When Life Is Messy, Just Take One Small Step

Ethan ZhangEthan Zhang
4 min read

Writing - English Practice

✍️ Type: Free writing / Reflection


Hi, it’s Monday, June 30, 2025. It’s great to meet you here again. Let’s keep writing.

Last weekend was quite an intense one. I was already feeling worn out and didn’t get much rest. Everything was fine until, one by one, everyone started feeling unwell — except for my older daughter and me. My mom, my wife, and our little one all caught a cold.

The toughest part was watching my little daughter cry because she couldn’t breastfeed. Her mom was taking cold medicine, so we had to stop temporarily. Meanwhile, the house quickly turned into a lively mess. I cleaned up one corner, only for it to be filled again by my older daughter’s toys. Of course, she needed space to play her games.

Those two days were a whirlwind of busyness. The little one would nap for a bit, then wake up crying. My older daughter kept asking me to play with her, and if I seemed distracted, she’d get upset right away. Still, that’s just life with kids — full of small demands and tender moments.

After everyone finally fell asleep, I stayed up to finish some work. It felt good to still keep up with my responsibilities, even in the middle of all this.

Today, I didn’t want to do anything at all — not even lift a finger. But I pushed myself to complete just one simple task. Amazingly, once I did, the fatigue faded. I kept going, solved a problem at work, and even wrote a blog post about it. It turned into a small but meaningful routine.

I feel genuinely fulfilled right now. This experience made me truly appreciate how breaking things into small steps can help tackle big challenges and keep overwhelm at bay. I’ve always known this in theory, but now it’s etched deeply in my memory.

Yes, it was a tiring couple of days — but it’s also life, and honestly, a beautiful one. Despite the mess and the lack of sleep, it’s these moments that make our family life so rich and meaningful.

Have you ever had days like this? Feel free to share in the comments. I’d love to hear your story.

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Original Draft (Raw Version):

Hi, it's Monday, June 30, 2025. It's glad to meet you again. Let's continue to write more.

That was a terrible weekend last week. So tried without enough rest. Everything went well until we were all sike except my older daughter and me, my mom, my wife, and my little daughter sicked sumutinuously, The worest thing is that my little daughter often cries for without mom mick as mom was taking medetion, The room was chaos because I clean a piece of room place, it was been filled soon by my older daughter's toil, Yeah, that's right, she need play games with them.

That's two days, busy, chaos, the little sleeped a piece of time and aweak with crying, the older asked me to play with her, if I confused her, she was angry with me right now without a doubt. Thanks the glod I have some work not be done yet, so I had to done my work at midnight, after all of my babies fell asleep.

Today, I would't like to do anything, none finger would like to move, but I forces push myself to do a simple goal, even if it's a solution of some simple issue on my work. Amazing things happened after I done my work, starting with a simple goal, until it had been hit, Tried is gone, I solved that and summery the solution with a blog, I think many of routines in a good plan. I feel performance right now. I know this way can accomplish hard work, and defense overwhelmed, but I have never experienced. And now I 印象深刻.

Have you had the same experience? Feel free to share in the comments.

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Written by

Ethan Zhang
Ethan Zhang