Last week felt incredibly long, especially with the anticipation of opening day so near yet seemingly distant. Towards the week's end, issues with the electrical and A/C systems caught my attention, despite the ongoing heat advisories and scorching days.
On Friday, I took the bus back to the shop to address a water line repair and discussed other concerns as well. Regrettably, this delay pushed back the opening date again. Although eager to announce a new date, I must wait until the bus is returned, which might take most of the upcoming week – a challenging but expected setback.
Reflecting on a year ago, The Spa Lot was coming to fruition around this time. I recall hearing that starting a business typically takes a year. I think about that every time I have had to postpone opening. Where was I a year ago? This time last year I was sitting on my back patio, it was late at night – all the stars out – you know, the kind that you just might see a shooting star. I had seen several in the past couple of years, even a couple of comets. The comets are the prettier ones. They have all this gold glitter dust tailing behind them. Those are the kind you know you are being told something, like you're heading down the right path. The kind that tells you to trust your intuition – and go for it. That’s what I did.
Starting a business is stressful. There are so many different avenues to think of. I have been reflecting over the past few years. I’ve thought about all the ebbs and flows that I have gone through in my life. And just as in life, those ebbs and flows exist in starting businesses. Something I wrote into my business plan. How to handle the stress of starting a new business. I was going into this field of relaxation; shouldn’t I know how to relax and handle this stress for myself? Let’s just say, I’m trying my best. And that’s ok. I’m doing what’s right for me – and not anyone else. But along the way – I’ve gotten better and better at realizing what triggers those stressful moments for me – and how to handle them. As we get older, I think we forget about soothing ourselves. Calming our nervous system. Taking time for ourselves. This is something I have become passionate about – relieving stress. And massage –helps. Touch helps.
How do you handle your stress? What soothes you? Do you know?
I write, a lot. I write children’s books, I’m working on a romance novel, and I journal daily. I have faith in my beliefs. I meditate daily, morning and night. I walk a lot. Mainly in the mornings, just because I’m trying to get into a routine with the business but include that space for me as well. I work out on my back patio at night – I love being outside. And I connect with nature. My back patio has become kind of a sanctuary for me. It’s also a playground for a few squirrels I have friended. These things help me reduce stress in my life. These are the things I made a promise to myself to continue doing while starting this business. With the bus back in the shop – There isn’t much for me to do on the business till I get it back. The backend of the business has been running since May. I just need the bus to open. So I plan to focus a little more on myself this week and work on some other projects.
This past weekend I was reminded of several milestones in my life. They all included big ebbs followed by amazing flows. One is my graduation from my massage program. This is the second time I have graduated from a college in the past two years. There were a lot of challenges during that time – and seeing my oldest daughter cry in the audience, solidified why I did it all. I know they are proud of me. They know how hard I have worked on myself being authentically me, and how hard I worked in school. They have cheered me on through all the doubts, but have celebrated all the milestones of building a business. I did it for them. And me!
Another reminder was my son. He is taking a 3D art class in high school. He was showing me a rough sketch of a character he designed. A mushroom character! Ha! I used to draw mushroom characters all the time at his age. He is building it out of clay soon – and then he wants to take it into Blender – he made my day. He is self-teaching himself Blender – and occasionally asks for my help, I love it when we get to collaborate on things like that.
Two years ago I graduated from Penn State. I am very grateful for my time at Penn. I owe that degree, and all of my professors and classmates a lot of gratitude. When I went into Digital Multimedia Design – I designed apps, coded a little, blender, graphic design UX/UI, and took some classes that took me back to my roots of traditional arts. I thought I would wind up working for a company, designing a product in one of those mediums. Little did I know two years later I would take all that knowledge and come up with a business idea all about a forgotten passion of mine. What is interesting about my projects at Penn and my business – my projects at Penn were always based on wanting to help people, self-care, and mental health – The Spa Lot is based on the same thing.
Last week was rough – a lot of stress, but I got through it. I kept space for myself. The stress will continue as I wait on the bus, finally getting to open – and because having a business just comes with it. But the point is to rely on the things that get you through it all. Find your people, your nature - yourself. Find ways to hold space for yourself, and do things that bring you back to who you are.
And while you're at it grab a massage - it will help reduce the stress too.
