Editor's Note: Is anything ailing, torturing, or nagging at you' Are you beset by existential worries' Every Tuesday, James Parker tackles readers' questions. Tell him about your lifelong or in-the-moment problems at dearjames@theatlantic.com. Unless there is money attached or a truly significant deadline (impending wedding, house sale, moving van arriving), I never seem to complete what I begin. I have so many unfinished projects: A sweater I was knitting just needs a button sewn on. I launched into cleaning a drawer by pulling everything out of it, and now the drawer's contents still sit in a bag, waiting to be sorted. My husband of 10 years pointed this all out to me yesterday (as if I didn't know it about myself), as his frustration grew in anticipation of houseguests coming next week. My response was to start cleaning'our mudroom, my studio (which he doesn't concern himself with), and the insides of the cupboards in our laundry room, whose contents I emptied into the space my...
learn more
