The bus rides, the late shifts, the cheap noodles. You’ll probably tell those stories with a weird kind of pride later.

A lean stretch feels like something to get through rather than something to keep. Later it becomes the part you tell with a strange amount of affection, because it is evidence that you managed on very little and worked out how. Nobody ever tells their comfortable years in that much detail.

If this is your lean stretch, keep a few notes on how it actually works: what you cook, what a week costs, which bus you take. You will want the detail eventually and you will not remember it.