Finding Time and Balance

Oct 27, 2024

I’m always working. I have a terrible habit that as soon as someone says jump, I say “how high?”

I remember years ago when I had my landscaping business, life was so simple. I used a credit card for my gas and paid it off every month. I purchased all materials with a check. I didn’t use the internet for my business. I didn’t send emails and estimates and take online payments, I didn’t have a website to keep track of. I didn’t have not just one, but 4 different social media types to keep up with. I used my home phone (it was cordless!! 🥳) for business and cell phones for communication between me and my business partner. I didn’t even text.

Now I have to go over 5 different ways of payment methods, multiple ways of purchasing. The books are all over the place with where it all comes from. And every month when I do the books I wonder what I’ve missed. It’s overwhelming.

I had two phones. I held a decent idea of business hours. I didn’t answer the phone at night or on Sundays. I didn’t have Google business profile. If I left the house, you couldn’t get ahold of me. If I went on vacation, you couldn’t message me on Facebook. After hours I was in the creek or the woods or playing out back in the yard and you didn’t know it because I didn’t post a pic of my dog on Insta that day.

I worked, I lived, I didn’t allow all the commotion around me to take over every minute of every day.

Life. Was. Simple.

Every time I think of this and those times, I wish I could just turn it all off. But as a business owner, I worry what I am missing if I do shut it down. Am I losing the best sale I could have ever gotten?

I want to unplug and leave the world behind sometimes. And I think we all should. No wonder anxiety runs rampant in society. We are all overwhelmed, depressed, exhausted, emotionally drained….

Do you think this will ever shift? Tell me your story!! Tell me what you miss about “back in the day.” Tell me how you feel in this society of “always turned on.” Tell me what you want to do. Tell me how this world of instant gratification has affected you. Tell me.

And then let’s turn off for a bit!!

-AJ