Looking Forward: February 2016

"We interrupt this regularly scheduled blogpost to bring you some realness..."

While the thought of being your own boss and pursuing your art as a business can get any twenty something eager-eyed and excited for the "adventure/rollercoaster" to come, the reality is that if you don't find your identity in something outside of your business, you will crash and burn in no time. The entrepreneurial territory of life consumes about 95% of it (the other 5% being eating) so in order to bring any shred of sanity into the picture, you have to accept and flow with seasons.

With each progressing year, I am learning the seasons I must go through as a business owner & maker. From seasons of new ventures and risks to seasons of putting your nose down to get through all the labor to seasons of planning and laying groundwork all the way back around to seasons of stepping back. No one season is specifically more difficult than the next as they all ebb and flow with new challenges but I think with most things we encounter in life, slowing down to reassess is a constant struggle. It is seemingly counter-cultural to stop and breath, to step back and gain new perspective and to realize that it is JUST as productive (if not, more so) because it is solidifying the foundation (of a business). 

When my assistant, Sav, was pulling together this week's blog of what we are Looking Forward to this coming month, it would be pretty typical that I immediately go to the calendar and send along all the major "exciting, inspirational" highlights to come. However, when I looked at February and realized that this is a season of reassessment, my first response was (quite unfortunately) to try to play it all up as something that portrayed as "bigger" than what it is. This seeming need to make it appear as if having a business is "new and big news" all the time is not only exhausting but disappointingly unrealistic. So please forgive me for that first unfortunate response...

2015 was a major year of newness, setbacks, learning and growth for CHC and while I am excitedly expectant of this coming year to be the same and more, I know (having looked back on previous years) that its going to look completely different if I'm truly growing. And that is the goal, to grow; and as with anything else that grows, each point looks a bit different.

So the truth of what CHC is Looking Forward to in February...?

Stepping back

Revisiting our Mission, Vision, Values

Pursuing creative-play & inspiration

Dreaming

Solidifying who we are as a company

Laying out a strategic plan for the next year(s) to come.

Is this new? Yes. Is this intimidating? Yes. Do I know how it's all going to shake out? Nope.

Am I hopeful & expectant for the year ahead? Absolutely.

As always, THANK YOU for your constant follows, feedback, support, likes, purchases, recommendations, and high-fives.....You are all appreciated!