Overwhelmed and Feeling Guilty for It?
It’s been a minute since I last wrote on here.
How about some shop updates for starters?
Right now in the shop we have a two live edge coffee tables we’re working on, lots of serving boards available, a Guancaste desk in the works and lots of prep work for upcoming orders. I’ve been able to take time off during the holidays to soak up all the family lovin’ and it has been so nice.
This whole running a carpentry business is still a balancing act most days. -And by balancing I mean falling on a butt most days because I still don’t get it right every time. We’re learning the balance of growing while lots of areas are staying the same, like our shop space and the amount of able hands to get things done. It’s often that the fears and feelings of wanting to give up come around and I really think about shutting this whole thing down at times.
But the crazy thing, and the thing you can most likely expect happens- I start to realize that if I just push through the hard times, we will keep going and come out stronger.
Running a business and maintaining healthy boundaries, mentally and physically, staying disciplined, challenging myself, it’s a lot. I get overwhelmed and then feel guilty for it. I think it shouldn't be as tiring as it is. I think that I should be stronger than this, I should be able to handle all of this and more without missing a beat. I feel sorta like a fraud. - What a trick.
That is not the truth, but how many of you know that you have been there too? We convince ourselves that we should be able to handle all the things without having a mental breakdown. Yeah, more like, we’re on the verge of a breakdown when we think like that! Ha.
We are not made to hold up the entire world on our own. We are not made to be these invincible people who have no ceiling. We were made to work, mess up, and try again. Oh, and thrive:)
It is difficult because we take our efforts so seriously, and we’ve most likely not left room for grace and mistakes. It is possible to get there, though. To get to that place where you allow yourself grace to not be able to hold the world up. And be okay with that.
This is a new year and a new chance to better understand ourselves and our limitations. When we take the time to understand out limitations, we get the opportunity to use those to our advantage. A sign of a good leader isn’t always having a team full of all-stars, right? Maybe the sign of a good leader is someone who learns how to utilize every member’s strengths and weaknesses to their advantage. Weaknesses, when worked to our advantage become strengths. I think so at least. But, we have to take the time to address what is a weakness inside of us and what is a strength. Self inventory here. Then we can create strategies and plans to grow. It will take time though- we’re not looking for a quick fix overnight here. It’s the consistent small changes that can get us to a place of optimizing our God-given strengths and weaknesses.
If this business is going to keep growing, I know I have to keep doing these things. Otherwise change won’t happen, and I won’t be able to keep up.
So let’s recap.
Feeling overwhelmed and then guilty for it, because you think you should be able to handle all this?
Self Inventory: Take time to better understand yourself; learn your strengths and your weaknesses.
Make a longterm game plan of how to use weakness to your advantage. (ex. I am not good at detailed work like keeping up with data entry, so I set aside intentional time blocks at specific times of the day for data work only. I am a morning person, so I actually can get the most data work done in the early morning while in my bed with a cup of coffee. I start small with how long I will sit down to work the numbers and slowly increase it. It’s like building a muscle, you gotta start small, but soon you’ll be heavy lifting.)
Let time happen, don’t look for a quick fix, we’re trying to create a healthy habit here for the long haul.
Hope this is all helpful! Just keeping you guys up to date with what is going on here behind the scenes and sharing the thought processes along the way. Keep going after is, friends.