December was such a crazy busy month. Of course it is because it is the last month of the year and add in the stress of making Christmas "perfect" and you can drive yourself crazy just thinking how stressed you will be.
I knew I would be busy because that is when everyone wants Christmas photos but honestly I wasn't that busy with photography. I don't know if it is just that people were too busy, my new prices were too high for some or there are just too many photographers in my area. Either way it didn't bother me because Stitching Star has really taken off and I had plenty of orders to keep me busy. I also had friends and family asking if I could make them things which I love.
The Broad Collective had last minute taken on the Village Pillage event Dec. 1 which I was happy to do but we had already committed to doing Mistletoe Market months in advance. So no big deal two big vendor events wasn't that bad. Well then the admins and I were casually talking about hosting a Frozen type event because the new movie came out and we all said we had something we could bring to the event. So we threw in a little event for that so that meant we had 3 events in 3 weeks. That is crazy considering we all have other jobs and families and to do this all with little time right before Christmas. But we pulled it off and all 3 events were great. Our Mistletoe Market was the best event actually not only for myself but a lot of the vendors were happy.
So as soon as I was done planning events we had then I had to get into Girl Scout/PTO/Mom mode because we had caroling, end of the year school stuff and also getting all the gifts/cleaning because we were having family stay. I started to stress eat because I was feeling overwhelmed and when I went to my December doctor appointment the nurse did say I had gained a little weight but didn't share how much. My face also started to break out from the stress because I was drinking less water and eating more chocolate. Christmas was pretty much a blur and I felt unable to relax because of course my mind was running a mile a minute trying to think what I could do, what I needed to do and what did I forget. I always over stress about making Christmas magical. It isn't about competing with other people but mom's put way too much pressure on themselves to make Christmas amazing and when it falls short like it always will then they beat themselves up about it. Trust me, I've tried to think I'm doing a great job and everything is fine but with my parents gone I always feel like I'm trying to make it even better because they aren't here. It is only pressure I put on myself. Of course Christmas was great and my kids were happy and that is all that really matters.
Nothing against my family but I was tense until the last person left and up until New Years day because I couldn't just relax. Finally 1/1 I was able to let out the imaginary breath I had been holding all of December. But even thought I was "on break" I still was working. My website I feel isn't getting any attention. I'm not really sure if it is the design or just the fact that I rely heavily on social media because its easier and everyone else uses it. But I spent a lot of money on my domain name last year and decided this year I was going to let it go and focus on a free site and social media. But after talking to members in The Broad Collective they all said I need to keep the domain but find a cheaper alternative. So I did that but of course my timing was horrible because my domain was to expire on the 4th and I didn't start doing research until around the 30th so when I finally pulled the plug and switched everything the times of when it expired and then started again were going to be off by 4 days. So now I must wait 2 days until the 8th to hopefully have my domain registered at a new site but still working. So hopefully by spending less money on my website I can re-direct that money into something else.
Now that I'm getting back into routine and re-setting everything I can finally get back to positive thinking, working on my goals and getting organized. Of course everyone says those things at the beginning of a new year but last year I actually followed through with all of that. I wasn't in a slump by June wishing I could restart the year. It was only after Thanksgiving that I started to stress about stress and lose my way. So if I can reset and stick with things then I can at least be successful for 10 months and gear up to know that the holidays are stressful so I need to better prepare. Instead of looking at the mountain of stress I have look at each step and figure out how I'm going to climb that mountain. I want to do this with everything not just business.
