I've enjoyed my extended stay in Chicago from December - January and it was greatly needed. I was surrounded by my children mostly and my family, all whom I always miss dearly, living here in NOLA. Well, I'm back in NOLA and trying to settle back into the swing of things here, but this year, my goal is to be better than ever before. In 2019, I spent the entire year testing and trying out a lot of things for my business, to measure what works and what didn't work for my clients. I found myself mentally stressed out and drained at times, over the things that weren't working out for me and my clients. In 2020, I'm now expecting God to do things S-U-D-D-E-N-L-Y in my life and for my business so I have to be ready for the new blessings.
In December, I changed my business model to photography which has become my main bread and butter aka my main source of income. I've realized that photography is finally the overall pain point that I solve for my clients....... helping them create content for their blog, brand and/or business that also helps them level up in their area of expertise and within their industry, was in fact the missing link for them all of this time. With this new business model, my work schedule has shifted also. Because my target audience works Monday-Friday at their 9-5's, they schedule photoshoots with me on either Saturday's and Sunday's. Always mindful of my overall wellbeing, I noticed that by Monday mornings, I would be totally worn out from doing back to back photo shoots.
Therefore, in February, I'm practicing having more days of rest before and after my shoots as a part of my self-care routine and my new work schedule. My body physically needs to be well rested to shoot long hours on the weekends and on other days, I can write and create content for my own blogs. I have to admit, writing blog posts weekly has really spoiled me because I was able to blog in the comforts of my own home and not have to physically do anything major to get the job done. But having so many photo shoots scheduled in Chicago, I learned quickly to allow days for my body to get the proper rest that it needs to refuel and get back out there and create great images for my clients. By the way, if you're in the Chicagoland area or coming down to New Orleans, you can book any of my photography services here.
Although my new normal will look more like #SelfCareFriday and #SelfcareMonday I'm excited to really add rest to my self-care routine. We get so caught up in the hustle and flows of busyness that we neglect to give our bodies adequate amounts of rest and sleep that it needs daily. In this new era of emerging entrepreneurs, we've adopted the model of being #TeamNoSleep but that is by far, the most ridiculous mindset to have. Most successful people that I've read about, get plenty of sleep at night and arise early in the morning between 5am-6am. As a creative, I've seen my work when I haven't had much sleep the previous night and it's not pretty at all. I've learned to shut down my ever running mind, shut off my electronic devices and really wine down for the night and rest.
If you're like me and need to slow down at times, I humbly encourage you to incorporate getting more rest as apart of your self-care routine. Throughout my work days, I've allowed myself times where I take naps because my mind sometimes just needs that mental break and my body is clearly telling me that it is tired. I used to feel like if I fell asleep, I might miss something happening on social media God forbid, lol. But now, the way the algorithms are set up, I haven't missed nothing at all and neither do I feel bad about putting my health first. I am on a mission this year to really use my influence to impact the lives of others and not just use it to help you figure out what hair products to use, places to dine and any other meaningless things that comes with being an influencer, at times.
Before I head off to do another shoot, I want to leave you with this. If you're not sure how to get more rest, here's three things that you can do, to get you started:
Go to bed one hour earlier than usual.
Decline an invitation to go out and stay home and rest instead.
Turn off your cell phone device, one hour before your bedtime, so that you won't be tempted to answer another email, accept a call or engage with your followers on social media.
What new self-care routines are you practicing this month? I'd love for you to share your thoughts in the comments below.
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