I walk away from my daughter a lot

Sanity is born out of single mindedness. I cope by focusing on small accomplishments. It's simple: Build the next wall as if it's your last. Don't think about all 20 walls. Before you know it, 3 walls are built, then 4, then 5... But if I stop for a Mountain Dew break and start looking around too much, insanity creeps in.

I often work alone. And that can get boring. Enter the insanity bug. I feel like a Buddhist monk, living in an isolated world, turned inward. I wonder what real people are doing for fun. So think about this before you order blue prints or hire an architect and proclaim, "I'm gonna build me an addition!" It's not normal. It's a perilous journey down a long, never-ending road of messes and unfinished walls.

Prepare your budget. Prepare your tools. And above all else... prepare your soul. I am missing out on a very important part of my childrens' lives. I walk away from my daughter a lot. She often asks sweetly, "Do you want to play with me?" when I am full of drywall dust. While I believe I am building this house for them, it's still difficult every single day.