When Clarity Takes a Vacation

This has been one of those chaotic weeks where it’s hard to know which end is up. I’ve had quite a few more obligations come up than usual, quite a few meetings and appointments, two full days out of the office, all while I try to get ready for a vacation to Mexico. 

With all the chaos happening, clarity was incredibly elusive, especially when planning out this episode. I knew I wanted to talk about reflection and momentum, and how to use these to plan for the new year. 

I had tons of ideas, concepts, and stories of struggles, and triumphs I could share but they were all jumbled up in my head, and they kept bouncing off each other. It was like someone emptied a dump truck full of bouncing balls into a rubber padded room inside my brain, and pulling together a few clear thoughts was starting to feel impossible. 

I must have started 4-5 new documents trying to brainstorm what I was going to share. I did a brain dump of these ideas into my AI software in the hopes it could at least organize all the thoughts into a list of more coherent themes. I even tried hitting the record button to see what came out, as sometimes actually having the conversation, and listening back to it helps me know what I actually want to share through the podcast. 

Nothing was working! 

As my deadline of creation was approaching I was starting to get a little panicked! I knew I had to get something recorded soon, if I was going to even have an episode this week, but what that something was going to be, just wasn’t clear to me. And then it hit me… CLARITY. That’s what I should be talking about. 

As business owners and as people in general there are moments in our lives when clarity seems to take a vacation. Our minds spin out of control thinking of so much, and yet very little that matters.  Try as we might, we just can’t seem to bring things together in a way that makes sense, and yet we know we still have to move forward. We have obligations and responsibilities to meet, promises to ourselves and our audience to keep and deadlines looming. 

So how do you find clarity when it seems to be hiding? 

There are a lot of things that contribute to clarity, and it is a personal journey that can vary from day to day, so let me just share with you what worked for me, so that I could finally sit down and get today’s episode recorded. 

But first, let me introduce myself. I am Teresa Schlup, a branding strategist and web designer, and self-proclaimed original caffeine creative. You can learn more about who I am and what I do at caffeinecreative.io. And if you want to connect with me, coffee is always on and conversations are free. Simply book a consultation from the home page of my website and let’s chat. 

And now let’s see if we can gain a little clarity… 

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines clarity as… 

“the state of having a full, detailed, and orderly mental grasp of something” 

Which is exactly what I was missing when planning this episode. So I started doing a little web surfing to see what others had to say about clarity, and I came to the conclusion that clarity starts with self-care. 

Clarity starts with self care

If we want to have a clear view on where we are and where we want to be, we need to first take care of ourselves, and I’ll admit this week, in all the busyness self-care wasn’t at the top of my list. So rather than pushing through and starting yet another brainstorming document, I shut down my computer, walked away and did a little self-care. 

By taking care of me first for just a few minutes I was able to clear away some of the cobwebs in my brain. Self-care can take on a lot of different forms, and today it took on the form of getting back on track with how I want to live in the day to day of my life. Which meant… 

Time to journal. 

This is actually the first thing I tried to help gain a little clarity, and while it usually is all I need, today it wasn’t working. Which is why the following steps were necessary. 

Because journaling is one of my best tools for building the life and business of my dreams I want to give it a little love. As Barb Davis, from the podcast Small Business Sweet Spot said in one of her episodes a few months ago,

“Its not the act of journaling it’s the self awareness and reflection and aha that come out of journaling.” Barb Davis, Small Business Sweet Spot

And I know you may be thinking Journaling isn’t for you, but I would say give it a try. Just try it without all the limiting beliefs and rules we build up around journaling. Here is what I used to share with my life coaching clients. 

• The first rule of journaling is that there are no rules. No perfect way to do it, no fancy book required, and you get to say whatever you want. This isn’t your memoir. It's a place to organize your thoughts and let go of limiting beliefs that are stuck in your brain. 

• If you feel off… stressed… overwhelmed…. Just crappy… make time to journal. Again you don’t have to spend hours and hours pouring your heart and soul into the pages of your journal. Even just a minute to two can make a difference. And I have some journaling ideas below.

• Be as honest as you can in the moment. Sometimes facing what is really going on in our mind sucks, and there really isn’t any better word for that. Sometimes we need to face those ideas in stages. Face what you can today, the rest will reveal itself when you’re ready. 

• Embrace those punctuation and spelling errors. Your english teacher isn’t going to be reading this and you get an A+ by simply putting pen to paper. So stop worrying about perfection, and just let the words flow in all of their imperfections. 

There are a lot of ways to journal, but here are the two I find the most helpful. 

• 60 second brain dump. This is exactly what it sounds like. Set a timer for 60 seconds and write down everything that pops into your head. It doesn’t have to make sense, and none of it even has to go together. Just write. When the timer goes off, take a long deep breath and let it out slowly. Then add in a little movement, like starting a load of laundry. This often gives me the clarity I am looking for in the moment.  

• Morning pages. This I am borrowing from the book The Artist Way by Julia Cameron, and it is very simple. Start each morning by writing 3 pages in your journal. You get to decide how big your journal is, and can choose a small one so 3 pages isn’t so much. The only rule is you have to write 3 pages. Even if you write, “I have no idea what I am going to write about.” The key is to write 

No sacrificing my nutrition. 

I have been a little bit of a health nut for years, but even I can head down the “give me all the junk food” street, or worse… “I’ll eat later, avenue.”  These bad habits, held over from my own childhood, always derail me and leave me feeling tired, cranky, and unclear in my thoughts. 

So despite my brain telling me, “You have a lot to do today,” I took the time to make myself a really yummy and nutrient dense breakfast. The food definitely helped, and so did the process of making it. The act of cooking and cleaning up gave me a sense of normalcy and routine, which helped calm the panic in my mind and all of this led to even more clarity. 

Exercise. 

Movement like swapping out the laundry helps, but sometimes that just isn’t enough. Actually exercising like hopping on my treadmill or stationary bike, or even just a 20 minute session with some hand weights, can clear my mind like nothing else. In fact some of my best ideas come through when I am exercising. 

Picking up and decluttering. 

My husband and I are pretty neat people by nature, but there are times when our neat and orderly house can get a bit out of control. Like when we have a busy week, and are getting ready for vacation. 

So I cranked up the music on my alexa speakers and got to work picking up the house a bit and clearing away some of the clutter. It’s a windy gray day outside so I lowered the bamboo shades we have and lit some candles throughout the house to give everything a more cozy and comfortable feel. 

Keeping my work in working hours 

By the time I had done all of these things it was the time that I normally take a break from work and have lunch. As I had spent the morning taking care of myself, there was that part of my brain trying to make me feel guilty and skip lunch so I could finally get to work. But I didn’t listen. That part of my brain is why I made those bad choices all week that lead me to feeling a bit chaotic, and that didn’t work out all that well, so I wasn’t about to take it’s advice again. 

Instead I had lunch. 

It’s easy to convince ourselves that we need to just push through and keep going. 

And it also isn’t necessary most of the time. Sure I skipped work for the morning taking care of me, but after that, I was able to sit down and be truly productive. I launched a website, followed up with clients, worked on some administrative tasks I need to do before I go on vacation, and finalized the notes for this podcast. I even recorded and got my show notes ready. 

Taking a break to care for yourself, even for just a moment is an investment in your overall well-being and success. 

You know when you need a break, so listen to yourself. Take time for you and let go of the guilt. I promise it is so much better than pushing through! 

Thanks for tuning into the Solo Grind. If this episode gave you the chance to pause… to breathe… and remember you’re not the only one who loses clarity sometimes, please rate, review. It helps other solo entrepreneurs find the clarity they didn’t know they needed.

Feel free to connect with me anytime at caffeinecreative.io, and remember… clarity doesn’t usually arrive on schedule, but it always shows up when you let it.