You Gotta Have Friends

jdurham at morguefile.com
Among the many wonderful things about self-employment, there are a few things that totally suck. One is the fact that every day you have to pick yourself up to work – whether you feel good or bad, prosperous or broke, whether everything is going well or everything is going wrong, whether you have lots of clients or are wondering if the whole world left for another planet and no one told you. Every morning, day after day, you have to pick yourself up to do some work.

And no one else tells you what you need to be doing either. You can work for a week on something and then realise it doesn’t work and have to start again. You have moments where it is all coming together, and moments when it all falls apart. Days when you seem to meet ideal clients, business partners, mentors and new friends with ease, and days when you are so isolated you accost the postman for a chat.

There are times when this gets exhausting, and all you want to do is lay your head on the desk and weep. And at these times there are 2 things to remember: Number one, check your level of self-care – when you’re self-employed it is even more important that you take care of the engine, because if your engine breaks there’s no one else to step in. And Number two, you gotta have friends – remember they are there for you when you need them.

I recently had one of those days where everything looked immensely bleak, it was all very difficult and I was too exhausted to pick myself up and carry on. Luckily one of my friends called as I was in the middle of my stress, and the troops rallied round to help me. One friend offered me help to get shit done, one offered me a facial, one offered me a big hug, one offered me a shoulder to (literally) cry on, and one told me that if I got in this state without calling her again, she’d beat me up!

See, you gotta have friends!

Love

Donna.x
PS thank you friends. Love you. xxx

Comments

4 responses to “You Gotta Have Friends”

  1. Donnaonthebeach avatar

    Thanks Ruth! Exactly. Also, sometimes you need to meltdown to breakthrough as well…and trying to do that alone is making life unnecessarily hard! (I have a meltdown/breakthrough every 6 months or so!) There is nothing better than having great people to connect with. x

  2. Donnaonthebeach avatar

    Thanks Ruth! Oh I love that!! Gold, indeed. Lol – absolutely, never leave home without self-care! xxx

  3. Ruth Crone (@peopleincubator) avatar
    Ruth Crone (@peopleincubator)

    Donna, have to agree with your opener. I love what I do and for the most part, that’s every single day, Monday to Funday. But and it’s a biggie, you really DO need to (put the postman down) connect, especially on those days when things don’t seem to be coming together the most. That will help you succeed faster in business and the business of life when PMA temporarily deserts you. 🙂

  4. Ruth K avatar
    Ruth K

    Great article Donna, thanks for sharing with your Tribe! . I read this somewhere the other day and liked it: Make new friends but keep the old, the new are silver the old are gold! Have a super day. ‘Self care’ is the new essential accessory for 2012! x