We’re nearly at the end of the week, and I have a few Friday night plans. Most of us have a preferred way to unwind at the end of a long week, so I though I’d see how you like to celebrate Friday.

What’s your favorite end-of-week ritual?

My favorite way to finish the week is with a stiff drink and some good conversation.

Whether that’s conversation with friends in a bar, or a discussion with weekend visitors at home in front of the fire, it doesn’t matter. Nor are the topics of conversation that important—some days, I might ponder the world’s problems with a close friend; others I might shoot the breeze with someone I barely know. Recent conversational topics from my Friday night ritual have included:

• outfits for a costume party
• Japan
• work, clients, and freelancing
• What are you cooking for that special occasion Sunday?

That list really could go on, but you get the idea: anything goes. Really, all that’s required are those two ingredients: a drink and some talk. Whatever form it takes, I’m happy!

What makes you happy on a Friday night? How will you spend this Friday? And what’s your favorite Friday ritual? Share with us in the comments!

I know: can of worms, right? But today, lots of stuff is making me crazy, and I wondered about you. too. Rather than turn this into one big rant, perhaps I should narrow down the question:

What makes you crazy … and how do you get past it?

One thing that really makes me crazy is when people don’t appreciate my time. I freelance, and I work from home, and it took more than a year for my friends and family to understand that this didn’t mean that my time was limitless and infinitely flexible.

I think many people thought I was on a sort of holiday, so I was available to do whatever, whenever. And if they needed to cancel at the last minute because they were “busy”, that would be fine with Good Old Free-time Georgina. I mean, I had nowhere else to be, right?

The flip-side of this challenge arises when clients or work contacts feel we should be available and responsive 24/7—the kinds of people who email you and then email you again to make sure you got their email (the implication being that I haven’t got back to them quickly enough). This makes me crazy, too.

The way I get past the crazy in these cases is usually to point out to the person concerned that they’re not all I have going on right now. I pretty quickly learned that most people, particularly those who work full-time, don’t know what it’s like to freelance, so they assume your days are flexible, rather than realizing that you’re wedging in a lunch between two meetings and a deadline.

A little calm explanation (emphasis on “calm”) was all that was needed to clarify that I was just as busy as they were, and get them to give my time as much consideration as they wanted me to give theirs. It’s good to know that although this makes me extremely crazy, the solution to the problem is extremely simple.

What makes you crazy? And how do you get past it so that you can get on with your day?

Inspiration can seem a flighty creature. Sometimes, we’re completely uninspired. Others, it can be hard to think of things that aren’t inspiring in some way. So I thought it’d be a good idea for us to note a few inspirations here, for the times when inspiration is lacking.

What inspires you?

The thing that inspires me most is experimentation—trying out new stuff. That might be cutting up a log or traveling somewhere I’ve never been before … or anything in between. I just like to try things out.

For me, new experiences are inspirational because they reveal so much about the world, about things we don’t know and can’t imagine until we give them a shot.

There’s also something addictive about experimenting with life: failure can present a challenge, and a success can spur further experimentation. It’s a win-win. Of course, failure can also present us with our own bald-faced failure, but we can learn even from failed experiments. It’s hard to believe sometimes, but it’s true. And most are at least partially successful—even if that success lies exclusively in learning what not to do.

Experimentation inspires me. What inspires you?

I can’t take the credit for this week’s question: it comes from author Jennifer Brown Banks of Pen and Prosper, who asked me this in a recent interview for her site. But I thought it would make an interesting discussion point here at FeelGooder, so let’s give it a whirl.

What would others be surprised to know about you?

I don’t read as much as you’d expect of a professional writer and editor.

People who work with words are expected to be literary, and rightly so. We imagine their houses to be like libraries, crammed with books. We think they must spend every spare second reading, devouring new releases as if their lives depended on it, perhaps leafing through the dictionary for fun. We expect they’ve studied literature, read all the classics, and are erudite, mordant, and witty as a result. I know more than a few word nerds who fit this mould.

Sadly, this is not me. I never studied books, reading, or writing specifically—I just studied English at school like everyone else. My knowledge of the classics is appalling, which makes it only marginally better than my knowledge of modern fiction, which is on par with my knowledge of nonfiction. To be completely honest, I only really started reading books for pleasure when I was about 13 or 14 years old.

I do love reading, language, and words. I refer to my dictionary at least four or five times a day when I’m writing, and only slightly less when I’m not. I savor the books I read, and re-read them over and over, which makes for excruciatingly slow progress in broadening my literary knowledge. Every time I finish a new book, I’m caught in a dilemma: start something new, or re-read something I love?

Are you surprised? It’s your turn: surprise us with something we don’t know about you.

For many people, music has a huge impact on our moods. It’s also integral to our lives—many of us couldn’t imagine life without music.

One very cool thing about music, especially in a globalized world, is that it bridges the cultural divide without the need for words: if something sounds good to you, it sounds good, whether or not you can understand the lyrics, or whether or not it even has lyrics.

What music makes you feel good?

If you’re like me, you could spend all day answering this question. To save everyone’s sanity, I’ll just mention one album I’ve bought recently, which I’m really enjoying.

It’s Halcyon Digest, by Deerhunter. To be honest, I have no idea how I came across it (it certainly wasn’t my friends—we all have pretty different tastes in music), but I love it.

It’s great to work to, it’s danceable, it’s got great lyrics—you name it, this album’s got it.

And: it makes me feel good. Why? Well, to me that question is a bit like asking why you love someone. It’s too complex and subconscious to explain. But I think it has something to do with musical style, themes, and very cool sounds.

That’s me. What music makes you feel good? I’d love to get some album suggestions from you…

In my part of the world, everyone’s coming down with colds and flus as we grind our way through a cold old winter.

I’ve had a chest infection for the last few weeks (!), so I thought I’d get your opinions:

What restores you when you’re sick?

My approach is multi-pronged:

• Feel sorry for self.
• Stay in bed all day.
• Get up only when the fire is lit, swaddling self with blankets on the couch.
• Complain of headache/sore throat/etc. to solicit sympathy.
• Accept offers of snacks, hot drinks, etc.
• Blearily read or watch a movie.

It’s all a bit pathetic, isn’t it? But for me, accepting that I’m feeling pathetic and letting others look after me is what restores me when I’m sick. To know that others are there for me is really important—the best medicine, I’d say.

What restores you when you’re sick?

I know: happiness is a state of mind, not a confluence of external forces. But that doesn’t mean that good stuff—good news, good fun, good people—doesn’t help us feel good too.

Who made you feel good this week?

Without wanting to sound too corny, the writers here at FeelGooder and ProBlogger made me feel good this week. Really!

One great aspect of my job is that I get to correspond with some really thoughtful people—and people who can express themselves well and freely in writing.

So for every lax, uninterested correspondent, there’s at least one engaged, appreciative author who takes the time to inject a little personality into their emails. Here are some of the comments that have made me feel good this week:

“I appreciate how responsive you are—and how warmly the community has welcomed my writing—it’s nice to get all that feedback!”

“Thanks for the kind words, Georgina!”

“It’s really exciting to see the post up today!”

“Thanks for the welcome, I like working with you guys. You’re the most laid back editor ever.”

“Thanks once again for working with me! I’m very thrilled that the piece will make it onto your site, and I’ll be anxious to see it live.”

You know, listed there en masse like that, they make me feel even better!

The authors who write for us made me feel great this week. What about you? Who made you feel good?

I don’t know about you, but this week’s been a little bit epic in my part of the world. So I thought I’d ask:

What’s challenged you this week?

Actually, I feel like that question should be, “what hasn’t challenged you this week?” For me, it’s all been a challenge!

I have some kind of weird chest infection that laid me up. I had a stack of work to do. I had clients change plans at the last minute. I had what really, truly, seemed to be unintelligible homework to complete for a course I’m taking. It snowed and I had no kindling for the fire. I had to miss appointments. I ran out of vegetables…

This week—you guessed it!—my challenge has been to keep things in perspective. How did I do it? Well, I used my tried-and-tested combination of Nacho Cheese Doritos and reading good books (no kidding).

Whenever things got a little overwhelming, I’d eat some Doritos (whoever decided there were 6.5 serves in a 175g pack was crazy), read another chapter from The Death of Bunny Munro (the latest title from my fellow countryman Nick Cave), and take my mind off everything else. Even if I had to do that in a hot bath because I couldn’t light the fire.

Keeping things in perspective can be tough, but this week, I managed it! Doritos: 1, Being overwhelmed 0.

What’s challenged you this week?

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