Life is like a puzzle

I’m sure most of us like the challenge and excitement of a good jigsaw puzzle!

I personally like to begin with the edges and then find other pieces to bring the puzzle to completion, taking many sneak peaks at the box for tips along the way!

My life has felt very much like a puzzle lately. I remember sections of my life that were all complete; my family life, my home life, my friends .. everything seemed to be in place; whole.

But then, it seemed as though all of the pieces of my life were put back in the box, shaken up and laid out in front of me ….

I have been trying to put myself back together for some time but the pieces that were whole before didn’t look the same anymore?! There were also extra pieces that were not there previously .. where were they supposed to fit in?

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I tried to make them fit into places where it felt they were supposed to go, but it wasn’t right .. they just didn’t feel right. It was uncomfortable, it wasn’t what I was used to.

So, I started again .. and as always I began with the edges. The pieces of my life holding everything together.

The four edges: my children, my family, my friends and most importantly, my faith.

Focusing on these pivotal elements helped me to begin to, once again, feel like myself .. happy!

The rest of the puzzle just seemed to fall into place from there and, although removing some pieces was not easy, it was necessary in order to feel that peace I once knew.

I’m sure there are still many pieces to fit but I am beginning to see which should and should not be there and also, to be OK with that too!!

But, as with any good jigsaw, it is going to be both challenging and exciting and I am so very thankful for the opportunity to begin again!

Life is like a puzzle .. never waste time trying to place pieces where they don’t fit

Fear ends where faith begins

You may never realise just how powerful faith really, is until it’s the only option you have…

It took faith for me to sign up for something that could excel our business to new heights. I learned so, so much from the experience and, although it highlighted many things that still need to be done behind the scenes, I am so thankful that I took that leap! I procrastinated for many many months thinking that it wasn’t for me but I’m so glad that I did it and I would do it again .. and encourage other business owners to do so too.

It took faith to trust that a recent, difficult situation would work out for good. I know that every business, at one time or another, must face situations that test them, push them to their limits and often make them feel like packing it all in but everything we experience should help us to evaluate, learn from and grow stronger.

It took faith to believe in the dream that my husband had, a dream to build a business from scratch and to step into the world of entrepreneurship.

Deciding to work for yourself can bring along a mountain of fears with it;

Will I be able to support my family?
Am I really good enough to do this for myself?
Will anyone buy my product?
What happens if I become unwell?
What if my business fails?
Will I cope with the demands and responsibilities if I become successful?”

This amount of fear can make you feel so powerless but as soon as we take that first step, that giant leap of faith .. we take all that power away from our fears and channel it with full force into our dreams!

When you have faith in yourself, your abilities, your skills and talents, there isn’t a force on earth that could deter you from pushing forward.

When you believe in what you do and the difference you can make in the lives of others, even on your worst day, you will have an inner drive that won’t let you quit on yourself.

When the people around you have the same level of faith in what you can achieve, the same belief in all that you can accomplish, you can fight against any fearful thoughts that try to creep in and put you off!

Fear is temporary, regret is forever

To everything there is a season…

And oh, what a season this has been!!!

Considering that my last blog post was over 3 months ago, I’m going to guess that this has been a season of drought.

There was nothing within me to keep me focused, inspired, motivated or half bothered at all!

But I’m all about self-examination, so if I’m truly honest, I’d have to say that fear played a large part in my recent hiatus.

Fear of being a fake, a fraud, a misfit in the world of business women all over…all of those amazing women who have sacrificed and struggled, balancing families, late nights and life-changing decisions just to make their businesses grow, flourish and succeed.

I take my hat off to you all and continue to be in awe of your achievements.

My reality is nothing like that! All of the above pertains to my wonderful husband, as he is the one that founded our business from the ground up! I say our business because we are one…one unit, one flesh but it is his passion, and all that I can do is hope to grow in that passion also. I may not have had a hand in its birth but I am responsible for nurturing our business into its full potential.

Maintaining good relationships with our customers, both new and existing is an important job and I’m well aware of that, but that also highlights yet another fear in me…

I have always avoided jobs that involve cold calling customers because I hate to feel as though I was ‘bothering them’! I certainly know how I’ve felt receiving calls from people I don’t know, trying to sell me something that I don’t need.

How can I convince someone that WE have the services that they NEED to help their businesses grow exponentially?? To some, this comes naturally but to others it’s such a daunting task!

Well, I’ve said it before that the only way to overcome a fear is to do whatever it is that makes you fearful so hopefully, my next blog will be telling you all about my experiences in bringing in new customers!!

Don’t let your fear of what COULD happen, make NOTHING happen …

Slow and steady wins the race…

Where did the last week go?!

I’ve been moving so slowly recently because our family was suffering from a cold, all of us in different forms i.e. headaches, runny noses, coughs, sneezes etc. My husband and older son could look after themselves (to a point, at least!) but dealing with myself and the baby was really draining … I just could not get the energy to do any work so you can imagine how my to-do-list looked!

I know that there will always be an ‘unscheduled event’ that occurs throughout the day, week or month. For example, our little one is currently teething and it’s very hard work indeed – for both of us! This one is tooth no.7 so I know that there’s much, much more to come … and then some!!

To us adults, babies seem to develop rather quickly but for them, each step takes quite a long time to perfect. When learning to sit up, a baby will fall backwards or to the side many times before their little muscles are strengthened enough to hold them up in a seated position. Learning to walk consists of plenty of tumbles and bumps too, but they do not give up!

I should take an example from our little one because with each milestone he’s achieved, he slowly and steadily persevered to master it and I know he’ll slowly work out those first steps to begin walking and tick yet another box on the milestone list. And if he’s not stressed about his “to-do list”, why should I be?!

Although we’re all back to full health now, it’s still been hard to catch up with everything I lacked energy for last week! I was telling my husband how I was feeling and he simply said, ‘the tortoise won, didn’t he?!’ Which was his way of telling me to keep going! No matter what happens in our lives, endurance is key so even if the situation is difficult, we cannot give up!

“It doesn’t matter how slowly you go,
as long as you do not stop”