Hi friends! Recently, on top of battling severe acid reflux(which is now under control, thank God for that!), I have been battling panic attacks, and severe anxiety. I feel like this topic has been placed on my heart to write about for a reason, and that reason is you’re probably struggling with this too. Am I right?  You’re working those late nights after you get off your day job, hustling, and trying to make that big dream of yours come true.

I get it, I am right there with you, but are you letting fear fuel your need for the hustle? Are you working from a place of fear? The fear that, “I’ve fallen behind. I need to X to be successful, or they’re doing Y so I need to do this too to be successful.” So instead of working with purpose on YOUR vision, you’re working from a place of fear.

You start thinking that your version of success isn’t good enough.Or even worse you start thinking that you are not enough.  I am here to tell you it is, and YOU are enough! You don’t have to be the “next big thing”, or “the next industry leader”.  I’ll even let you in on a secret: those who are the biggest YouTubers, or industry leaders didn’t actually aspire to be those things, they simply found a passion for what they did, worked hard, and the rest followed. They didn’t allow themselves to stay in that place of fear, instead pushed forward despite the fear, and worked on their vision.

Once you do that, you begin to work from that place of rest. You still may have to work late nights, but you feel satisfied, fulfilled, and purposeful. You’re not taking on someone else’s vision for business, and life. You’re taking on the vision that God has given YOU.

So let me ask you: What does YOUR definition of success look like? What would working from a place of rest instead of fear look like for you? (Take a few moments to think about this)

For me, and this is hard for me to admit, but I started taking on someone else’s vision for my business, instead of working on my own. I saw that this person’s way worked better than mine. So I thought why not replicate that, and see if I have any success? All of a sudden I found myself working insane hours outside of my day job, feeling empty, and not satisfied at all. I believe this coupled with stress from my day job led to sleepless nights, panic attacks, and the fear that I am not good enough to do this.(That’s starting to sound familiar isn’t it?)

Through taking some much needed time off(more like forced time off), resting my body, and mind, God started working something new in my heart. He started stirring my heart to work from a place of rest. To rest in His promises, and to rest in the fact that I AM good enough, and capable.  To grow slow and steady.

You know what? I have more peace about working than ever before. In the midst of this busy season for me as a photographer, I am working from a place of rest.

  I give myself margin to work hard, schedule in time for relationship building & tending with my family & friends. When I feel so overwhelmed that I end up not doing anything I schedule in time to shut off the social media, close the laptop, and read a book, or just step outside for some fresh air.

What does this look like?? I hear people talk about working from a place of rest, but what does it look like?? How do I apply this tangibly??

You know now that I’m taking the vision that God has given me, working at my own pace, and now I’m just scheduling my days accordingly. I am using a new system (new to me anyway) called calendar blocking.

While this may look like the exact opposite of what we just talked about, it actually gives me peace of mind knowing that everything has a designated time slot, and ensures that the most important tasks get done. Even more importantly I schedule in my breaks, my vacation times, times for me to go out, & be with my family & friends, day trips, etc.  Even using Amy & Jordan’s method of putting related tasks on the same day, has actually given me some time back in my week. Which feels amazing!!

I hope this post has helped you at least feel that you are not alone. Just take it one day at a time, you’ve got this. If you have any tips about working from a place of rest please share them below, I’d love to hear them.

Love,