On ‘rest’ as a small business owner
Ah yes… The New Year is here. We finished our holiday porch pots in mid-December and I personally enjoyed paying closer attention to the areas of my life that suffer most throughout the season; my family and friends and also frankly, myself. I spend the holidays, as many do, traveling from place to place, seeing faces that I miss. In contrast to my younger years, this feels like more of a blessing than a burden.
For myself, I indulge in long reveries over coffee while my immediate family is off doing something else. Currently, that involves my husband driving back and forth from the airport for his corporate job and my son completing his mid-terms. I am available in ways I simply cannot be during the season. It doesn’t feel like a balanced life, necessarily. I am, however, grateful, for what little quiet time life has to offer me.
This rest, as I understand it, feels more like a simmer. As I feel my feet and bum pulled down to settle, I simultaneously experience a whole host of ideas rising up and tasks for the immediate and long-term future crystallizing in ways that allow me to take that first step towards accomplishing them. Solutions to current problems emerge with little to no effort and as new obstacles arise, I simply package them up and put them away into the deep subconscious, where I trust she will work her magic to present them differently to me later. I believe that they will look more like opportunities when she does.
This short break represents a great shift in perspective. Today is January 22nd and we will be back to the actual, physical work in two months. It’s time to get off of the couch, or so to speak. New and updated contracts must be completed for our clients, SOP’s for our current staff. We must prepare to hire additional staff and be ready to train them. I am envisioning a whole host of adaptations for our current systems as I prepare for what I understand our next step to be. If we are to accomplish what we have set out to do, it is essential that our current systems are as easy to replicate as possible. I will not be at the helm in the field as I have been before.
Perhaps luckily, I have those few key players in place to support our next stage. I trust them and know that they will comfort and command, as I do for them; that their proteges will be in good hands. I look forward to this new way of operating. I know that I am not the only one.
-Angela