Taking time off is an absolutely necessity for me.
I have an immune disorder. I have a non-profit organization that doesn’t sleep OR take any time off. I have a miserable 14 year old in the throes of hormones, high school, and heart-ache. I have 4 weirdo dogs (and a foster pup), 6 chickens who won’t let me cuddle OR dress them in sweaters, and a business that’s experiencing some late-adolescent angst, itself.
I need to have days at a time where I don’t have to get on the phone, do an interview, be available to help, support, and guide others, or make my brain work strategically.
Traditionally, I have Friday-Sunday off from In Arms Coaching, but they’re packed with Pittie Posse Rescue stuff a lot of the time. So every 6-8 weeks I schedule a full week off In Arms Coaching. Rescue stuff still happens, but that’s always very flexible, and every month we add new team members who take on more and more of the daily details.
This past week the kids had winter vacation, and I took 10 days off of IAC. I slept late. Got to more exercise classes. Did a bunch of stuff with miserable-teen-girl. Chatted with friends. Did a bunch of rescue work. Walked in the woods and on the beach a LOT. Dreamed. Did some new moon ritual work. Socialized. Only did things I FELT like doing.
And today was my first day back.
All vacation I saw emails coming in from clients, Voxer messages accumulating, notifications from my groups on FB…it all piled up, for sure.
And years ago that would have led to stress as I jumped back in Monday morning and tried to juggle everything amidst client calls (Monday is usually a client call day).
But I scheduled this as a week ON my biz, which means there ARE no client calls—I have a slow, solitary Monday morning to sit in my favorite coffee shop (PISTACHIO MOCHA LATTE with oat milk…WUT.).
I listened to and answered Voxer messages on the drive here. I’m going into my groups and answering focus forms, posts, questions. I’m slowly working through emails.
At noon I’ll head home, walk 4 sets of dogs in the woods, meet with my amazing assistant, Sarah, to get caught up, and then head back into town for a meeting. Tonight, barre sculpt class and a yummy dinner with the family afterwards.
So what I want to offer to you, this sweet Monday morning, is the premise that your self-care and sanity needs to come first in your business, and any anxiety, dread, stress, frantic-ness, or lack of joy is a sign that there’s imbalance—something isn’t working.
On that note, I’d love to get a chance to meet you, work with you, and support you through a free Catalyst Call with me to pulse-check your biz and see what’s working, what’s not, and how to get everything flowing smoothly so you can enjoy this sweet, sweet life you’re in.
