It's Okay to Rest

When you run your own business, it's sometimes easy to forget to rest, take time off, and recharge. Dan and I are both guilty of this - our studio is in our home, and (thankfully) there are always orders that need to be made, emails to write, and products to design.One of our biggest challenges is finding balance between our work lives and our personal lives. We hardly took any time off at all last year - just a handful of days. And we work from the time we wake up until the time we go to sleep.
We knew that there was a disconnect between the positive products that we were making and the actuality of our lives. We create products that mean something to us - gentle reminders to slow down and take time for ourselves.
We recently were talking to one of our customers and friends - Nora, who is the owner of Spirit of Shakti - a wonderful yoga studio in Ashland, Oregon. She knows what it's like to be constantly pulled in when you run your own business. She is a great source of inspiration to us because she has learned that's it's okay to set boundaries and take some time to recharge. She takes every Sunday off - she doesn't leave her house, doesn't talk to anyone, doesn't let anything pull at her. She pulls all of the circuits back in just for one day. And she finds that because of this, she is much happier and more efficient the rest of the week.Over our holiday break, Dan and I took some time to rest and recharge. Something happened to us in that time - we remembered what we had been missing in our lives: ourselves.
We realized that without us, there is no This Is It! Creations. If we aren't resting and rejuvenating, we won't be able to create new inspirational products for others to enjoy.
So we made a pact that we will create more balance in our lives this year. We won't work such crazy hours, we will take one day off per week, and we will take time each day for ourselves. Period.
I'm so excited about this new era, and I look forward to letting you all know about our progress!
We feel so blessed that we get to spend our days creating products that help all of us remember that's it's okay to slow down and take care of ourselves. And now we get to put our message into practice.
Thanks for being on this journey with us!
In gratitude,
Jodi