The Importance of Taking Time For Yourself

For as long as I can remember, I was guilty of burning the candle at both ends. I would spend countless hours chasing pennies, in an effort to make a dollar.

I worked full time, while pursuing various online endeavors in my free time, and I kept telling myself that my efforts would pay off. That I would earn the money we so desperately needed to pay off all our bills.

Years came and went, and it seemed like hubby spent more time working than we actually did enjoying life. We always kept telling ourselves, we'll do that next year. Of course the next year, and the year after, and year after that, would come and go, yet we would find ourselves stuck in the same cycle.

It wasn't until death and illness struck our family multiple times in the span of three years.

First my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that had mestatized. He passed about 6 months after his diagnosis in the fall of 2015. Then one year later I received my own Cancer diagnosis. Stage 3, ER+, PR+ HER2+ Breast Cancer. As I fought my way through treatments of Chemo, Radiation, and surgery, my uncle unexpectly passed in the spring of 2016.

Then the fall of the same year, as I was finally reaching the end of my treatments, my grandmother became seriously ill. Then to add insult to injury, I was unfairly terminated from my job. The reasoning was due to performance, although management knew full well I was having mental issues due to all the chemo treatments I had gone through to kill my cancer.

Yes, chemo brain is very real, and I still suffer from it every single day.

The day after my termination, we received word my grandmother had pased.

Through all this, I was desperate to maintain some form of normalcy. I still tried to sell items online to make a few extra bucks, but my internet marketing efforts came to a screeching halt because I just could not put the words together to write a blog post that made sense.

I was on unemployment at the time, and everyone looked at me as if I should just be able to bounce back and pickup a new job, as if nothing had ever happened. Sure I looked "normal" on the outside, but all the knowledge and experienced I had gained in 15 years of IT support seemed to stored in a locked box in my brain and I no longer had the key to access it.

In order to maintain my unemployment benefits, I would search for jobs, but found it hard to find anything that I could feel confident in doing. I also was starting to feel like a liability to any employer that would hire me, being someone living with Cancer.

As I tried to adjust to my "new normal", I realized something had to change. My cancer was in remission, and I was classifed as a survivor. I had been given a second chance at life, and I did not want to waste it in a high stress job making someone else rich. Life was too short for that. I was also not doing myself any good by spending every waking hour in front of the computer, with nothing to show for it.

It was the words of a business mentor that changed my life forever. She said that so many business owners will work till they drop, figuring that is the only way to build a successful business. Instead, to be successful, you need to find a work life balance. You need to work smarter, not harder.

Start by scheduing your tasks. This can be as simple as what days you will write blog posts, what days you will do FB live videos, keyword/article research, etc. It is also important to schedule personal time in there as well. It can be as simple as date night with your significant other, game night with the family, or anything else that gives you a chance to relax.

You also need to remember that it is ok to take time for yourself. There may be days that you have a "to do" list that is a mile long, but you don't feel like doing a dang thing. On those days it's ok to take the day for yourself, and spend it however you please. Maybe it's resting on the couch binge watching your favorite TV show, or catching up on your reading. No matter what it is, it is perfectly ok, just don't let these off days consume you.

Take the time to rest and recharge, and then get back to it. Your business will be all the better for it.