I'm sure by now we've all heard 10,000 jokes about how buying a 2020 planner was a complete waste of money! I definitely fall into the category of people who stepped into the year with with a set plan for my life and all of the benchmarks I would achieve both personally and professionally. Since then, there's been countless times when all we can do is just shrug our shoulders and simply roll with the unexpected.
Here are my main takeaways from this year;
Home is everything. One thing I've really enjoyed this year is creating my own little peaceful sanctuary where I am surrounded by all of the things that I love with home cooked meals everyday. I moved into my own studio apartment in July which now allows me to walk to about 90% of my work. Ladies, I have even found my signature scent (Capri blue- volcano candles)! I finally feel at home every day, and that's worth so much to me.
If I ever need to save money really quick, now I know how. Case in point; March & April. When everything shut down and the new uncertainty was so scary, I stopped spending money on anything aside from food and absolute household/hygiene necessities. Now I know that a complete halt to spending money isn't even that hard!
Self Care is crucial. I really try to give myself an hour each day... not saying I'm killing it at this goal, but I'm trying.
Make time for family. It can be so easy to put the majority of our focus on our careers, etc. but one gift that covid gave me was a full month living with my brother, sister in law & 5 year old nephew. Such an extended period of time will never again be possible, and I am so grateful for all of the moments we shared.
Working from home is pretty great. As long as you can do it alone, of course. When your only distractions from work are the breakfast dishes, you learn quickly to deal with that stuff before you settle into the work day. I'm willing to bet that there's some employers realizing that their staff is far more productive when they aren't distracting each other all of the time.
I need to work on giving up control sometimes. And this one is the hardest for me. With the current state of the wedding industry, I am simply not able to work in the way I am used to nor can I keep up all of the practices I have set up to make things efficient and thorough.
For example, this morning (in mid September), I sat down to assemble the wedding day touch up kits for our October brides, but there's still a handful of events for next month up in the air. This means (that like many other tasks) this becomes a twice a month task instead of once.
Somewhere between working crazy long hours to get it all done and letting some things go, there is a balance that makes sense for this odd time in history, and I am trying every day to find that perfect spot.
There is so much to be grateful for! Ultimately, I start and end each day feeling blessed. Sure, there is a lot of uncertainty and added stress and worry for everyone right now, and I am so thankful each day to be able to support myself in a career that I love while getting to work with amazing women who I enjoy.
So many of these basic things can be easily taken for granted (and sometimes it can be easy to just obsess about the next better thing you want to get), and I am happy that 2020 has brought more awareness around these blessings.
Now let's conquer the rest of this year!
Ann