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2023’s end-of-year missive is going to be in honor of resting. Maybe this will resonate with you, maybe it won't. If you are tired but you feel guilty for resting, this is your permission to stop and do what you need to find energy again for the New Year.
As a business owner for the past four years, one of the things that I’ve come to recognize is the importance of conserving my energy levels. When you’re an employee, there is an outside incentive and pressure to perform well. When you are your own boss, it’s all on you. I’m no stranger to self-imposed pressure – I’ve done it my whole life – but you need a special kind of pressure to keep a business going. Of course, there are a few external pressures like paying the bills, ego, and employees (if you have them), but the buck stops with you. The main thing that keeps me going is that I much prefer the life of working for myself to working for someone else. I basically need to earn enough in my business so that I don't have to get a proper job.
Moreover, the business I’ve chosen also involves a certain level of creativity and problem-solving, and that doesn’t happen if I’m burnt out. So, over the past four years, I’ve learned to listen to my mind and my body and lean into my rhythms of when I’m inspired, and when I’m tired. I can dig deep and push through when needed but that only takes me so far. I can plow on when I know I should stop, but I feel the consequences when I do.
Things that I need to do better work:
Rest – sleep, reading, Netflix
Creativity – (non-work) writing, playing in the kitchen and garden
Community – with friends, family, and my local community
Exercise – running, hiking, biking, etc
Inspiration – through literature, art, music, travel, etc
These are things that I’ve actively started to prioritize and I notice the difference when I don’t. If I get enough sleep, if I feel good, if I see the wonder in the world, my business thrives. If I don’t, it doesn’t. It’s that simple.
I love taking the last week of the year off. I’ve been lucky enough to have that as an option for most of my career and it’s a really special time. Wherever I am, I try to use it as an opportunity for reflection and planning, with mixed results. For example, every year I make a resolution to start meditating, but I’ve not yet managed to stick with that one for more than 5 days. Maybe 2024 will be the year! I try to set goals, but I see them more as goalposts for the direction I want to develop in, rather than things to actually achieve. I’m not as comfortable with failure as I’d like to be and I don’t like not achieving my goals (see self-imposed pressure above), so I try not to make them too difficult!
I enjoy drawing a line under one year before I start on the next. In my 20s it was typically a week that I would mostly spend sleeping because I generally pushed myself way over the limit every December and I got sick, regularly. Now in my late 30s, I’m trying not to fall back into this cycle, but this requires some forward planning, rather than assuming it will all be ok. Because it won’t.
I hope that you too can do what you need to replenish your energy levels for 2024 and I look forward to seeing you then, full of energy, to get going with a new year!
Georgina
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