Some Days You Just Show Up: Green Life Order, Website Fixes, and Keeping It Together

Today was one of those days.

Long shift at work. Brain fried. The kind of tired where you're not sure if you're thinking straight anymore.

But instead of going home and collapsing, I met up with a friend. Grabbed some time to just... talk. Decompress. Remember that I'm a person outside of work and CRAFTURE.

Then I came home and jumped right back into the grind.

Why I Met My Friend (And Why You Should Too)

Here's the thing about building a business while working full-time: you can lose yourself in it.

I could've skipped meeting my friend. Could've gone straight home and started on the website fixes and Green Life's order. That would've been "productive."

But I would've burned out faster.

Taking 30 minutes to talk to someone, to laugh about something that has nothing to do with business, to remember that life exists outside of your hustle—that's not wasted time. That's maintenance.

You can't pour from an empty cup. And my cup was empty after today.

Back Home: The Real Work Begins

After I got home, it was time to actually do the work.

Green Life's order is due soon. I've got wood keychains to finish, quality checks to run, packaging to figure out. This isn't just another project—it's a collaboration with a nonprofit I actually care about. I can't half-ass it.

At the same time, the website needs fixes. There's always something broken. A link that doesn't work. A page that looks weird on mobile. Copy that needs updating. The website is never "done."

So here I am at 10 PM, juggling both.

What Actually Happened Tonight

9:00 PM: Home. Ate dinner. Spent time with the family. Dogs got walked (again).

9:45 PM: Kids in bed. Wife knows I'm working. I'm in the garage checking on the Green Life keychains. Quality looks solid. A few pieces need touch-ups, but nothing major.

10:15 PM: Moved to the laptop. Website fixes. There's a bug on the product page that's been bugging me for days. Finally tracked it down. Fixed it. One small win.

10:45 PM: Back to Green Life order. Packaging. How do I make these keychains feel premium when they arrive? Right now, I'm just putting them in a basic box. That's not good enough.

I'm thinking: custom packaging, a thank you card, maybe a sticker. Something that says "this was made with care, not mass-produced in a factory."

11:30 PM: Still working. Brain is foggy. Making decisions that might be terrible or brilliant—honestly can't tell the difference right now.

The Honest Part

I'm exhausted. Like, bone-deep tired.

I could stop. I should stop. My wife would probably tell me to stop if she was awake.

But there's this thing that happens when you're building something: you get into a zone where you just keep going. You're tired, but you're also energized by the progress. You're seeing problems and solving them in real-time.

Is it healthy? Probably not every night.

Is it necessary sometimes? Yeah. Some orders need to get done. Some website bugs need fixing. Some nights, you just have to show up and do the work.

Why Green Life Matters

This isn't just another order. Green Life is doing real environmental work in New Bedford. They're not some faceless corporation. They're people I know, doing work I believe in.

When I'm tired and tempted to cut corners, I remember that. I remember that someone from Green Life is going to hand these keychains to people at a fundraiser. They're going to represent the organization. They're going to represent CRAFTURE.

That matters. So I keep working.

The Website Never Stops Breaking

Running an e-commerce site means something is always broken or needs updating.

A link goes down. A page loads slow. The checkout process has a weird glitch. Copy needs refreshing. Images need optimizing.

You can't fix everything at once. You just pick the most important thing and fix that. Then tomorrow, you pick the next thing.

It's like maintaining a laser engraver. You can't wait until everything breaks to fix it. You maintain it constantly, fixing small things before they become big problems.

Some Days You Just Show Up

Not every day is inspirational. Not every day feels productive or meaningful.

Some days, you're just tired. You're just trying to get the order done. You're just trying to fix the website. You're just trying to make it to tomorrow without completely losing it.

And that's okay.

The people who build things aren't the ones who wait for perfect conditions or unlimited energy. They're the ones who show up on the hard days. The exhausting days. The days when they'd rather be anywhere else.

They show up anyway.

What I Learned Today

Take breaks. Meeting my friend wasn't wasted time. It was necessary. You can't run on fumes forever.

Some orders matter more than others. Green Life's order gets my best work, not my leftover energy. Prioritize what actually matters.

The website is never done. Accept it. Fix what you can. Move on. Perfection is the enemy of progress.

Late nights are sometimes necessary, but not sustainable. I can do this tonight. I can't do this every night. There's a difference between hustle and burnout.

Your "why" matters when you're tired. When I'm exhausted at 11 PM, the only thing that keeps me going is remembering why I'm doing this. For my family. For my vision. For people like Green Life who are doing good work.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow I'll be tired. I'll probably make some bad decisions. I'll definitely need more coffee than is probably healthy.

But I'll also finish Green Life's order. I'll fix another website bug. I'll move CRAFTURE forward by one more inch.

And that's enough.

Some days, just showing up is the win.

Next week: How I'm finally getting serious about packaging and branding for laser-engraved products.