Summer time, filled with sunny (stormy) days and stormy nights, is prime time for reflecting, dreaming, experimenting and recharging our internal batteries.
Time. That elusive, ephemeral constant that seems to escape most of us is what I’ve been reflecting on. Managing it, getting a handle on it and making the best possible use of it each day personally and professionally.
Managing both Botanicaromatica and The Glass Room can be challenging at times, and time management seems to be the single thing that can trip me up at every turn if I’m not mindful of it.
Does time escape you and the day seems to implode, and before you know it’s late afternoon and you ask, where did the day go?
Solopreneurship is not much different from working in an organization. There’re still strategizing, planning, organizing and intention setting—tasks to do, schedules and deadlines to meet. The difference is that all the hats are mine and there are so many different tasks to do, that the day can easily implode on me if I let it. And I ask myself why? If I’m in the driver's seat and can choose to do something about it.
So earlier this year I decided to take time by its hands and begin managing it. Developing a plan a year out—by the minute, hour, day, week month and quarter till end of the year—has been a saving grace. It has helped me zoom in and break down my 3 main priorities—completing my aromatherapy certification (70% done), continuing to make connections and building meaningful relationships with fellow therapists and herbalists, local farms and complementary practices (4 a month), and creating a transition plan (currently: pencil to paper) for fulfilling my dream of blending both my glass art and botanical aromatic work into one wholistic practice for nurturing the mind, body and spirit.
Simply put, if it’s not written down on the plan, it’s not getting done.
A technique called micro-stepping has also greatly helped me create daily healthy habits, that can easily be accomplished every day, in small increments amounting to a whole lot of something over time, supporting me through these changes. Like working my way up to a daily 60-minute workout starting with 2-minute increments of anything that gets my body moving, each day for 30 days.
Research has shown that starting something new or ending something that’s no longer serving us, works best when we approach it in consistent, micro-sized chunks. Over a 30-day span, this micro-stepping helps create a healthy habit that sticks over time. Because we are teaching our brain to form a new neural pathway, in small increments, by establishing a routine, over time that will trigger an automatic response, allowing a new habit to form. Our reward!
Like a very good friend once pointed out to me in response to a challenge I was experiencing, How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!
So far, I‘m managing to take my day back by going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, consistently and diligently meditating, doing some kind of exercise, and beginning my day laser-focused on my set intentions and the schedule of the day, that will help me get there, keeping both me and my projects on track so that I can continue adding value to you and me.
Also building in a buffer in my daily schedule to eat lunch, taking frequent breaks and breathing. Setting these boundaries has not come easy. Distractions come at me from all directions and I do better on some days than others, but it’s about progress, not perfection. Enjoying the process and discovering, learning and growing every day.
I’ve also been having lots of fun experimenting with herbal tinctures, macerations and infusions as future additions to my practice. With nature blooming non-stop, all at once, around us—she has not been managing her time well this season, expending all her energy in one go and may be heading towards burnout—now is the perfect time to plan for the fall and winter months ahead.
There are many great ready-made natural elixirs on the market but as you may have read in my last post, I’m enjoying making my own. From foraging my own plant material, sourcing from local apiaries and farmers, adding my own personalized intentions to heeding the call from the plants that want to be present for myself, my family and you, my friends and clients, given our specific needs.
Right now on deck are tinctures of whole plant Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea)—starting with the leaves, young and fully bloomed flowers, which will steep in the sun through the fall when the plant nutrients go back into the roots and they’ll be ready to be added into the tincture—and Reishi mushrooms packing that 1 to 2 punch traditionally used to enhance the immune system, fending off a host of maladies and supporting body balance.
These tinctures are currently outside harnessing all of the solar, lunar and electrical energy Mother Nature is producing, giving them the charge they need to do their thing come cold and flu season.
I’m also taking this time for recharging my own internal batteries. Nurturing, centering and connecting so that I too can continue creating.
Come 2022, I’ll be offering you a respite from the day-to-day, helping you take the first step towards a new beginning or a much-needed end. A starting point, in a peaceful retreat setting, a safe space, helping you disconnect from the outside world, taking micro-steps towards getting a handle on time or maybe heading towards your life’s transition, a new chapter in your life’s story.
In the meantime, my hope is that you too will be taking some time off soon to reflect, dream, experiment and recharge your internal batteries.
If you need a little help or a starting point, you can always rely on our summer botanical aromatics to soothe, ease, uplift, revitalize, ground and support you, because you deserve to feel good today and every day! Breathe.