Sometimes the things we kick and scream to avoid are the very things we should’ve done a long time ago.
Let’s talk about solopreneurs shall we? I’m a mompreneur, a writer, a network marketer, the founder of this very site and the Live Your Best Story Retreat. I’m a busy gal. I’ve designed my life that way. I have kids, a house to tend to, a dog to walk, a body to take care of (ummm my body), a business to run and all the admin that goes with simply being a living breathing person in today’s societal ‘agreements’ box. I likely have the same long list of responsibilities that you do. I’m not busier than you, and I am also not complaining nor making my case to be worthy of you liking me more or making a plea with the hopes that you’ll repost this for all the other mompreneurs out there. This isn’t strategic blogging for reblogging purposes. This is a personal aha of mine that I still want to pretend isn’t true.
I’m done at 3pm. Like done. Over and out done. I start making withdraws from my bank of ‘fake it till you make it’ after 2:59pm. I’ve turned the dial from left brain to right brain to no brain left at all. You’ll know I’m there when this writer’s sentences are strangely missing vowels.
Can you grab me the…. ummm… you know that thing… the finger and thumb moving thing that cuts that stuff… (I mime the action so they get it). The kids stare at me: ” you mean the scissors mom?” – Yes of course I mean the scissors. What are you looking at? Go get them for me!
Why? Well, okay, so sometimes I’m up at 4:30am as a hockey mom (twice/week this season) but mostly I’m daily shaking my tail at 5:30am: wake-up, lunch up, drive, kiss and drop the Mister off.
“Have a good day and drive safe”.
Then on to the next crew to move on up and out: wake-up, toast-up, dress-up, pack-up, (sometimes scrap-up), then kiss-up and send off.
Have an awesome day you guys. See you at three.
The morning moves me on to the daily dos: you know, the list that when you don’t do it, becomes twice the list the following day and not only that, if you skip it you’ll just agonize your procrastinating hours away about the very thing you’re procrastinating.
Wicked wicked cycle – one that I personally try to avoid.
Start the laundry, straighten the shoes, figure out dinner, wipe up the morning mess, check the calendar, phone, facebook, make the food and supplies list for the daily afternoon dash to the store, check for forms, wipe down the damn boy toilet… again (grrrrrr…. one day right? one day they’ll do it?), figure out where the dog walk or personal run fits, shower and then…
Get down to business: turn the laptop on, crack open the to do list, the follow-throughs, and the must accomplish. My business thought processing doesn’t even start until 10am and that’s 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hours post my feet first hitting the morning floor. It’s a half day of ‘work’ already before I’ve even begun.
It took me awhile to connect the dots about the 3pm shut down thing. Of course I had to get nailed with cancer before I could be honest about it.
I still tell myself that shutting down at 3pm is too early.
That I’m not working hard enough.
That I could do more.
That I need to do more.
That my business requires me to do more.
That “if it’s meant to be, it’s up to me”
That “success occurs when my dreams are bigger than my excuses”
That “if it’s important, I’ll find a way”
Yeah well, tell that to the me who dipped one too many times into her bank of reserves and came out on the other side overdrawn.
I had to get nailed with cancer before I could be honest about it.
Last year I received a cancer diagnosis and everything changed. I was in this group therapy session thingy for people in treatment and I heard this woman beside me who was a therapist herself with three decades of serving others behind her, an uuber woman, mom, professional, wife and more say: “Yeah, I practice being lazy now. It’s not easy for me, but I do it.”
It’s too bad we have to call self-care lazy.
There’s just something wrong with that.
“Yeah, I practice being lazy now. It’s not easy for me, but I do it.”
My shut off time is 3pm. That’s when I decide to just be me: Tina, mom, wife, friend, me. It feels kind of like floating, like I’m drifting around on the current of life. I’m laying on my back, face up to the sun, belly exposed, sun glasses on, just laying there, trusting that this massive ocean is totally strong enough to hold me, and guess what? Willingly, it does.
3pm is a good time to shut down for the day. Done done and done. FLOAT time. How about you?
xxT
TinaO is a writer, speaker, network marketer and the founder of Live Your Best Story. Want to know more or work with her? Click here.