Taking a Break and Counting Our Blessings

Yesterday morning, I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling and not wanting to get up. Once I did an endless to do list waited for me. Dishes, laundry, marketing, networking, product development, taking care of the baby, vacuuming and mopping were all things that waited for me. And I felt as though I had no time or energy to do them. TIme, patience, and energy has been running low in our household lately. We rarely, if ever, get the time to take breaks and it’s been wearing us down. 

As I sat nursing the baby, thinking over all the things to be done, I made a decision. Though it was technically an errand, Arthur and I were going to take the morning off of schedules and to do lists and go and wander around Hobby Lobby for a while. 

Y’all, I cannot even begin to explain the good this did us. Arthur was cuddled up in his ring sling while we wandered aimlessly through the aisles of Christmas decorations. Arthur loves to stare at Christmas lights and turn ornaments over and over in his sweet little hands. And I love to watch him discover these things. We spent an hour and a half doing this, with Arthur occasionally laying his head down and thinking about sleeping before something else would catch his attention and he’d stop trying to fall asleep again. I finally felt calm, reconnected to my baby and the world around me. 

After I got home from physical therapy that afternoon, Arthur and I played on the floor together and he just didn’t stop giggling. He was having fun and happy to have his mama with him. I must admit, I haven’t been the best mama as of late. Running a small business is hard, time consuming work. It starts the minute I wake up to the minute I go to sleep. I work incredibly hard developing products, taking and editing pictures, picking just the right wording for my listings, and then marketing them to no end all just to try and get one sale. It hasn’t been helping that I’ve only gotten one sale this month – a very small show of the tremendous effort I have been putting in.

All of this has made me step back and take a look at the things I do have. Doing all that work and not making sales has made me feel like a failure. But the truth is I am a very small fish in the overcrowded Etsy pond and it’s going to take time. Last night I sat and made a list of ten things I am blessed to have, to help recenter myself and give myself perspective. I encourage you to do the same, especially as we enter this incredibly busy holiday season. I’ll share mine with you and you should share yours with someone too – making it more real, tangible, and something to think about. 

1. A roof over our heads
2. My amazing husband who provides for us and encourages me
3. Jack, Judah, and Arthur
4. Dirty dishes, because that means we had food to eat
5. The ability to be a stay at home mom
6. My doggies
7. Our support network of friends, family, and strangers
8. Access to healthcare
9. Heat and air conditioning 
10. 30 sales on Etsy