Life can feel like it’s constantly beating you up and that is never a fun feeling. But what if you are feeling entirely overwhelmed in one aspect of your life and thoroughly underwhelmed in another? Live in that state for too long and it spells burn out or what I kindly refer to as my body has completely shut down and now i’m going to be forced to rest even though I have a bajillion and five things to do.
As I sit here writing this we are exactly one week from school starting. I have to say I’m very excited for school to start and yet I’m genuinely going to miss the house having life in it. I feel as though this summer went by so dang fast…like did june happen? Did it REALLY exist? It apparently did.
We feed one of the neighborhood strays in the morning. She’s a beautiful all black cat that clearly has some siamese or savannah cat in her because she is so incredibly tall and lean it’s wild. Anywho I noticed this morning that it was darker than it had been previously and a tad cooler even which is so welcome at the same time I know that means soon it will be cold and dark. And also means I need to get on the task of building a shelter for the kitty baby.
The Situation
But that’s not what you’re here for. You are here to get help figuring out how in the world you can manage all the things including the thing you feel should be going better than it currently is. Trust me I feel you. I’ve got a newer etsy shop that I’ve spent way too much time on and hasn’t been giving much, if any, return on that investment. I recently ran some ads trying to drum up some orders and let’s just say after 4 days I shut it down because it clearly wasn’t doing me anything but cost money…
I think when you hit a wall, like I have recently, with regards to something you’ve been working very hard on and in some cases putting time and attention into when you should have been doing something else – the feeling of betrayal and disappointment can be overwhelming. I want to tell you those are valid feelings and I want to encourage you to allow them to go on for at least a minute. Feel them fully. Cry, go to an ax throwing bar…whatever you need to do to let it out (within legal and reasonable limits) but realize at some point you’re gonna have to get up off the floor and make some decisions for the future of your venture and the future of your involvement within that venture. I thought i’d share some of those questions I’ve been asking myself.
The Questions To Ask
- Have I given this venture the time and attention needed to get it off the ground?
- Have I gone above and beyond and maybe even stepped outside my comfort zone to bring attention to this venture?
- If I were to stop today could I say that i’d done everything in my power to get it going?
- Have I done enough that IF something were going to come of it there would be signs and signals that it was coming together?
- Are there other things I can and should be focusing my attention on that WOULD definitely result in a faster and more profitable outcome?
- If I walk away now or at least slow down on my attempts to make this work will I have regrets?
These questions are a good place to begin exploration or journaling on this topic and allowing yourself to fully move on from something that just maybe isn’t working right now. And it really doesn’t need to be “goodbye” it could just be “see you later” and/or “I’ll promote this when and where it makes sense but I cannot continue to give this the time and attention I have been!”
Permission Slip Granted
I want to give you permission to rest, to take a step back, and to shift your focus to other things that might ease the pressure or make you just plain feel better. It’s okay to let go of something for a little while or permanently if it just doesn’t seem to be working.