It’s something
Yoga with Adriene says all the time during practices and it’s something that’s really stuck with me. “Inhale lots of love in. Exhale lots of love out.” And with Valentine’s Day just around the corner it seems only appropriate to unpack it.
One of my big goals this year is to focus on self love. I’ve been hard on myself over the years and 2018 has to be one of the worst in the books. It’s the year I finally got diagnosed with depression and anxiety. It’s the year I started going to therapy and started taking medication for those problems. It’s also the year I finally started to actively seek out things to improve my mental health. Yoga became one of those things.
I think it’s safe to say that yoga has done serious wonders for me over the past month. I’m more focused, centered, and actively trying to both inhale and exhale love. It’s become a mantra that I tell myself when I’m feeling stressed, anxious, or unmotivated. Love has to go inward before it can go outward.
My focus on self love has even seeped into my business and planning life. Last month’s
sticker subscription was about treating yourself and self love. I’m throwing love into everything I do so that it surrounds not only myself, but the people around me as well.
I’ve changed my
Erin Condren Life Planner cover to one with hearts and foil to remind me of the mantra constantly. To some I may be going a bit overboard with the self love thing, but it’s working for me. It’s keeping me focused on the positive and pushing away the negative. And that’s huge for someone with self-deprecating thoughts struggling with depression. So think what you may, but I’m going all in on this hearts and love everywhere business.
As I’m bringing a lot of love inward, I’m also trying to bring it outward as well. I’m obsessed with the
Erin Condren Share the Love Journal because it’s full of prompts to write to a loved one. I have half a mind to get one of these for all the important people in my life. This little book has 50 different prompts to help articulate love in so many different ways. I’ve already started one for my husband Alex.
So yeah. That’s where I’m at on the self love front. It’s so easy to neglect yourself when your to do list is a mile long and so many other things are grabbing your attention. I’m done pushing myself to the side and letting my mental health slip. I’m going to continue to inhale lots of love in, and exhale lots of love out. And you should too.
Ironically as I write this, Michigan is in the middle of a serious snowstorm. We’ve already have nearly a foot of snow on the ground with more on the way. What better time than to talk about how the winter months affect my anxiety and depression, huh?
Whenever I start to feel anxious or down, I always take a bath. The hot water warms me up both inside and out and I feel immediately relaxed and at ease. I light a candle, dim the lights, and take time to just breathe.
The feeling of an endless winter subsides a little when I do something in the snow. If you can’t beat it join it, right? I try to get out of the house, get some fresh air, and embrace the winter wonderland. Of course I bundle up beyond belief, but going for a walk or playing in the snow makes it a lot more bearable.
This winter, regular yoga practices have been a complete game changer for me. It’s designated time during my day to become grounded. I feel stronger, more centered, and more focused. It’s helped with my anxiety immensely and in ways I never expected. It’s definitely something I recommend if you suffer from anxiety as well.
Nothing beats the winter blues like having things to look forward to. In the colder months I always try to schedule some parties, events, or outings so I have things to get excited about each week. That way I don’t feel like I’m constantly trapped inside or that the days have no point and just keep repeating themselves.
Don’t be too hard on yourself if you need to take a day in bed or don’t have as much motivation to do things as you usually do. Winters are always the hardest on my anxiety and depression. I cut myself a little slack, watch a bit more Netflix than usual, and try to focus on the positive as much as possible.
If you have depression or anxiety than you already know that it’s a “take it day by day” kind of thing. When it’s cold out I drink a few more chai lattes, take quite a lot of baths, and snuggle with my cats. Plus I remind myself that it won’t be cold forever. That always helps.
I’ve been self-employed for nearly five years now. Of course it definitely has its perks (like our cats being our colleagues), but there are a ton of misconceptions about what it’s like to work for yourself. Let’s tackle ten of the common ones I get asked about most often.
You don’t get to wear pajamas every day. Let’s address the notion I get questions about more than anything else. Yes, I do get to wear pajamas a lot, but it’s definitely not every day. At the very least I don’t have to put on business attire every day, so there’s that.
There’s still a set schedule, even if you’re the one making it. When I first started working for myself I had this idea in my head that I’d wake up well-rested and excited to tackle whatever the day had in store for me. It’s more like waking up still half asleep and quickly reaching for the mile long to do list. The only way we’ve found to be successful working at home is to have a set schedule, rather than letting the day take us where it may.
There are still meetings. Meetings were top on the list of things I couldn’t wait to stop doing when I left the traditional workforce. Sadly they’re still just as much of a thing when you’re self employed. We meet people constantly for the
promotional business as well as to build relationships and collaborations for the
stationery side of things.
You end up working more because you work where you also play. I can’t tell you how many weekdays end with us still at our computers only breaking to eat a quick meal (at our desk) before getting back to work. I do miss having a place where I could leave work behind more or less.
People think you have free time, all the time. So often someone will have the day off and think I’m free to spend the day hanging out with them. I wish. If I do decide to take the day off as well, I still have to make up that work time in the evenings or over the weekend. Just because I’m at home, doesn’t necessarily mean I can just drop everything.
Deadlines are still very much a thing. Honestly I think they’re even worse now that I work for myself. Before I had a team of people helping me reach a deadline, but now it’s usually just me. Sure I’m also the one that makes the deadlines, but my company and my audience are relying on me to hit that deadline. The pressure feels more intense now than ever before.
Finances are always a concern because they very often rely solely on you. If you work for a larger corporation, you very rarely worry about if you’re going to get paid that month. When you work for yourself, that question pops into your head more often than you would think.
There are seriously dry spells that you wouldn’t really consider. Planner supplies don’t sell well from now until about May. So finances are always top of mind this time of year as we try to navigate the drought.
It becomes lonely once the novelty of not having to work with other people wears off. At first I loved not having to make small talk in the break room, but now I’m starved for human interaction with someone other than my husband. Whenever I hang out with friends I feel like I haven’t seen another person’s face for years and word vomit all over them.
The threat of competition is real and it’s everywhere. Sure this also exists in regular 9-5 jobs, but when you’re self employed, it’s all consuming. Because being better than the competition means whether or not you get to pay yourself this month. Even when you try to do your own thing, it’s nearly impossible to ignore what other people in your field are doing.
Despite all of these things, I still would choose this life over and over again. Self-employment definitely has it’s upside, but there are a ton of misconceptions out there about the glamour of working from home. Alex has this great metaphor about self-employment. He says it’s like smoking. You’d never recommend to anyone else to start doing it, but you’re completely addicted.
I’ve never been one for a word of the year, but this year felt different somehow. There has been so many changes going on in my business and personal life that it felt right to pick something to focus on in 2019. No silly new year’s resolutions. Just one word to keep me focused on becoming my best self over the next year. INTENTION.
Just picking a word has me feeling different and more…well…intentional. It’s always in the back of my mind as I go about my days. I find myself subconsciously asking, “How can I live my life with more intention today?” I teamed up with
ErinCondren.com to do just that.
This year I want to be more intentional with my relationships. It’s so easy to get caught up in my daily to do lists that I forget to reach out to friends or family that I don’t see every day. I’ve scheduled in my planner to write a few letters every month to the people I care about and the
all occasions card pack makes it super easy to have any type of card I may need on hand.
I also want to take my blog and brand more seriously in the new year. As you guys know, I recently re-branded to better align with the Oh, Hello brand. I want to make more intentional decisions with my company. I picked up new
stationery and
business cards to celebrate the name change. It has me so excited to send out mail to brands I’ve worked with in the past to build better relationships with them.
Along with being more intentional with my brand, I want to send more
thank you notes to people we work with this year. It’s not only a nice thing to do, it’s a good business practice to get into. It’s so easy to just send a quick email and think it’ll do the trick. But a handwritten card? It’ll set you apart in the business world. Sometimes old school is the way to go.
This isn’t a sponsored post, but I’m excited to take all of my new products and use them to become more intentional this year. It’ll not only build my personal relationships, but my business ones as well. Win-win all around. My favorite kind.
I’m fortunate that there’s extra space in our home for me to have my own studio. It’s completely changed how I work by providing me a place to leave set up and constantly ready for my next creative project. In the past I may not have taken advantage of creative moments because it was just too much work to bring out all my lights and set everything up. Now when the mood strikes, I hop over to my studio, flick a few lights on, and I’m ready to go.
I keep the space pretty open and free of clutter so there’s room to work, but there are a few items here and there that really make the space my own. From the My Little Pony and Shopkins collections to my giant squishy watermelon, I wanted things that made me happy, but also looked pretty in the background of videos and photos.
So here’s a little glimpse into my happy place. Let me know in the comments if you’re interested in a full video tour of the studio!
