Just when I think this blog is well and truly dead, Sister3 mentions it and I think, "I could write a post." Why not? After all, I'm sitting here waiting for a ridiculous plugin called "WP Bulk Smush" to finish hulk smashing its way through my images.
So... life. I've been doing my morning routine, and setting priorities when I begin the work day, and not working after 6pm when Orion gets home from daycare. And it's totally and utterly cheesy, but as I was walking the dogs last week during my 1pm break, glowing from a morning of unprecedented productivity and designs that had simply flowed out of my brain in a wash of beatific harmony, I thought, "I'm living my best life."
That's right! All those inspiring quotes that I alternate between pinning to my boards on Pinterest or rolling my eyes at, and I feel like I'm catching on to something. It feels like a secret the world is sharing with me. But it's not a secret at all, and it just took my slow-learning self about 20-some self help books to finally find a version that works for me.
It's not one thing. It's an amalgam of all the advice you read in lifestyle blogs. It's your own creative mashup of 20 different self help books. For me it's...
So... life. I've been doing my morning routine, and setting priorities when I begin the work day, and not working after 6pm when Orion gets home from daycare. And it's totally and utterly cheesy, but as I was walking the dogs last week during my 1pm break, glowing from a morning of unprecedented productivity and designs that had simply flowed out of my brain in a wash of beatific harmony, I thought, "I'm living my best life."
That's right! All those inspiring quotes that I alternate between pinning to my boards on Pinterest or rolling my eyes at, and I feel like I'm catching on to something. It feels like a secret the world is sharing with me. But it's not a secret at all, and it just took my slow-learning self about 20-some self help books to finally find a version that works for me.
It's not one thing. It's an amalgam of all the advice you read in lifestyle blogs. It's your own creative mashup of 20 different self help books. For me it's...
- A morning routine of exercise, reading, affirmations, and breakfast with my baby
- Setting priorities before I get to work, monthly goal-setting and goal-evaluating days, and finding purpose within my business
- Taking a break at 1 to eat, walk my dogs, and warm up my frozen toes which have forgotten how blood circulation works
- Dinner with my family, watching the baby play, and quitting on the day right after he goes to bed because I have nothing left to give anyone
- Realizing that that's ok, even if it feels like a "waste of time" to sit around and read fantasy books from 8 to 10pm every night
- Scheduling client projects further out so I can plan my next couple of weeks without constant feast or famine
- Boundaries and raising prices and talking to my business bestie when my confidence is low
- Trying new things and stretching myself and putting in the work during working hours, knowing that I get a break at the end of the day
- Constantly reassessing and tweaking and finding even more harmonious balance between the different areas in my life
I probably wrote about this, but someone said to me, "You must hate your life" after I explained my system of goal setting.
Far from it! There have definitely been low periods, especially in the first year of having a baby and all the adjusting we needed to do. But I love my life and I love goals and I love the strength and resilience that allowed me to overcome those obstacles and troubleshoot myself to where I am now.
I'm happy. And it feels good.
