Mom-P-Inc. – Building Down Time Into Busy Seasons

Sitting here this morning, I have to admit that writing this column seems entirely fitting because I am abjectly exhausted – which is my usual condition come August every year.

We call this month our annual “vacation,” which mostly amounts to Ken and I finally having a moment long enough to look at everything that has been taking a back seat and, in between all of that, sit down long enough to realize how unbelievably worn out both of us are. You can tell it’s August just from our outward conditions. It seems like everyone we know stops us and says “You look exhausted.”

It’s been extra long in coming this year with me well into my third trimester and having been trying to cope with a pretty serious month-long bout of bronchitis. Not fun for anybody.

While we both understand the need to take a break, it seems like a nearly impossible task when you are self-employed. I’m always impressed with women who have the capacity to know when to say when. My Catholic guilt rears its head with a vengeance every time I spend a day laying on the couch and the little voice in my head says “Think of how much you could have done today. Now your to-do list is that much longer.”

Cruel joke, that Catholic guilt thing.:)

Recently, for the first time in nearly three months, I actually put earplugs in, made everyone leave the house and slept the day away on the couch only to wake up and realize that I need at least another week of such fantastic nothingness. It’s unsettling to begin to understand your own limitations. It’s also a bit of a salve.

I talk a lot about how running your own business and motherhood are pretty much the same gig. Pay is low, rewards are great. But, there’s a constant learning curve and most of the time you just slap yourself in the head and wish you could just go get a good paying government job with extended medical.

But, planning for these down times in your business or family cycles also makes all of the hard work extra sweet. It’s the payoff for the pasty color you turn from not leaving the office for month on end, the carrot you dangle in order to remember that taking a month off in the middle of the year is why you work for yourself. You may not be jetting off to Europe any time soon. But, a weekend camping trip to Tofino can do wonders for the soul.

Ha, look who’s talking – I am not the finest example of the person to offer up advice on this topic.

But, what I have come to understand is that having some time off to re-feng your shui, realign your mojo or just regain some sense of place by sitting on the beach for a week is what August is all about.:)

So, you’ll notice that most of our writers have taken the month off, we’re looking back a bit on some of the favorite posts from the past and our advertisers are doing some shifting just as we will over the next few months as well.

Yes, there will definitely be some great Back-to-School content and make sure to join us this coming week for OBE Beach Week. In the mean time, the crew here is building some down time into what has been a very busy season so we can all come back this Fall and give you more of that fantastic OBE experience knowing that sleep deprivation, long nights and other craziness can get started again after our tiny person arrives later this year.

Tags: Our Big Earth Media Co., vacation, women in business

Category: INSPIRED ACTION, Mom & Dad, Working Moms