I thought I should start the year off by returning to my blog and getting real honest about my business. It is going to be a year of changes. Changes with my business and changes personally. They are not exclusive, they have to balance for me.
If I am not thriving personally, I cannot run a successful business. It’s that simple.
I think we all struggle with balance. Work to make money, but not work too much so we can enjoy time doing what we love, but we need the money from working to do those things. So we work more and then are miserable, because we are only working and not enjoying. Sound familiar? That had been my life for a few years, and I was exhausted.
Then loss struck and my priorities started to shift. I knew that I was not spending my time how I needed to spend it. I was regretting not spending time with my loved ones. I was working too much, taking on more than I could handle without stressing myself to the max. It was time to cut back, but I had no idea how to implement the change in the middle of the busiest time of the year.
I started taking more time off for myself and started traveling more. I started feeling alive again! I knew that I needed to shift my focus. Enough with social media and spending all my time creating and capturing memories only for my clients. If I cannot enjoy the same gift I give to others, how can I expect to find true JOY?
In December I spent time in Norway. I went cross country skiing in the mountains, worked with an amazing food photographer in Oslo, met some fun new friends, and explored on my own. I did some deep thinking about what I wanted out of life. I need to worry less about people’s expectations of me and more about how I am raising my children and making a living I am proud of.