One of my sweet friends Gina posted something the other day that totally resonated with me. She was talking about how sometimes being a business owner provides an opportunity to lose your identity in the business of it all… I got to thinking, of course I agreed but I wasn’t sure how this all played out in my life. As I mulled it all over and said a few prayers, I realized that she was spot on. When you are in an industry where you are the business, the brand, the face, it is easy to forget where the business begins and ends within your life. We pour our souls into our websites, blogs, instagram feeds and take everything so personally. We put pressure on ourselves to get more “likes,” produce better art, book more clients and we forget about ourselves without the business hat on.
When you own a business all by yourself, you are constantly juggling one act after the next. No, I don’t need to go into detail on the things that we do, I am sure you can imagine but the pressure we put on ourselves can sometimes be too much. We pour every ounce of our beings into our work, we continue to push the limits on what we can do, we allow our self worth to be defined by what people say about us, we stay up late eating ramen noodles, editing into the night and we may never feel like we are enough. We don’t punch out at the end of the day and we often live in the spaces that we work. If our entire self worth is tied up into our business, we will inevitably fail at some point… that is why it is so critical to differentiate yourself and your life from your work.
This season has been refreshing for me. I am constantly learning and refining how I want to run this business (and in turn, not let it run me.) I feel like I have been able to turn off work (not as often as I should) and create a sort of balance in terms of when and where I choose to work. I have been trying to be more spontaneous with my schedule and allowing afternoon lunch dates, running dates with the girls, and the occasional nap creep their way into my life without guilt. The need for an identity outside of work is so critical to stay fresh, keep from burning out, and continue to desire to keep producing. Yes, we are our brand. Yes, we share our lives. Yes, we are the face of our businesses but at the end of the day we are so much more. We are the face of the wife, (who hopefully showered and doesn’t look too tired.) we are the face of the puppy mom who walks her dogs four times a day, we are the face of the girl who can do pull ups, we are the face of the girl who holds open the door for someone at the grocery store…. we can’t let ourselves get lost in work, we just can’t.
I want to challenge you, you business owner, to break free from the chains of defining yourself by your business. I want you to challenge yourself to disconnect, to find new hobbies, to shut off work and get back to life. Define who you are, even if that is a sweat pants wearing, macaroni and cheese eating, nap taking, puppy mom (I mean, those people are pretty cool… right?)
