It hasn’t happened yet, but by the final keystroke of this column, I will begin the process of pulling myself out of a dense fog.

A good fog, but a fog nonetheless.

For the last couple of months, my brain has been focused on a new glossy magazine coming soon here at Leader Publications – Third Coast Living.

It’s a pretty exciting project.

And we’re all pretty excited about it.

At the end of the month, you’ll see the first of this — our new quarterly magazine — that will take a look at the best this area has to offer in everything from dining and entertainment, art, wine and those who live their lives to the fullest here.

And it just so happens – our first issue tackles the holidays.

Before I could even think about the leaves changing color, breaking from the branches and settling on the roadways – I was sitting in 100-degree Texas heat trying to get into the holiday spirit when all I really wanted was summer to last a little longer.

But just as quickly as they change the color and fall to the ground, I was throwing myself into the holiday spirit, listening to my favorite holiday songs at the beginning of September, visualizing myself wrapping packages in brightly colored paper, coming up with gift ideas and whipping up festive foods, trying to get my mind in the right space for the work ahead.

Then the music stopped, replaced by rereads and rewrites and double-checking deadlines.

I don’t think I’ve heard music in days.

Now it’s all over. All the work, all the planning and the writing and the rewriting are done.

There’s a drink in a small, quiet bar waiting for me at the end of the week.

An hour with the phone turned off and a bit of silent reflection.

But I can already give you a preview:

In the utmost chaotic of times, we can see very little more than what’s in front of us.

We can only see the work we’re doing, rather than the work we’ve done or the real work that’s taking place.

It can feel like we’re flailing, like we don’t know what we’re doing, like we’re bound and determined to come up short.

When you look back on it, look a little closer.

Odds are, you’ve learned something.

You suddenly feel a little more confident.

Where you may feel you missed something, there is probably a renewed ambition to do 10 times better the next time around.

That is potential. That is progress. That is kind of the point.

That is really what we should keep in mind when faced with a challenge.

When attacking a new job, a new project or something exciting and scary all at once.

The exciting and the scary are clues something revolutionary about ourselves awaits.

When the day was done, I left the newsroom exhausted and ready for a nap, with no nap time available in my day.

The air had a distinct chill, the leaves were falling from the trees in orangy goodness as my car passed below them.

Summer was over. Fall had begun. And I had learned a few things along the way.

All the better for whatever lies ahead.

Jessica Sieff reports for Leader Publications. E-mail her at jessica.sieff@leaderpub.com.