve done some fun shows over the past few weeks. Beyond that, it’s not as though I’ve been completely quiet in these pages either. After all, there were a couple of great poker interviews I recently conducted. Plus, I put a lot of effort into publishing some widely-read blog posts about politics in poker, as well as my first video.

With all of that said, my wheels have been turning over the last few days re: a new poker topic to write about. While I’m not going to pretend I have writer’s block or anything like that, the fact of the matter is that sometimes you just don’t always have something interesting to write about. Sometimes ideas flow, along with the words to express them, while other times ideas stagnate, fester, and eventually fizzle out before ever seeing the light of day. As my poker writing reputation has slowly grown within the industry I’ve honestly felt a little bit of an added pressure to “keep cranking out home runs” with everything I publish here. Nothing truly works that way though as, try as one might, we’re not robots who can always be on our A-games. As a poker writer, I see my blog posting here as a task of consistently “cranking out singles”, with the hope that some of my swings might end up becoming extra-base hits, and possibly even homers.

Excuses, Excuses… But Sometimes Silence is Golden

Some of you who’ve read this far might feel that everything I’ve said up until now encompasses 400+ words of excuses, but I’ll respectfully beg to differ. Yes, I could’ve sat at my computer more often and forced out some articles. But that’s precisely what those poker articles would’ve been: “forced”. They wouldn’t have represented my “A-game”. That’s not the type of quality content I care to publish nor would I be pleased offering it up to you guys, my audience, knowing it didn’t represent my best work.

Over the years, I’ve become ever more grateful to have this Cardplayer Lifestyle poker blog as a medium via which to share my thoughts with you. As I’ve written numerous times, I do all my blogging during my spare time and this isn’t my main source of income, so there’s thankfully no sort of “added pressure”. I have the great luxury of waiting to truly be inspired before producing and publishing any articles that I wish to write.

So What Does All of That Have to Do with the Title?

Often, I like to extrapolate from my personal thoughts and experiences in order to learn and share a lesson that can be applied to the poker tables. This is one of those times.

Parents across the board usually teach their kids the lesson of: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all.” Rather than beating myself over the head and feeling guilty for not having published any new articles here, I prefer to tell myself that there wouldn’t have been any tangible benefit of publishing a new article if I had nothing of substance to say.

I believe the same lesson can be applied to playing poker as well. Especially in the wake of an intense weeks- or months-long grind, even the best of players tend to run out of steam and be incapable of playing their A-game. Sometimes you just need to take a break. Sometimes you need to veg. Sometimes you need to travel. Sometimes you need to spend more time with your family.

If you’re running card-dead, you can’t force good cards to come your way. Sure, you could continue to sit at the tables, whether they’re live tables or online, and keep playing hand after hand trying to eke out a profit. At some point though, you’ll hopefully come to the realization that it’s not worth the time you’re investing and that you best take a step away to recharge your batteries.

Conclusion

Just like nobody knows where or when lightning will next strike, I can’t pretend to know when I’ll next be inspired to take to these pages with a new blog post. I have a hunch it’ll be sooner rather than later, but I’m not going to force creativity – life just doesn’t work that way. In the meantime, I hope you’re able to take this lesson to heart and I hope you enjoy your break away from the tables.