It’s pretty obvious this site has been lacking updates for the past week or two or three. Not gonna lie, I’ve been stressed about taxes. Like really stressed. Within the last year and a half, we’ve taken some steps to better our financial situation and that meant cutting down on expenditures, like LEGO. I mean, I’m not going to rehash my problem, but I cut back on that kind of spending like a lot. And while I still have to deal with liquidating the collection, I believe we’re in a better place with a better outlook.
That being said though, taxes were giving me a ton of anxiety. Because of the lower amount of spending on business-related expenses, I was worried about our tax liability. I’ve been using video games as an escape. Except, it would kind of backfire because while I did enjoy my time in Zelda and Splatoon, it was just temporary. As soon as I shut off the console, I’d feel immense guilt and probably a little bit more stressful than before I started my gaming session. It was bad and I wasn’t dealing with it properly.
But my tax appointment came up and it was time to face the music. I compiled all my receipts, added everything up, went to bed, and met with my CPA the next morning. I guess I was more stressed than I realized because when I walked into his office, the first thing he said to me was “You look really stressed out. Are you okay?” When he ran the numbers, he said I had nothing to worry about and we were actually in good shape. Like really good shape. I felt suuuuuch relief. I guess my spending habits didn’t change all that much, sadly.
Anyway, this all went down last week and I decided to catch up on a couple of things this weekend that I was putting off because of my aforementioned escape-reality-by-playing-video-games coping mechanism. No, that was not healthy, but now that I got that out of the way and tended to some other matters over the weekend, I feel much better.
As much as I want to say that I’m not making any excuses, it does kind of sound like it. That is the reality of what I was going through, not to mention my day job and all the related stresses that come with that. I need to better about stress management because you, the reader, deserve better. I owe it to all of you readers, and especially to you subscribers and donors. This isn’t what you signed up for. I am certainly capable of delivering content. I can only promise to try and be better at it.
Tomorrow is Monday April 9th and I am going to be going to Disneyland for a father-son day. It may seem indulgent, but I’m going to enjoy every minute and recharge my batteries.
Taxes are a hell of a thing.
