test run for life

My day job is going to spend most of the rest of September renovating the other store, which means that this store has to give partial hours to two stores' worth of employees, which means I'll probably get less than half time at least twice and as many as four times over the next six to eight weeks. I was bummed, since money is already tight with H in China, but I've decided not to worry about the money just now.

I've decided that I'm going to use this time as a test-run for the sort of life I want to have in the future, when I don't need a day job to get me through the bills.

I know I don't have enough other income to make up for it, and I know I'm not nearly organized or disciplined (no matter that people keep saying I'm so laser-like in my focus) enough-- but what other skills do I need to work on? How will I pattern long strings of days when nothing is required of me but self-determination?
- Will I write more story, more articles, more proposals?
- Will I look for other work and follow up on it?
- Will I have time to craft, to photograph it and to get it up on Etsy? Will having that time even actually matter to my sales and my income?
- Will I be able to effectively budget and keep myself out of the hole?
- Will I keep ahead at school and maybe get more involved?
- Will I have time and spending money to get the jam business off the ground, and will I be able to convince anyone that it's as tasty as I say? Will anyone want to buy it?
- Is there anything in the community that I'd like the Garden, the Historical Society, the Archaeological Society?
- Will I have time to cook and clean and keep house the way I want it?
- Will I get back on track with eating correctly and lose the rest of my weight to my goal?
- Will I be able to keep up on paperwork and filing and all the rest?
- Will my social life pick up when I'm not working an endless string of mids and nights?

These are a lot of questions, and I know that a week off won't tackle all of them, but I can at least test the waters, as it were, and see about getting it done, you know? See if I really want a life without a day job (which I'm pretty sure I do) or whether what I want is a different day job with more flexible hours or something like that.

Wish me luck!