Finding Success in Times of Rest | Business | Ali Leigh Photo
If I was reading this blog post, I'd feel like it was redundant. It seems like everyone is talking about living intentionally & finding rest these days. But for as much as I hear these people, I didn't take them too seriously until this weekend. This post is for those of you who haven't taken any of this to heart yet. From a girl who's heard the importance of rest over and over & found it this weekend.
I'm going to let you take a guess at what I did this weekend?! A whole lot of nothing. You're right. I forced myself to sit on the couch and cuddle with my cat, not multitasking or anything. Giving her my full attention & simply resting. It's funny how HARD it is to do nothing, right?! This whole set-your-own-schedule, #girlboss, full-time photographer life is so new to me. It's my first month since Ali Leigh was built up that I solely got to focus on building my business & work on things only photography related. It's been wonderful & I feel so incredibly blessed to be doing something I love so much all. day. long! But there are so many days that my business is all I think about and sadly all I focus my time on. I was editing photos the other night when I my husband was in the living room, and an overwhelming sense of guilt swept over me, thinking of the idea that I was losing this time to spend with my best friend, to work. What a SAD reality, and one I didn't want to grow in my life.
The Rising Tide Society has been sharing over and over how important it is to shut your work life off & live intentionally, by creating a set schedule. I loved the idea of it, but not having family yet and not feeling like I needed rest (I LOVE the work!), I haven't taken that idea too seriously. I set my own schedule, so I can work until 2 am on a Friday night, right?! If it's something I love doing, why shut it off? Shut it off for the guilt that swept over me when I heard Taylor in the other room as I worked. For the burnout that would happen if I kept working this many hours a week. For the creativity I was stopping by filling my head with too many things at once.
This weekend came around, and with Taylor being back in Minneapolis, I figured I'd work all weekend - he wasn't home, so what was the point of resting?! I worked late into Friday night, and Saturday morning I woke up with the thought, "NO working today. Rest," playing over and over in my mind. With a lot of will power, I can say I successfully took my first weekend off since going full-time.
I went to yoga, the farmer's market, and got lunch with a new friend. I sat on the couch with a blanket, read books, cuddled with my cat, prayed, talked on the phone with a long distance friend for over an hour without thinking I needed to be more productive with my time than talk about our cats, and watched lots of Netflix. It was a BLAST.
And you know what?! My thoughts organized themselves & I could breathe again. I felt stable for the first time in a while. My creativity flowed and pretty much jumped out of bed this Monday morning, more ready than ever to take on another week.
So to all of you who have read a long list of blog posts like this, or feel like their business would fall apart if they took a weekend off, find some rest and see what it does for you. Find it for the sake of enjoying your family at this point in time, for your boyfriend/girlfriend, for yourself, for the success of your business. For clarity of mind.
I took a lot more out of this weekend than my stubborn self thought I would, and I'm excited to see how I decide to position rest into my workflow, especially as wedding season rolls around.
xoxo, Ali
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