Bouncing back creatively is part of the job. Bouncing back personally is an art form.

The most important trait a creative person has is their resiliency. This is true for copywriters, art directors, artists, musicians, actors, photographers and novelists. No matter what your creative discipline is, bouncing back is the key to success.

You have to handle the creative block, let rejection roll off your back, and not take criticism personally. Countless posts have already addressed this topic and offer well-meaning advice that I have never found useful or helpful. When I have back-to-back meetings I don’t have time to write a letter to myself in my dream journal or take a long walk or a shower.

I’m not writing this to offer advice on how to bounce back from creative setbacks. I’m writing this to offer what I think is some more important advice, and that is how to ensure your cat does not throw up a hairball on the carpet of a very expensive hotel at three twenty-three in the morning.

When I was still living at home our family had to evacuate due to a massive roof leak. This left the four of us living out of our suitcases in two hotel rooms. What we assumed was going to take three weeks to get cleared up, ended up taking closer to six months. During that time, the only privacy one had was in the bathroom. I found the key to unlock my resiliency through my sense of humor. And by reading books. Tons of books. More books than I read before or since.

Several years, ad agencies, and cities later, I’m in a similar situation. A massive leak has caused us to evacuate our apartment and move to a hotel room. It is guaranteed this time around it won’t be for months but weeks. And the hotel our insurance is paying for is a significant upgrade.

Regardless, living in a small space that isn’t your own along with your significant other and a four-legged fur monster who only pukes up hairballs in the dead of night is challenging no matter how high the sheets thread count happens to be.

But I’ve been here before. Just like I’ve experienced the death of a parent before, and having a horrible case of pneumonia before, and countless other personal setbacks that made me grow in ways I wouldn’t have grown if life were smooth sailing.

Of course, no one wants to go through trauma of any sort. But it’s unavoidable in this life. And if you go through it once at least you know what to expect should a similar situation happen again.

In the span of o Saturday, I broke my lease, found a new place to live and booked some movers. I also had to work this weekend. So I spent Sunday taking calls and sitting cross-legged on the bed to write some TV scripts.

For the record, our hotel room has a desk, but my significant other commandeered it to work on her freelance project as it’s easier to set up a desktop computer on an actual desk. I’m fairly certain the majority of people don’t check into a hotel with a giant desktop computer and a cat. Then again, I live in L.A. and we might just as easily be the least eccentric and demanding couple within a sixty-mile radius.

No matter what you’re going through, professionally or creatively, if you find whatever makes you resilient, be it books or humor or loved ones or faith or a combination of all of the above, then you’ll not only get through it but come out stronger.

And when you throw off the covers the moment you hear the unmistakable hurk hurk hurk sound that prefaces the Exorcist-like projectile of a hairball, just grab that cat and run to the bathtub and pray you make it in time so the carpets remain pristine.

There is an art to it.