How to Put Relationships First

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“I’m losing them.”

It’s a Thursday night, 6:50 p.m., and I’m standing on a ladder in another family’s living room, frantically patching a crack in their fireplace wall. I knew the cheap TV mount wouldn’t hold—but here I am, spackling over the damage, feeling the irritation in the homeowner’s glare like a weight on my shoulders.

My phone buzzes. 7:02 p.m. Another late night. Dinner’s cold, my wife is bathing our son alone, and I’m here—desperately trying to salvage this job. It’s the fifth night like this in a row, and the pressure is suffocating: the money I’ll barely make, the hours I’ve lost, the thought of coming home to a quiet house.

I feel the familiar, crushing ache of failure. Disappointing my client, my wife, my son—and myself. I wonder: What did I miss today? His first word? His first step? All while I’m stuck here, chasing what feels like a mirage.

I glance at the crack on the wall, but the real fractures are in my life—the relationships I’m losing with every rung I climb on the endless ladder of work, control, and survival.