When Life Tells You To Slow Down
It's been rather an enlightening summer for me. Up until June, I was working my butt off. I'm a workaholic and I don't like to take any real time off. I tend to just run myself into the ground until I can't even think straight anymore. Where my schedule becomes a chaotic mess and my brain is literally left deep fried. Oh and when I do get any sort of time off, I start to feel guilty and find it hard to enjoy any kind of moment that is nice and well deserved. Not an ideal way to live, right?
Not only was I teaching singing lessons full time, planning a year-end recital for a third of my students, as well working part time as a makeup artist for Elizabeth Arden at The Hudson's Bay, here in Lethbridge, where I'm from, I was scheduled for a surgery that would finally remove the cyst (the size of a grapefruit- OMG) I was carrying on my right ovary, which would cause me major pain almost every other day. It would also put me in the hospital and out of commission twice during that year, creating it difficult in maintaining a smooth schedule for all the things I wanted to get done during a week. I suppose pushing yourself in trying to operate a 50+ hour work week will cause you to have some health problems. Duh!
I was nervous about my surgery but relieved that it was finally coming to an end and that the benign growth was finally getting taken out of me. This way I could hopefully have more energy and have NOTHING get between me and my work. I really hate having interruptions in my plans and my goals. It's really aggravating for me.
The week before I went under, I imagined it be a piece of cake and that my body would come out good as new and I'd be right back at it, feeling 150% better than I did going in... wow, was I wrong and just being a fool. Having this kind of ambition will get you way in over your head at times. But all in all, I do have to say it's a great thing to have and what a lot of people lack. I've accomplished great things I never imagined doing and feel nothing is ever too big but this, to be quite honest, was making me feel rather defeated.
The first annual "Music In Motion" recital was booked for June 15th and was I ready to put it all together? ... um... no... hell no... I wasn't ready... you gotta be kidding me!!!Recovering on the couch for nearly three and a half weeks, my body couldn't really do anything but just heal. So obviously, I had to postpone the concert. Most students were glad I did, as some of them didn't feel ready enough to perform and wanted more time to prepare and hey, that was totally fine by me.
While laying around doing nothing for weeks (and you know that's quite a hard thing for me to do), I really got to evaluate and think about the direction I was taking in my life. I started connecting more and more with who I was and what was really important. I could even say I was getting back to my roots and authentic self, my artistic self, where it all began for me.
When you're constantly on the go as I was, you never have or ever make the time to slow down and just think about things. My body forced me to do that and I'm so happy it did because I learned that what I was doing was unhealthy for myself, my body, and my relationships. Headed for burnout and above all, deterioration of the many things that were quite dear to my heart.
With all this self-reflection and evaluation, I decided to take a risk - to focus entirely on what I love most, what I do best and what makes me the most happy - singing and teaching. Also, what makes me the most profit. Living out any solopreneurs dream and loving every second of it.
I left my job in the beauty industry and it gave me more time and freedom to focus on what I really want out of life. You really need to have balance and truthfully, I wasn't getting any. I had no time for my family or friends, no time for my husband or my new (not even one-year-old) marriage, even. The house was always an upside down mess because we never had time to clean it. I was always on my way out here or on my way out there. Never any time to just chill. What a headache of a life.
Sing A Song That's Yours, my voice teaching business has really taken off. I'd consider myself to be successful in what I've done so far and up to this point and sure, I'll always be moving forward and trying to take things to the next level, thinking about future projects and how to tackle them. It's been nearly seven years now, teaching and running life like a mad woman, but I now have a consistent steady business that continues to grow more and more every year. I have many new ideas for my business that I can't wait to start introducing the world to. It will take a little time and practice to get where I want to be but I know I can do it because, well, I've gotten this far, haven't I?
It's a proven fact, what you put into something and how much you put into it, you'll really start seeing the rewards and profits. And the accomplishment you feel from building something from nothing - I'm so proud. And now taking the risk of solely teaching full time excites me and I'm anticipating what the future will bring. I'm even tackling things on my bucket list like enrolling in French class, where I'm taking lessons from a french tutor. It's been one of my dreams to sing and speak fluently and now I actually have time to enjoy things like these. Wish me luck! In the near future, I plan to take an art class, that should be fun and educational. Finally, taking the time out for me and my passions.
Life is for sure funny sometimes, We never know what we're going to be handed. It was a blessing for me to get an ovarian cyst, I guess. Life was trying to tell me to slow down. Glad I took the advice. And now I'm really starting to enjoy this ride. My advice to the ones who are constantly on the go and don't have enough time to stop and smell the roses - stop and spare just a second! Seriously, your whole self with thank you in the end. You CAN continue to be productive and still have that balance you secretly long for in your life. Give it a try sometime. You'll be happy you did.
Thanks for reading my story. Hopefully, I've inspired something in you because that's what life is all about - getting inspired and following your dreams. Take care and have a lovely week everyone.
-Bridgette, Sing A Song That's Yours Vocal Studios