I’m back from a little hiatus and I wish I could tell you I am clearheaded, refreshed and have everything figured out. Nope. Instead I am getting back to work with a million fuzzy ideas swimming in my brain, lingering laryngitis and a heart racing with the anxiety of getting caught up. Granted, I am totally re-inspired and ready to get back to work. It was a welcome change of pace today to get back to my routine: dropping the little one off at school, driving a couple of miles to Foster and getting my work on.

The past couple of weeks have made me appreciate my business and clients even more. After an amazing vacation in St. John that was filled with sunshine, rum drinks and sleep…it seemed that the universe wanted to make up for that little luxury by a stressful Thanksgiving and a flu that knocked me out of commission last week. As I was frantically emailing clients to tell them that yes, I am back from vacation but no, not able to work – I braced myself for an onslaught of less than pleased responses. What I got instead were kind words of understanding and simple sentiments of care. It was not only a relief (love you clients), but also made me reassess what led up to this point. Yes, I’d gone on vacation but even that had become a bit of an ordeal – planning, traveling, leaving my child for the first “real” trip. There were weeks of wrapping clients’ projects up, meeting milestones, emails x 1 million. Then came Thanksgiving which becomes so much more about others than “you” (and not in a good way). I hadn’t made time to invest in my biggest business asset – myself. I hadn’t been eating right, exercising, sleeping enough (vacation reminded me of this). And my body made me slow down. Literally. As I sat in the doctors office listening to her tell me I had to just get in bed, I thought of my clients first and back to the days of working for someone else. The ease of taking a PTO day! Then another though came into focus. If I am going to run this business that I love, I must also love myself more. As small business owners we aren’t just the people who make it happen, we are also the people that attract clients to our business. A happier, healthier you means a happier, healthier business. And THAT, my friends, is my bit of advice after this crazy month. Here’s to breathing deep and getting through the last month of 2014. Take care of yourselves!