After taking nearly two and a half years off from my little home based art business, I am ready (now that our youngest goes to preschool a few mornings a week) to get back in the saddle. I took the time off because my biggest dream has always been to be a stay at home mom (still is) and I wasn’t able to live that dream very well with the amount of work I had on my plate. I was very thankful for having the work I love to do but got to the end of myself when I realized that I was working about 40 hours a week, all during nap and bed time which meant I wasn’t sleeping OR, if I’m honest with myself, able to be fully engaged with my family during the waking hours. (I had a 7 month old and a 3 year old at the time)
I still feel very much like I am meant to do both (be there for my kids AND create art) but wow did I need that break and time to refocus. Every family is different but a long design break is just what my family and I needed to get through those crucial younger years with our sweet kids. As they say: the days are long, but the years are short. (SO true)
During that time where I was feeling spread so very thin (by my own doing) my husband being the coach that he is, broke it down into three simple goals for me to focus on. He asked me what my main goals for each day are and I told him that I just didn’t even know. He then gently and kindly said, “Well, I have taken the liberty to write down three goals that I think are meant for you. And they are my goals, too. I think they are a lot of people’s goals actually.
‘Be a light,
help my family,
use the gifts God gave me.’”
“To influence society, we have to pay attention to our kids. If we are paying attention to our kids, we have to pay attention to ourselves.”
– Andy Andrews
#instudio