Note – My original post for this month dealt with my forte of web design but after speaking a little bit with Jessika via email, I decided to go in a different direction entirely. It seems a lot of us in our community are dealing with crazy and sometimes devastating issues in our personal life and I wanted you to know that you are not alone.
beautiful necklace from lulu bug jewelry
Trying to run a business is hard enough without all of the trials and tribulations of life thrown on top of it. We all have to deal with things we don’t expect…some by choice and others not. Some scary, some sad and some just plain life altering.
Mine is a story of an ending…the ending of a marriage and all of our lives being turned upside down. Before I get too far into my story and the sympathy starts (so not why I am writing this just so you know), it was my decision, one that was years in the making and it didn’t come lightly by any means. No matter who initiates these type of life changes, they are never easy. Pile a business on top of all of this and it’s down right debilitating some days.
When you have a “real job” (don’t you hate it when people say that!) you can take a few personal days and then try to sort out your life and move forward at least enough to perform your job — then go home and break down out of eye shot of anyone. When you own your own business, there are no personal days…there is usually no outside office, no escape from what you are going through. As hard as you try, things get missed, emails get postponed, people get upset and not only is your personal life now in complete turmoil but your business is following a close second! What is so scary about this is that most of the time, it is your only financial foundation and when that suffers everything else tends to. I am not of the idea that money is everything but it is kinda important in the scheme of life! 😉
So how do you pick up the pieces and try to move forward and overcome? Honestly, if I had a simple answer, I probably wouldn’t even have bothered to write this. I am here to tell you that no matter what, it is possible…it has to be. As women, we are inherently strong and tend to be able endure the most difficult situations, granted with a few tears and crazy breakdowns along the way (oh wait, is that just me?).
Creating a group of supportive people who can help you out when times get tough is my number one suggestion. Even though I am fairly new to my particular situation, having supportive people around me has been my saving grace. I am naturally an introvert and kinda embarrassed to say I don’t have a bunch of girl friends around so my family is who I depend on the most. From my parents (who I now live with again at the age of 35) to my awesome sister (who I am just now getting to really know) these are the people that are in my corner no matter what. I am also so thankful to have wonderful peeps working for me at Moxie Pear and even though they were affected by the situation too (disbanding our central office and each of us now working from home), they have picked up my slack during the crazy days, understood when I was late to yet another meeting and just been there to hear me vent.
Not being a very spiritual person, I have also started to truly search for my faith, which I hope will give me strength to take on whatever else life decides to throw at me. This is a journey that I haven’t been on for some time and I am given hope from just reading about other people’s struggles and how their faith has helped them overcome.
So here it is, no matter what life throws at you…you can get through it! It probably won’t be easy but have people around you that you can depend on and it will become bearable (most days at least). Jessika and I spoke briefly about our community here at OMHG and I am looking forward to having a place where we can all support each other not only in business but in this crazy thing we call life. I know I look forward to building my connections and support with all of your awesome women out there who may be in a similar situation as me!
