One Thing At A Time, One Day At A Time

In my last blog I spoke about why I wanted to start Extra Support, this has been a long time coming. I had initially set the goal for myself to get this business up and running on the 1st of the year. I filed for my LLC in the state of Michigan and I started working on my branding and buying the first initial items for my mental health support shop.

Deciding on what to put in the boxes with such a limited capital to get started was a challenge in of itself. I wanted something that would be helpful and meaningful to many. It took a lot of revision and I finally settled on the Mindful Moments, Calm and Collected, and Mental Health Matters Boxes. There are always many steps that go into starting a business, it all takes time and careful thought and planning.

Being someone that suffers from Major Depressive Disorder and Seasonal Affective Disorder on top of that in the winters, life was throwing it at me. To try and keep up with expectations at work so I can pay my bills, take time to take care of myself so I can piece together enough to keep working, plan for cooking healthy meals, grocery shopping for those meals, then cooking them, cleaning the dishes, upkeep of the house, trying to stay in touch with friends to let them know, I haven't forgotten about them, I'm just going through a rough time, trying to make sure I make time to spend with my boyfriend and dogs, making sure I have time to get in the sleep I nee, and making time to try and do some things I enjoy...that's a rough balance on it's own. Add to that all my Dr. Appointments to try and maintain my autoimmune disease with my mental health, it's no wonder why I get overwhelmed. (And really, the list could go on.)

I know there are plenty of other people out there like me who struggle to just keep up with life. It's crazy how people who haven't lived it don't get it at all, isn't it? That's where it becomes important to advocate and make space for yourself. I made the decision to just take my time to get everything ready for Extra Support. I had the vision, and I know I can turn it into something great with time. It's going to get done, and the only one putting the expectations to get everything done, was me. I decided that as long as I got one thing done to make progress towards my goal of launching Extra Support everyday, no matter how big or small, it was progress enough. It made it much more manageable. Even now I'm still working on the next thing for this page and my shop and I feel happy with my progress.

If you've been feeling overwhelmed by life in general, it really does make a massive difference to break things down, "does this need to be done now?" the next question to ask is "who is determining when this needs to be done?" If it's you and you're overwhelmed trying to keep up with your own timeline, take a breath and give yourself some grace. We are not super humans as much as we would like to be.

This world is so fast paced now, I think it's important to stop and remember that we are in charge of taking steps to help shape the life we need to thrive. One thing at a time, one step at a time, one day at a time, it doesn't have to be all at once. So I would like to ask you today, what can you do to take something off your plate or break it down into smaller more manageable steps for yourself? What can you do to help set yourself up for success? I think you can do a lot more than you think you could. Try it, you might surprise yourself!