MaxE may have been unimpressed by our week off, but his Mama mostly enjoyed it. I have to say mostly since I ended up getting super stressed about finishing my redesign for Eat Laugh Purr by the end of my vacation. And who placed such a crazy deadline on a girl who was supposed to be chilling out? Me. And boy, was I being cuckoo!
Or really optimistic. 🙂
I am really, really in love with the new look, and I can’t wait to share it with you. It’s honestly going well overall, but once you start adding some of the bells and whistles, it can get a bit hairy sometimes. Things that should be simple are not and things that you expected to be complicated—exceed your expectations.
Sometimes I give up. Yell. Pout. Go whine to MaxE who is unimpressed. Get mad and decide that I am smarter than a computer.
Errrrr … to be clear, I am not smarter than a computer. 🙂
But I am not a quitter. So I try, try and try again until I figure it out.
Letting Go is Hard and Easy
I realized last Friday that I was not going to get everything done in time for me to install the new site on Saturday. There were still several things that needed coding and were new to me, which typically means that I need to allow plenty of time to dink around.
At first I panicked and pushed myself harder, which only made it worse. I was making mistakes and not feeling remotely zen and relaxed. My vacation was going up in flames.
So I stopped.
I wasn’t going to make my self-imposed arbitrarily set deadline and the world would not end because of it. I needed to put on my big girl pants and let go.
What’s the Real Goal?
My goal for taking last week off was to recharge my batteries. I was feeling burnt out and cranky. Sure, it would have great to unveil the new site when I returned, but it wasn’t a do or die situation. It was a secondary goal and one that actually had a lot of flexibility.
Some goals are hard and fast. Others are not. It doesn’t mean they aren’t important, but it does mean that they shouldn’t supersede a far more important goal—like getting my mojo, creativity and energy back.
MaxE had been giving me the dreaded cat stare of disdain all week long due to my neglect. My promises of playtime and snuggles had not been kept. He and I both deserved better.
So I made it up to him and myself over the weekend. We played and relaxed and slowly the tension started to fade away. It was a good reminder how easy it is to get distracted by other things and forget what you’re really working towards. I’m glad I eventually remembered and honored the purpose of my vacation and let go.
Photo courtesy of Randy Heinitz via flickr.