The last entry in this journal is dated mid-December. It's February.
I could dress the gap up, but the honest version is ordinary: life happened, other things took priority, distractions crept in, and the store slid to the back burner. A fire doesn't go out all at once. It just gets quieter.
Startup people have a name for this stretch. Y Combinator calls it the Trough of Sorrow: the early excitement wears off, growth comes slower than you hoped, the initial buzz fades, and you're left alone with the questions. Am I cut out for this? Is it even working? Should I just binge-watch my favorite show instead? (I did.)
The term comes with a consolation built in — a trough is a shape you pass through, not a place you live. Apparently every founder wades through this same murky swamp before anything gets clear.
Climbing out, so far, is unglamorous. There was no breakthrough moment and no sign from above. I stopped overthinking the reboot and started doing it — one small task, then the next, one foot in front of the other. This entry is one of the small tasks.
I won't claim the trough is behind me because I managed a blog post. But this journal sat untouched for almost two months, and today it didn't. That's the whole report.
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