How the heck is it May 1st? I realized this week that I (inadvertently) took a month off blogging. I could say it was planned, but I’m a terrible liar, so whats the point. April was a hard month. I felt like I was running the entire month. It was stressful, but I learned some valuable lessons amid the storm of cortisol.
1. Stress is actually addictive, and I am an absolute addict. I watched this interview with Todd Herman on Marie TV earlier this week, and he breaks down the chemical reaction stress creates. In a nutshell, when we give our cell receptors cortisol, they crave more of it. A vicious little cycle if I do say so myself. On the flip side though, you can stop the cycle, as with any addiction and turn it around. Your cells will also crave dopamine, if you give them feel good experiences to feed off of. I am super fascinated by the neuroscience behind this.
2. You can’t do it ALL. This seems so simple, but it is like a brick wall I continue banging my head against. Over, and over, and over again. I take on way too much, then I run around like a chicken, and then I beat myself up for ultimately failing. That’s right, I am officially a failure. The good news is I have no where to go but up. I can’t do it all. I need help. I need to focus on doing less, and doing it very very well. This is impossibly hard for me. I’ve always been a jill-of-all-trades kinda gal. More hobbies than hours in the day. It has burned me out. I want to pursue all these interesting things, and be some super interesting well rounded person. But I can’t be it all. I will just have to be interesting enough as-is. While we are on the subject, this is even more important in business. Do less. Do it well. Delegate. Ask for help. And the most important of them all. Learn to say NO.
and last but not least…
3. Excuses are for assholes and I have been one giant excuse making asshole (pardon my french). If it wasn’t for a random customer calling me out, I may not have even realized it. Two weeks ago I was having a conversation with a man at the deli about the necklace I was wearing. I explained that I used to make jewelry in a previous life. He asked why I didn’t make jewelry anymore, and I said it was because I didn’t have time for it. He told me that was just an excuse, and walked away to eat his lunch. This short conversation made my blood boil. It irked me to no end. How dare he? He doesn’t know me, or HOW busy I am. I am sure he assumed that I was a part time register girl (a most people do) and not the owner of this business. Does he know how much work owning a deli is?? I thought about it. ALOT. And I realized I was just making more excuses to validate how busy and stressful my life seemed for the past few weeks. The reality is that I stopped making jewelry because I had to give up certain business and creative ventures so I could focus on other things, like this blog, photography, and a little restaurant gig I’ve been doing. I should have just said that to him, but I used my excuse. So thats that. We all have the same 24hrs in each day, and we can choose how we handle our stress, how we manage our time, and what we spend our time doing. It seems like I have not had any time at all, but I have spent plenty of time googling random things, face-booking and tinkering on my website. All time I could have used for other things, like making jewelry, or taking a nap.
So thats it folks. April served up some big lessons and gave me a whole lot to work on. I am ready for a fresh start, so bring it on May…and while you are at it, I am also ready for an actual spring. I’m pretty sure everything is ready to bloom and be green again. And my feet they are practically begging to see their beloved flip flops and saltwater sandals again. Please May, don’t disappoint.
Peace out people…until we meet again. XO- Nicki
