Be hard on yourself. And go easy on yourself.

Rules are important. And rules are made to be broken.

I promise I’m not going to keep on writing in opposites. This isn’t Great Expectations, folks.

You may know I host a daily podcast called Your Daily Lex. It’s five minutes a day, about nothing and everything — whatever’s on my mind — and I love doing it. It’s a passion project, it brings me joy, and I love hearing from listeners. And, of course, its name inspired the name of this very blog.

I described Your Daily Lex above as, well, daily. It’s right there in the name. Except, sometimes? I miss a day.

(Granted, there have been gaps where I took months and even years off. But I’ve been on a mostly daily kick since May of this year.)

On Tuesday this week, my day was too damn busy to record an episode of Your Daily Lex in the morning. Or during the day. Sometimes if a meeting ends a few minutes early, I’ll turn one out quickly: The whole process typically takes fewer than ten minutes to record, export, and upload a five minute episode. But I was in back-to-back-to-back meetings, going 1000 mph, with meetings running over — the whole bit.

My final meeting ended a smidgen after 6pm. I knew I still hadn’t recorded an episode, and I fired up Logic Pro to get started… and then shook my head and left my office. I was the only parent home with two of my three kids, and it was dinnertime.

I grant you that Your Daily Lex isn’t work in the truest sense, but I do see it as a professional obligation. (I am pausing for the laughter to die down from YDL listeners amused at “professional” and “Your Daily Lex” in the same sentence.) But the best Lex is a happy, well-adjusted, balanced Lex. I wouldn’t have made a great episode that day. I would have resented it.

Still, I felt some guilt about not putting out an episode of my silly podcast. I made a commitment to myself and my listeners that the show is daily. I should feel guilt if I don’t honor that commitment. But I’ve also made a commitment to myself, to do right by me.

I stand by my decision not to record a Tuesday episode, and I think it’s right a little bad about it, too. We contain multitudes. That’s a good thing.

With this blog, though — that “Intermittent” adjective in the name? That was a great choice.