I said this to say that from mid-November until January, most resume writers take this time to "sharpen their swords", so to speak. As owner of a service, I use this downtime to catch up on website work, link partnerships, forms, and anything else that makes the day-to-day easier for the next year. It is also a good time to plan out the next year.

Where the problem for most people come in is that the current circumstances can get you down, making it difficult to concentrate on those things such as training that have more of a long-term payoff. It can be hard to concentrate on a Dreamweaver tutorial when you have three days to come up with the car insurance money.

The key is mental compartmentalization – separating the circumstances from the task at hand in one's mind. We see great athletes do it all the time. Any basketball fan remembers how well Kobe Bryant played during the Colorado assault trial. When he got on the court, everything else went to the back burner. It's how job seekers (or business owners) must approach downtime. We have to take a "glass half full" approach and recognize the spare time as an opportunity to accomplish something that we'd normally not have the time to accomplish.

Knowledge is in fact power, and sometimes the downtime is the silver lining around the dark cloud.

I am an educator, of sorts, as I don't teach anymore, but that's like saying I don't learn anymore either. And the whole Ph.D thing may well be overrated in this culture of rapid change that requires our thirst for… well, let's use knowledge… but that's not the most appropriate word, because it's more about the thirst than it is about the knowledge.

Enough graduate experience with course work and all the distractions that go with it inform me of the discipline required to get the letters… all learning is its own reward.

On bulimia… anorexia… obsessive compulsive disorder… wait, I have to go shut the tap off again… The very fact that you expose it makes what you write powerful. That you have lived it and recovered adds the magic of hope.

Your poll obviously attracted attention of all kinds. I have some wonders about your results. At one time in the past I was a Jr. High teacher. What are your thoughts on the predetermination of bulimia and the relevance of impact of puberty and social cliques – so wicked at that age level – on the onset of the disease at a later stage in life?

About.com lists that one to two percent of adolescent or young adult women meet the criteria for a diagnosis of bulimia nervosa. Some research suggests that the rate is higher for college-aged women–around 4%.

Can you comment on a woman's growth from puberty into the role she has now (let's say in corporate America) and whether there is more that could be done earlier? You've lived it… what are your thoughts?

Penelope, thanks… you're brilliant.

I love reading you. I have found you only recently. Anticipating many hours of reading pleasure.

Regards,

Indrani

I've never eaten just a Snickers bar or less (unless fasting for religious reasons) in 18 hours! So little food, I would be starving!

Penelope