A friend texted me to ask if we could talk and my mind goes to 100 negative thoughts. “He’s mad about this, he’s going to accuse me of that, I’m going to have to defend myself.”
I’m walking down the street. The sun is shining and it’s beautiful and lush out. But I’m not enjoying it at all. I’m catapulted way into the future.
It’s bright and sunny out today. I can see the teenager bright green leaves of a large tree blowing in the wind outside my window.
Last weekend was quite emotionally volatile for me and by the end of it I felt like I’d been hit by a bus and couldn’t figure out how to return to a calm and grounded state.
But then yesterday I had a breakthrough.
Things are continuing to be uncertain and we’ve now been in lockdown for almost 2 months now. Some days I feel accepting of it and can see the positives. Other days I feel intense emotions, sometimes sadness, sometimes I feel trapped, sometimes angry.
Female-identified artists, healers, and entrepreneurs are badass by nature. You were not told you could make your own money or create your own business, so any woman who is willing to take the risk is the definition of badass.
And I’m also been touched by how supportive these women are to each other, how supportive other women in business have been to me.
Continue reading “Calling All Artists, Healers & Entrepreneurs”
You’re navigating a collective trauma. The physical, mental, and financial struggles are real. The grief, pain, and fear are present.
And you deserve moments of joy and pleasure.
Slowly drinking your tea. Feeling the sunshine on your face. FaceTiming with a good friend. Dancing to your favourite song.
You deserve moments of pleasure and joy.
“While it’s true there isn’t an actual devil out there grabbing for our souls, there is a tendency in our minds, which can be amazingly strong, to perceive without love.” – Marianne Williamson
I’ve continued to have a little bit of a sore throat and have been feeling tired. And a part of me hates them and wants to fight against them. This part wants the sickness to go away, fast.
Then a different part keeps telling me I’ll be sick forever and I’ll be extra tired forever and isn’t my life hard. Continue reading “Lessons from Being Sick”
I used to sit down at my desk with the goal of “working on my business.” I’d pull out my agenda, figure out what to focus on and start working. After a few hours, I’d stop.
The main problem with this strategy was lack of productivity and distractions. I’d waste time on Facebook and sometimes I’d work on one blog post or task for hours and hours and hours.
And I was spending too much time on things that didn’t get me closer to my goals and dreams.
I needed a change.
Now this is not really a glamorous thing to talk about but the best self care strategy I implemented in 2019 was SCHEDULING.
I used to think, “I can’t do that. I’m not organized enough. I’m not disciplined enough. It’s not my style. It won’t work for me.”
But it’s absolutely changed everything. I trust myself more and I’m less frantic, more calm and more clear in my business.
I know what parts of my business are most important in any given week, so I’m not wasting time working on things that don’t move me towards my goals and the impact I want to make.
So I want to share my intuitive heart-centred scheduling process with you:
Yes – there are a lot of steps. But it will only take you one hour on a Sunday night or Monday morning and is going to have you feeling much more fulfilled in the long term.
After implementing this, your time off is really going to feel AMAZING because you know the priorities for the week have been taken care of.
You’re absolutely going to love this! And then sometimes, when you don’t want to do a specific task, you might hate it…
At that point it’s time to tune in, feel into whether the task is truly aligned with your values, and if it is to go ahead with it.
If you have any questions about this process, feel free to email me at bryn@brynbamber.com and I’ll make sure to get you all your questions answered.
And if you need emotional support and want to connect with other female-identified artists, healers and entrepreneurs please join the free or pay-what-you-can Emotional Support Circles coming up.
Soon after we went into lockdown I had a sore throat, achey muscles, and fatigue. It felt very similar to other times I’ve had the flu but I was nervous. What if I had it? What if I’d given it to someone before lockdown started?
I was trying to understand what was happening in the world, in my country, and to my own body. I wasn’t scared of getting severely ill. I have a strong immune system and am in good health. But I was very nervous that I would give it or had already given it to someone else.
I wanted to get tested but I couldn’t get a hold of Telehealth. When I called it just a busy signal or cut out. I never got to the automated menu. Too many people were calling and the system was crashing.
As a solopreneur, you have to make a lot of decisions and now that we’re in this situation you need to make even more. You have to figure out whether to properly sanitize your whole shopping cart or just the handles or if it’s all overkill…
And so it’s easy to get into decision fatigue.
I was spending money that I didn’t have on things that were not that important to me and was telling myself that next month would be better, next month my business would “break through.”
This went on for months. I was in school, I’d quit my stable non-profit job and was focusing on growing my business. My numbers – both income and expenses – weren’t good and so I avoided looking at them.
