Letting go of my own rules and boundaries

Showing yourself kindness is key

We took some time off over half term, which was really good for me. I switched off (partly) and was able to enjoy being with the children without any mum guilt. I planned in some time for work which didn’t pan out due to childcare issues, and then after taking 10 days off (including the weekends), I obviously came back to complete inbox carnage, as well as countless other demands. Whilst that can be stressful, what I have realised is how far I’ve come in terms of letting go. A year or two ago I was definitely more uptight about things. I set myself rules and boundaries that if I didn’t adhere to, I felt disorganised and generally like I was failing. This was things like having a 300 maximum inbox emails rule (total). Which when you think I can get 200 a day, meant hours spent every day working through them. Or, feeling so deeply upset if a packaging component was wrong, a parcel didn’t get delivered to a retailer on time, or I hadn’t met this goal or that target, and just generally feeling very low and upset when things didn’t go to plan. I’ve learnt to let go of a lot of that. One - because nothing very bad happens when your emails get a little out of control, and two - because problems will occur every day and I refuse to let my mood be constantly impacted by them. Now don’t get me wrong, I have moments where I cry and need to take five. I hide in my bedroom or just stay in the shower that little bit longer. Those moments are more intense, however less frequent, and I’m proud of that fact. I’m proud that I’ve managed to get a sense of perspective and am not so frequently sweating the small stuff. If I’m being honest, I think that’s been seven years in the making (of me).

Of course I still get upset or frustrated when things go wrong, I’m not made of machinery, but I feel that for a moment and I’m able to move on. I guess that’s maybe because old naive me didn’t know how many challenges there would be to face and felt completely startled by each one. Now I try and keep the really bad feelings for the really bad things.

Whether or not your business works out, I doubt you could go on the journey and not end up with some personal development along the way. Although therapy would probably be a lot cheaper.