February is here and that means we’re ever so slightly inching our way to spring. I can feel it here in the south and I’m grateful for that.
My body lives for the hot summer days and long hours of sunlight. It’s like I come back to myself every year around this time.
February also happens to be my birthday month! I’ll be turning 37 and I cannot even believe how quickly another year has gone by and here I am thinking about what age means to me yet again.
I like to use my birthday as another crack at the “new year”. It’s a chance for me to start again, make new goals, dream, and reflect.
January was a really interesting month for me. I took almost all of January off from YouTube and Instagram with one appearance here and there.
The break had its ups and downs but overall, it was just what I needed to recalibrate.
It got me thinking about this Biblical concept / agricultural concept of letting the ground lay fallow. It means that for a season, you’re not using the ground, not planting, not growing, not harvesting. The soil needs time to replenish its nutrients, clear away the toxins, and refresh.
When the time comes for the next crop to be planted, the ground is even more fertile.
That’s kind of how I felt about my break in January.
I realized that in 4 years of creating videos for YouTube, I never once took an extended and intentional break to rest. It’s been a bit of a never-ending hamster wheel of creation if I’m being honest; putting one foot in front of the other and keeping up with the pace of a video a week.
This year, I noticed at least a handful of YouTubers taking intentional breaks. Several of my friends and people I follow on Instagram took breaks. It was so refreshing and so freeing. After 2020/2021, I think we as a culture realized that the internet is no substitute for real connection with our friends and family members in person.
The internet can survive without us and we without it.
It’s not a place for connecting with yourself either, which you usually do in private and in some kind of silence.
I needed to reconnect to myself, to my family, and to God. It wasn’t a perfect period of rest. But it was a break. And this break tested me in ways I didn’t expect. It tested my ideas about the value I assign to what I put online. If I’m posting = I have worth.
Posting = money, work, jobs.
It was a little scary. But I have to say, despite the break in posting to social media, something amazing happened. I found a new sense of creativity and direction that I knew was missing but didn’t know how to find.
The break allowed me to get clear about what I want to create in 2022, how I want to create it, and it helped me connect with other businesswomen who built up my confidence and gave me the courage to go after a big project.
The confidence-boosting and clarity paid off. God provided a new client project that will help support me and my family. For me, it was a huge win.
It shocked me how much strength came out of the time rest.
So for this year, my big desire is to focus on prioritizing real rest. Once a week, I’m planning on doing absolutely nothing on Sunday. I’m planning on letting that rest time be sacred.
If you follow me on Instagram you know this year I’m recommitting to my personal styling business. My goal is to work with at least 4 clients a month if not more. I’d like to start there and grow from that point on.
I feel more clear in my branding and my mission, who I want to serve, and how I want to serve. I’m extremely grateful for this time of my life. I’m grateful for you and grateful for the work that we’re going to do together this year!
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