Blog #5
9/30/21
Stella has a case of the ‘Mondays’
It has been a while since I wrote, and initially I planned to write about the milestone of making it through our first year in business. Something we have achieved with the support of our amazing Manufacturing Partners, Family and Friends. But, as I reflected on the year, a theme continued to repeat itself…trust the intuition, trust the instinct, make time for self and work life balance, make time for priorities other than developing the business.
And I decided to be honest with myself, people would rather read about Stella, and why she had a case of the Mondays…so here we go:
In her defense, it was one of those crispy early fall mornings, big puffy clouds moving through the blue morning sky, and the tips of our local trees just starting to turn their fall colors. And yes, it happened to be a Monday. Stella, our nearly 4-year-old rescue Labra/Golden/Doodle something has been my faithful walking partner since she joined us. But this cool Monday morning she just wagged her bushy tail and stayed right where she was snuggled in her bed. Despite my repeated efforts to call her, she just stayed there staring at me- her bushy eyebrows shifting with each movement of her big brown eyes.
This actually happened two weeks ago, and then again last Monday, and again this Monday! Fortunately, she decided to join me on a Wednesday walk. On that walk, we went unplugged. No music, just the sounds of the morning- rooster calls, wind in the trees, rumble of the school bus coming down our street…then it struct me- Stella is a genius! She is a Leader!
Here I thought she was being lazy, and what she was really telling me is it is ok to take time and just enjoy where you are. She wanted me to think about my own journey. My own challenge to accept not every day has to be a Masterpiece in ‘to-do list’ box checking, production, and progress. Some days you can just take extra time and enjoy the warmth and comfort of the place you are in.
Starting a family business is a milestone on its own, doing so during a global pandemic is a next level gut check. I am so proud of the progress we have made this year. But generally I will follow those grateful thoughts with ‘but, we must do X Y and Z!’. But as Stella pointed out to me, it is ok to slow down and think about things a bit.