Overwhelmed

Photo by Hope Taylor Photography

So a bit of a warning, today's post is going to be much more personal. I'm going to talk about being overwhelmed. And it hits deep for me.

I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed lately. Yes, I've been traveling a lot and in and out of my office and finishing up projects and taking on new ones. But it's a bit more than that. It's not just being overwhelmed but the pressure and anxiety too that I know I put on myself.

As a small business owner, it's so EASY to be overwhelmed. You wear so many different hats just within your own business, not to even mention within the industry, your community and to others. It can become too much, too fast and before you know it, you're in too deep. 

The opportunities are endless. I mean, it's absolutely incredible. The conferences, styled shoots, give-a-ways, partnerships, projects, etc. weren't there when I first started this company. I remember the first time I told someone I wanted to start my own business and perhaps do it full time. I was so excited and they were so...not. In fact, they were the opposite and tried to talk me out of it. But it was a different time then. That's not what you did. Today, the opportunities that have opened up for small business owners and creatives and it is absolutely fantastic. But it can also be overwhelming, and I know I sometimes feel a lot of pressure.

The pressure to do everything and be everything; to pay for all the conferences & classes; to participate in every styled shoot; to blog regularly; to comment and post on social media all day every day. I feel like if I don't post on Instagram at least once a day, I'm totally falling behind and I'm missing out on everything. And if you're not doing everything or taking every opportunity, then you're doing something wrong.

We are all juggling 1000 things at once, sometimes without having a direction or thought. We just move from one project to the next, one day to the next until it all just blends together. We move anxiously, and engulfed in the pressure that we put on ourselves or let others put on us. My shoulders tense just at the thought of my mile long to-do list...and half of it is just stuff I think I'm SUPPOSED to do.

But it's not about doing everything. It's not about being everything to everyone. It's about choosing the right things for YOU. It's about prioritizing what works for you and your business or passion. It's not about doing what everyone else is doing because everyone else is doing it, but making what you do matter to your business, using your time wisely, and calculating each move you make and each project you take on. 

Instead of feeling overwhelmed, stressed out, and anxious, we should be proud that we have such an astounding, impressive industry and that we are part of something incredible and doing something that some people only DREAM of: following our dreams and chasing our passions. Sometimes we just need to check ourselves a little bit.

So here's what I do what do when I need to cleanse my mental palette. 

Take a deep breath. Close your eyes. And remind yourself that you are amazing. You are enough. Everything you are doing is incredible and beautiful. And that you are exactly where you need to be. 

Because you ARE amazing, and you ARE enough because you are YOU. And every day that you put energy into yourself and your passion is a good day, and that's a day that's worth it.

xoxo