Thankful before Thanksgiving

I have been feeling extremely overwhelmed with life as of late... I've never been one to master the art of work life balance but recently there has been no balance at all. I say all that to say, when I complain about exhaustion I never want to come off as someone who isn't grateful for the life I continue to work for or the opportunities that continue to come my way... I don't want sympathy and I definitely don't want my clients' to see this and think to lessen my workload... I just want to be real, the entrepreneurial life ain't easy but it's the life I chose every single day, proud of it!

I want to take a moment with myself, to get grounded... what better way to do that than to think of 10 things I'm INCREDIBLY thankful for, it is the season for exactly that!

*Beau and Sasha in the studio while mom is behind the camera!*

1) My dogs: even on the days I don't want to get up, I HAVE TO! I've set the standard for them since being a full time entrepreneur and they won't settle for anything less than 6:00 am wake up calls, an hour at the dog park to start the day and a breakfast before mom hits the ground running! Not only do they keep me on track but they give me unconditional love which no human is truly capable of... and with that - I'm limitless!

2) My support system: When you're in a relationship with someone who wants to gain control and influence over you, they slowly wean you off of all social interaction outside of them... since leaving my abusive relationship I've spent a year rebuilding old and fostering new friendships. I've even been able to spend far more time with family than I ever did while being his girlfriend.

3) My business: It's almost self explanatory at this point. I do what I love... EVERYDAY and I couldn't say that 2 years ago. Even when things feel monotonous, it's still better than any other job I've had thus far. This also includes my amazing client roster full of hard working folks I get to collaborate with daily.

*Photo credit to @daniel.recinos on Instagram!*

4) Financial stability: Working paycheck to paycheck leaves no room to breathe and I finally can now!

*Should I do an entire blog post on Africa?!*

5) My travels: I took my first ever solo trip to... AFRICA back in August and I still don't think I've had time to process it. My next international trip is on the horizon and I can't wait to get back to exploring! I truly think it's lifes' greatest treasure!

6) My therapist: I have mentally grown leaps and bounds with my current therapist. I've done therapy throughout my whole life and never once did I continue when things were "good," I'd only continue if my life was seemingly "bad." I think there's work to be done during all seasons in your life and someone outside of your circle who can aid in that is priceless!

7) My mentor: Listen, I can sell your own shoes back to you but what I'm not so skilled at is the backend of running your own business. There's a lot of things you learn along the way but most of it you have to do your own research on, especially being a black woman and a product of a single-mother household... I often found myself too overwhelmed to take care of the admin work necessary to scale my business and opted to take the easy way out and focus on the workload I had in front of me. Now with the knowledge and resources from someone who has started a business more than a couple of times, I feel a sense of accountability, I'm learning more with every weekly meeting... I just feel more ON TOP OF it! And that helps my anxiety out a ton!

8) Health: Everyone I care about is healthy. No one is battling an illness, no one is handicapped in any way, including myself and that is something to be grateful for EVERYDAY!

9) Eating: On the topic of health and going full circle back the beginning of this blog post, work life balance isn't easy for me, so much so - I was losing an alarming amount of weight due to the fact that I would wake up and immediately take care of the dogs so I could tend to my client work. I'd look up to find myself eating my first meal between the hours of 3:00 - 7:00 pm... UNINTENTIONALLY. This wasn't intermittent fasting because I wasn't getting all of my daily calories at the end of my day, I was simply getting one measly meal worth which left me tired and lacking serious nutrients. I've since done an about face and get almost all 3 meals in everyday and if I don't it's because I made an effort to seriously snack through any meal I might've missed, again unintentionally.

*Up at Avery’s lake house I cheffed up an incredible dinner! A surf and turf moment if you will!*

10) Me, myself and I: I'm the reason I wake up everyday and enjoy my life. I grew up miserable, frustrated with my circumstances and dealing with my mental illnesses, convinced it would never get better. To the person reading this who still might think the same, it does get better, if you want it to and if you want it bad enough you'll do whatever you can each and every day to get there. It's not a destination that you can stay forever once you have arrived but the "secret to happiness is letting every situation be what it is instead of what you think it should be, and then making the best of it."