Hi y'all, I hope you can bear with me because this is about to be a bit more informal than I usually do. February definitely wrecked me, I kept thinking I was fine emotionally but then I began to notice that some of my more self-destructive habits were cropping up and I had to have a come-to-Jesus moment with myself (essentially, if we want to get technical, I consider my patron deity Hekate). There was about a week-long freeze here in Texas at the end of February that really put a wrench in things. My new bedroom/work area is a converted garage so there's no insulation & I am straight not built for cold whatsoever. I cannot tolerate it, I try, I really do, but it's rough. As that was easing I got another sign from the universe that I need to upgrade my PC; it is currently running Windows 7 and I was having a lot of difficulties with some compatibility, so I am definitely going to need to invest in Windows 10- something I have not wanted to do and have been very resistant to. I know change is a good thing, but.... I like Windows 7.
Anyway! Let's get into my plans for March.
Reopen Shop (I am perhaps 2-3 days from that)
Membership Giveaway (I want to do a no-purchase necessary drawing for 5-10 clients/possible clients to get a free year of the Arcanite Membership)
St Patricks Day Sale (My gram, who raised me, was born on St Pat's day- I'm very fond of this day for that reason)
Release all the new tarot spreads I meant to release in January-February (can I just say that these last few months have been a trainwreck in my life? Thank y'all for all the messages of kindness and patience, some of them have legit brought me to tears because right now kindness seems like such a rare thing in my life, ah effs I'm tearing up, let's move on)
Now to address some of, what I think, are my biggest faults:
I want to be a bit less formal/'professional' with my clients. I think that trying to keep a decorum of professionalism sometimes keeps me from being honest about where I am in life & how it's affecting my work. I don't want to burden anyone, but I also want to kind of loosen the chains on my communication and I think this is how to do it. I know I need to be communicating with clients better, it is possibly the place I feel I drop the ball the most.
I want to decide on official break days where I can take time for self mantenience. Something I end up doing is working until I burn out, and I don't mean to, I think this is just a fatal flaw of fire signs honestly-- we think we can handle it all but we don't realize how we're burning the candle at both ends. When I hit that burn out I end up falling into this slump where I don't do anything, literally anything, not even wash my hair, and then the depression comes in to remind me how I am "shirking" my responsibilities and it's just not a good cycle. I want to break this by mandating breaks for myself. I might not reply to every message the second it comes through (which I want to address, see above) but I am reading them and I am constantly looking at or fiddling with work, chipping away at readings, researching new spreads and spells, and while this is definitely my passion and I love what I'm doing, I don't give myself breaks. I forget. I get so hyperfocused and I just don't realize what this takes out- or rather, what all I'm putting into it, because it's not really a "take" situation, I truly love running this little shop. This is probably also a bit due to my ADHD as well.
Figure out a way to have a public schedule. This is an idea that's been on my mind for a while where I think it'd be neat if people could see at least a rough schedule that's somewhat public. I'm not sure if I'd do it via order number or initials? I'm thinking Order Number because that doesn't give any personal info and guarding my clients' info is something I take super seriously. (Another reason why I need to upgrade to Win10 is soon my VPN won't be compatible with Win7) I just think this would be really neat & it would make it easier for me to just keep working and my clients would still be able to get an accurate and up to date ETA on their order.
Again, thanks for enduring all this trash in my life with me, it really feels like these hardships I've been through recently have helped pull me closer to my craft so there has been a silver lining. The depression is coming in waves concerning the divorce decisions, so regarding break days, I may just take those sporadically because sometimes it's just the smallest reminder, ykno? I'm hoping March will be the month that sees me climbing out of this hole, and as always, I'm pretty optimistic about that. I've spent time journaling and getting a bit of a plan to try and do just that.
♥Mad