A Little Escape

I know that you’re not supposed to run away from your problems… or feel a need to run away from your life.

These days many in the self-development world — “experts,” say… if you need a vacation, you need a new life.

It in it’s simplest form, the statement makes sense to me.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been guilty of saying… “I  just need a moment to breathe”…”I need to get caught up on email”…”I need time to just think”… and before you knew it I had booked a trip to the hot hot heat.

I just need some time in a beautiful place to clear my head.

Regardless of what category you put ‘needing a vacation’ into… I know I need it. Yep, need it.

I need to be able to walk away from my current life and reflect on what’s working and not working. I need to think about my constant state of being busy and overloaded {for a great post by Danielle LaPorte on being overwhelmed… click here} — and determine what changes needed to be made. I need to gain clarity on what’s truly important. I need a little Eat : Pray : Love.

If all this means I’m running away — c’est la vie. If it means — I need a new/revised life… well I’ll be the first to admit that maybe I do.

Looking forward to some time with my head. Looking forward to moving into 2013 with a little bit more focus.

Run Away and Hide

When I’m overwhelmed, the #1 thing I always want to do is run away and hide. I want to curl up in a ball, with my head under the covers and wait for the overwhelm to pass.

Last week was a bad week. My 27 years on this planet have taught me that — bad happens. Every week can’t be perfect. With bad and good — comes learning. And learning is the goal right?

Regardless I defaulted to my comfort zone — the little girl that gets overwhelmed by bad — she runs away and hides.

On Thursday I walked away from social media. Yep, no Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram. On Sunday I flew to Palm Springs. I put my iPhone on airplane mode and off I went to the land of hot.

I left the world behind me with hopes of figuring life out.  I wanted to gain clarity on what was important, who was important and most important of all — why.

I learned a few things:

• You can’t figure out life in 4 days
• You can’t figure much out running away from your problems

When you head to the land of hot, you generally — sun, sleep, read, eat, drink and do nothing. Well that’s exactly what I did. The 40 degree heat filled my lungs and brought me peace. I spent my days in Palm Springs calming the hell down and taking a moment to myself. One might call it a — ME-cation.

Surprise surprise I returned home just as lost as when I left…! There’s gotta be some good tho — Right? Right? Yep, I was rested, brown, tackled 3 books {Crush It – Gary Vaynerchuk, Linchpin – Seth Godin, Fire Starter Sessions – Danielle La Porte} — and no more damn tears.

It’s been 11 days… I thought I would be ready to be back. But I’m not.

Shit Got Real

Late Night Working = Bad Habit

When I left my corporate job, I took a major pay decrease… major… and all of my {ridiculously comfortable} job security, to give entrepreneurship a shot.

Why? Because I wanted to.

I was ready to take a jump. I needed a change.

{My mother surely thought I was crazy.}

I entered into the land of solopreneurship completely unprepared.  Totally my fault by the way. I knew I wasn’t ‘corporate’ but I had no idea if entrepreneurship and small business was for me.

I started a notebook called ‘how to be a business’ … Every time someone gave me advice, I wrote it down. Every time I found some sort of magical piece of information online, I wrote it down.

I have definitely learned that it’s way easier to ask people {who have been around the block} for help, rather than search for an answer for 6000 hours.

I have become very aware of what I spend time doing and how long I spend time on tasks. {Perfectionism can be the devil.} I have begun to learn what I enjoy doing and what I should be outsourcing.

I went from working every day, all day long {with absolutely no boundaries} to a reasonable amount of hours in 6 days a week.

I am more organized {but not in a ready for tax season kind of day} and this week I achieved Inbox Zero in all email accounts. The very first time in over a year. Hooray!

I learned how to invoice {both correctly and incorrectly}, manage a budget {most of the time} and keep my clients happy.

I still have a long way to go and a lot to sort out, but I am moving forward. And finally it all feels real.

Guess what? I left corporate. And didn’t die. 

It’s been 10 months and it took me until today to feel like a business.

Today I figured out what I am worth.

A few online peeps I have learned from:

• Jenny Blake – 20 Lessons from 2 Months of Solopreneurship Part 1 and Part 2
• Chris Guillebeau – The Flip Side of Self-Employment and Freedom
• Danielle La Porte – Biz Knocks and Being Human
• Amber Rae – ‘Hell Yes’ Decision Making Model

Thank you to Judy, Val, Pete, Jill, Scott, Tod and Glenn for the love — and of course, the hand holding.