Derailed

I was all ready and geared up to work. Then, an email from my tax advisor. “You owe the government another 26,000 euros for 2022.” Just like that, my train of thought went off its track. After a few deep breaths and clicking through their documents, I spent the next hour combing through mine. I sent them an email with ideas on where what might have gone wrong, and now it’s almost lunch time.

The shock hasn’t settled, of course. It’ll take time to process. But you know what I’m going to do now? Eat lunch, then continue with the rest of my to-do list as planned—because I’m not a train, and neither are you. When we fall off the wagon, it’s not a catastrophe with casualties. Only a slight bend in the road we couldn’t see coming. So we get back on track and keep driving.

It’s okay to get derailed. Just don’t stay derailed when you can help it.

Nik

Niklas Göke writes for dreamers, doers, and unbroken optimists. A self-taught writer with more than a decade of experience, Nik has published over 2,000 articles. His work has attracted tens of millions of readers and been featured in places like Business Insider, CNBC, Lifehacker, and many others. Nik has self-published 2 books thus far, most recently 2-Minute Pep Talks. Outside of his day job and daily blog, Nik loves reading, video games, and pizza, which he eats plenty a slice of in Munich, Germany, where he resides.