I’m embracing the power of slow for my holiday planning and chose this little snail friend here as my inspiration for the season of giving. Every year I am overtaken by a frenzy of making, cooking, planning, and gifting in mid-November. I love to make everything by hand or from scratch but I leave the planning to the last minute and then I transform into a crazed Christmas elf. Up until the wee hours of the morning on Christmas Eve surrounded by crafting debris of all kinds? Been there! Not this year my friends. I’m turning 30 December 18th, our new website will be launching around the same time, and I’ve been working on a huge client project + prepping for speaking at Altitude Summit… if I get the Christmas crazies this year I am headed for burnout city. So slowing down it is!
Instead of a holiday season of glitz and glam like last year, I’m planning my recipe for holiday success by choosing a season of contentment instead of crazy-making. I am blessed to live in a very beautiful place with access to nature everywhere so we’ll be heading outside to start gathering simple materials to transform our rented home and prettify our gifts. I’m looking forward to using my daily work time to get ahead on projects so that I can set aside days of crafting in our fuzzy slippers and house coats during Christmas break balanced with days of foraging through the winter woods. I’m also listening to our ever-wise and awesome contributors Jacqui and Nicole-I’ve charted out the rest of the year and am refining my to-do’s by questioning the why of each one. It also helps if I imagine my snaily mentor telling me Yoda-style:
Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast. You also miss the sense of where you are going and why. ~E. Cantor.
Maybe this year you need some glitz & glam, or a trip to Mexico, or you are with me on the quiet and contemplative end to the year, whatever it is I want to know what your idea of holiday success is! Join us today from 1-2EST for an #OMHG chat about planning for holiday success on your own terms or share your recipe for seasonal bliss in the comments. What are you making or purchasing this year? Do you have a plan for gifting or decorating? Are you slammed by holiday orders and trying to plan through it? Do you not celebrate the holidays at all? I am always excited to hear how other creative folks spend the holiday months and what success means to you!
Slowing down is EXACTLY my plan this year! A more steady approach to creating for holiday customers, even through the rush of orders, with limits to keep myself healthy and happy. I want to soak up the holidays with family and enjoy the season! Wish I could join for the chat, but I have to visit the dentist, my favorite. Ha!
I love seeing you echo my thoughts Laura! I’ll bet you anything too that the slow down approach will lead to you offering awesome customer service which will lead to more long term customers! Healthy happy us = healthy happy business, funny too that you should use those exact words because I have been thinking of them as my overall theme for next year. I dubbed 2012 the Year of the Creative Entrepreneur but 2013 might need to be the Year of the Healthy Happy Entrepreneur! Wishing you luck at the dentist & hope to see you next week:)
…will be restocking the advent calendar I made last year, baking/decorating our traditional fruit cake and homemade sweet treat gifts, setting up our trees, wrapping up extra warm to go to the winter outdoor theatre, and generally spending time just together as a family, taking a break from blog and biz buzz to just be in the moment…
…and Jessika, I love your idea of a focus on a healthy, happy entrepreneur next year. We spend so much time and energy focusing on our businesses that we forget to balance ourselves with personal recuperation/development so we can bring our full selves to the biz table. Otherwise we are just slaving for a new boss (that we can’t break free from) and not reaping the benefits of making our own path.
Yes! Healthy & Happy Entrepreneur is a great theme! 2012 was a year of ‘balance’ for me, as I normally am all or nothing with things. Not that I want to crush my passion by any means, but I’ve dedicated some energy into finding better balance between work, life, and play. It is a fine line that I think will take far more practice than just one year to walk steadily! 🙂
What a great post, Jessika! It completely echos the post I’ve written for you (still to send) as I’m still in slow motion from our wonderful trip earlier this month, and I’m really relishing the idea of maintaining it through this (generally) hectic time! We’re hosting Christmas this year, which is favourite thing to do and even though we usually make all of our gifts, it’s a fun, relaxing and enjoyable time, so we may plan to make a new tradition our of taking a long & leisurely vacation at this time of year 😉
Good for you Jess! I am doing well myself, taking it easy when possible, getting organized ahead of time and most importantly getting some exercise. Staying healthy is one of my goals for this season.
I love that you dedicating the holiday season to slow. It is indeed faster and a whole lot more fun! Yummy dishes, by the way!
Jess….as I read this I am getting ready for a holiday show and am really a bit looney. Luckily it is at a farmhouse turned art center next to my studio….just a walk away. Thank you for the reminder to breathe and enjoy each little moment of my blessed creative life.
Each season, I have a group of lovely girlfriends to my studio. We sit in a circle of candlelight, on pillows with amazing food and wine in the middle. We go over the past year and tell our vision for 2013. Pure magic.
Christmas eve is at our home. Close friends who are like family all gather before we go off to Christmas Eve service. My husband takes care of all the food for this night. Double joy…he loves it. We all do…..
Love the snail image on the top of this post. Yes, that’s moi! I am baking the Thanksgiving turkey tomorrow, Monday, we are having several dinners, so I will be leasury cooking pretty much every day, stretching it out over several days makes me oddly calm.
Hope we do not have a lot of snow this winter, dealing with snowed in ranch animals is no fun.
Onward!