August Intuition + Visionboard

2021 was about Intuition. A single word designated as a compass to help me manifest my goals and direction.

intuition: noun the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning. "we shall allow our intuition to guide us"

I didn’t write a July summary. I've been doing other things with my time. #SorryNotSorry.

Often when I sit down to write these blog posts it can be a real brain dump. Therapy almost. As I write this it’s 2.56am on Monday morning and I've been trying to get back to sleep for well over an hour. It seemed a waste of time to keep trying - then I got to thinking about time. My brain sparked up and has been sizzling since.

It’s not that often this happens, my visit to insomnia-city. In the past I’ve suffered phases of anxiety and depression that’s damaged my sleep but thankfully these days it’s rare for me to be up with the urban foxes. I LOVE sleep and sleep loves me. Early night? I’m here for it. Nap? Just pass me the blanket baby.

Anyway, enough about sleep. (I really do love it.) I’ve been really aware of time recently and the illustration I knocked up earlier today couldn’t be more representative of my feelings about it. To manage it is quite the skill - it’s a slippery little bugger, isn’t it?

Having said that something is clicking - changing even. I can’t quite put my finger on it but it feels like everything I’ve been wittering on about in these posts since January is falling into place. And it’s because I’ve slowed down to feel it. To be present.

I’m still working a little more than I planned this summer but I have turned my priorities and my working pattern on it’s head. Word on the street is this is the beauty of having your own business - you can change shit up.

And I am.

At the start of the year I thought doing well meant I had to work like a b’iatch. I worked just like I did when I was in full time in agency. Rest and flexibility was a luxury. How bloody wrong that was. 

First off - rest should be non-negotiable. Simple as. Somehow this message gets drowned out over the all the noise of life . It’s no wonder that post-pandemic shitloads of people who have been forced to slow down and adopt flexible working are now wanting more of it. It’s about bloody time too.

My working life has changed significantly. When I think back to how I crushed everything in and lived in a constant state of clock-watching pre Hello Katy it feels like a lifetime ago. Squeezing things around my working hours, constant rushing, lunchtimes eating mindlessly at my desk or even worse, sat in a car park trying to get some quiet (if it was too rainy to be out wandering). How grim. It’s all so different now and it’s brought me such an awareness of time and how I want to be spending it.

I realise I’ve been looking at it all wrong. Rest is no longer the luxury - my work is. Where I tried to life fit in (said loosely as it never did) now my work fits around my life. And it’s bloody champion. (Yes, hear it in my Yorkshire accent ‘luv.)

I freaking love what I do for living. It’s filled my cup for years, allowing me to solve problems for amazing people and express my creativity, making my little mark on the World - usually in a bright colour or some form of animal print. But it can’t take all my precious time.

Over these last few weeks of slowing down and upping my rest and exercise (running, yoga and strength training). I’ve become way more present in general. I’ve avoided alcohol and I feel more alert and alive. And as a result - my work benefits. Boom! I’m brimming with ideas and clarity. Suddenly all of the things that were pulling me down or feeling time stretched are appearing much simpler then first thought and easier to act upon. Some feeling entirely irrelevant. This prioritising is making me feel lighter.

Where January Katy would work all week - really pack it all in - filling up her evenings and weekends and then try squeeze in life, rest and exercise around it, August Katy is working smarter and flexibly - making them all equal in priority and so much happier for it. Also feeling way less guilty for it. Time is a precious thing and I want to be sure I’m using my time wisely and in a way I want that benefits me and my business.

Hang on. Is this the holy grail of work like balance? Answers on a postcard please.

So with that in mind this month’s areas of focus are:

Get all the shit in my head down on paper - Writing down all I want to do and what I ‘think’ I need to do. Does it really need to be done? Or am I making myself more work?

Minimise that list - it’s physically impossible to complete everything I want to straight away and that’s ok.

Keep prioritising my time - it’s bloody working.

Remember rest is rich - scared even. End of.

It’s now 3.23am. A blog post bust out in precisely 27mins. And if I need that nap later. I’ll bloody-well have it.

***** Illustration my own *****