Sick Day| Personal

Today I’m calling in sick!  It’s a weird thing to do when you are your own boss.

Ever since I was little if I did too much or had too much on my plate, my body would react.  I would become exhausted or get a cold or just become really run down.  My mom always knew when it was going to happen and she would prepare for it.  She would warn me as I got older and ask me to slow down.  Even now, she does the same!  Mom’s always know!

This past weekend was amazing!  I spent all weekend in a gorgeous marshy field with this stunning weather and some families I absolutely love!  I had a blast catching up with them and photographing them and I felt truly blessed and honored.  I came home and thought about how crazy these few months have been and really how crazy this whole year has been!  I thought about how much I’ve been traveling for work and how it’s looking like the traveling isn’t going to stop any time soon.  That’s amazing!  I thought about how my weekends are booked solid with incredible families and that is something that last year I was only dreaming about!

My drives home from my sessions this weekend were filled with such gratitude and overwhelming emotions!

Then I got home yesterday… to a quiet house (Tuck and Linc went grocery shopping).  I ran upstairs to catch a few moments of peace with a new book and BAM… I was asleep (like hard core fast asleep) at 4:30 pm.  Who does that?!

I actually went to sleep last night at 4:30 in the afternoon BEFORE my two year old.  Tuck woke me up to eat dinner and then I went right back to sleep.  I was THAT exhausted and didn’t even realize it.

This morning I woke up and still felt like I could sleep for days.  I feel now the same way I used to feel after attending church or school lock ins.  The way you feel when you just don’t know if you could ever catch up on enough sleep.  Right now I’m coughing from allergies and I have NEVER had allergies before in my life.  I’m so off my game that while cleaning up after making our crock pot dinner for tonight I used a chlorox wipe IN MY EYE!

So I decided that today I’m taking a rest day and just calling in sick.  I hate to do it because I’m really excited to finish up the edits from this past weekends sessions, but I know I have to take care of myself too.  I still have more wonderful clients to see this week and they also deserve my best!

I realized this morning (after the chlorox wipe incident) that I haven’t really been taking care of myself at all lately.  I know my body and I know that I do have to do certain things in order to maintain my health!  Like my mom knows… I’m someone that can get easily overwhelmed when I have a huge plate.  I absolutely HAVE to take good care of myself!  I’ve been so busy lately that I’ve been blowing those things off.  I’ve skipped the doctor’s appointments I’ve set up.  I haven’t been going to the gym (in fact, I’ve ignored this cough for so long I haven’t even been able to teach body flow for several weeks).  I haven’t gone to get a massage (which I pay for a membership to Luxe because it helps my migraines) since April!

Gosh, I haven’t even showered regularly… I know that’s disgusting!  Hey… it’s the truth though!  I’ve been so busy trying to keep up with Linc in the muddy back yard shenanigans he loves, then running out to roll around in the leaves and dirt in my sessions that I just figure I’ll shower later!  SOOO GROSS!!!!

What I find most interesting about all this though is that a year ago I was barely even dreaming about this kind of busy!  This is amazing to me and I’m so beyond grateful that I just don’t have the words.  I love my clients so much!  I love that they believe in me and trust me to capture their memories and moments.  These precious moments of their family and little ones!

I want to make sure that what I do is perfect for them because they aren’t just clients to me!  They are extensions of my own family!  Once I met with these families… it’s just more than client and photographer.  Their faith in me really touches me in a way that I can’t ever explain!

This is why I don’t slow down!  I want to make sure everything is amazing and perfect and fast!

And my incredible family is supporting me in a way that allows me to do that!  Tuck never complains about a late night or a weekend where I’m working in the office.  If there is one thing he understands, it’s work and family balance.  I wish I had been more gracious with him about that!  I always push him to be more family oriented.  Tuck pushes me to see the business side of things.  We balance each other extremely well and we truly are a perfect fit for each other.  He is my driving force in this business.  He supports me to the ends of the earth and he believes in me when I sometimes don’t even believe in myself.  I feel extremely blessed!

This year has been an amazing year and I can’t wait to continue planning all these fun sessions with all these incredible families and stories!

But for today:  I realize I need to pause and slow down a bit.  In order to continue to give my clients and my family everything I have, I have to give some back to myself too!  I have to take a breather and catch up!

So today (just for today) I’m going to step away from the computer and the camera.  I’m going to take an incredibly and ridiculously long shower!  I’m going to curl up on the couch with my 65 lb. pitbull who thinks she’s a newborn baby!  I’m going to read a book and enjoy the silence and stillness of the house while Linc is enjoying his friends at school.

I might get bored even!  And that’s OK!

If you need me today, you are more than welcome to stop by but the rule is you must be in comfortable clothes.  You could also preferably stop by around lunch time maybe with some panera in hand 😉

I’ll be here… just catching up!