A few days ago was my one-year anniversary of working for myself, livin' the freelance life. It's been quite the year - and I am grateful.
But- there are also some feelings...
Even though August was a seemingly fantastic month, my mental state was less than fantastic most of the time. It was the weirdest thing. I felt stressed and about to totally lose my shit at any moment, yet I was not unhappy.
Sure, I was doing the #100happydays challenge - but even if I didn't have that, I know I still would have been happy. That was definitely a new experience for me, because I have been stressed out before - and that was usually coupled with being unhappy about something.
But not this time - and I honestly think that I can attribute that to my practice of being grateful every day. I feel like I'm incredibly lucky - to be able to run my own business, have healthy kids, being able to set my own time schedule, meet a friend for coffee, read great books, work with very interesting customers, have great fellowship at my Rotary Club... the list goes on. And I'm very grateful for that. I don't take it for granted, but I also don't live with the fear that it could be over at any moment - I decide to embrace it fully.
My stress levels have returned back to normal for now, mostly due to setting some new boundaries in my professional life, and dropping something that caused me a conflict of interest (my role on the board of directors at the local Chamber of Commerce) - I guess we all have to test our limits.
Summer is over and while things are still pretty laid back at our house (yay homeschooling!), I am ready to move into fall with renewed energy and same old practice of gratitude.
So - now I want to know: how was your summer and how do you feel about fall?