Let the blogging begin!

Thanks to the help of my wonderful friend and fellow blogger, Yogalexis, I am finally foraying into this new forum of communication. I hope to use this blog as a way to reflect, share and motivate both myself and others. I've been journalling since age 8, so just a heads up that my posts will probably be long because once I start writing it flows for at least 15 minutes. I don't know how narcisstic blogging is in my case - such a strange dynamic I don't even know where to begin on that one - but I'm feeling very drawn to it so here goes.

As a sole practictioner running a public relations practice from my home office in Sunset Beach, CA, I find that it's so important to stay connected to a community of inspiring people. Positive people, positive energy....it's not only vital to success, but to survival and sanity. Especially when you work mostly alone and don't have colleagues to bounce ideas off. Many of my family and friends are so supportive, but they don't understand exactly what I do (sometimes I don't even understand exactly what I do, which brings me to the forthcoming lesson of the day).

What I miss sometimes about working in an office environment is that random brainstorming and venting throughout the day with colleagues who not only get what you do, but are doing it too. So I'm taking to blogging about my process as a necessary step to gaining clarity and focus for the work I'm doing. I wanted to say that I have so much on my plate, but what I really feel like is a waitress carrying two trays of six plates, each one with so much on it. Maybe we all feel like that. I do especially as a new business owner balancing the needs of my clients with the business part of billing, proposals, marketing, not to mention personal needs like healing, dance, yoga and meditation. I need to set the trays down, take a step back, roll my shoulders, shake my head and take some deep breaths. If angry customers are crying for their food while I do this, so be it, because if I am to really do a good job in this world, I better be grounded. I used to be a waitress actually, and on more than one occasion I quit in tears, so I know how serious it is to be calm, collected and clear heading into every situation.

Lesson of the day: back away from the computer.

Today I found that stepping away from the computer for a couple of morning hours was the best move to gain perspective on a project I've been trying to tackle for over a week. I realized that the project was driving me mad (and away from it) because I wasn't clear on what exactly I need to do. So everytime I tried to work on it, I would sit down at my computer and get sucked into the vortex of Internet, emails, random spreadsheets, everything more urgent and entertaining than planning and focusing. My facebook status read "Must. Stay. Focused!" but the very fact I was on facebook sabotaged my intentions, and not too long after I was posting a picture of Suri Cruise in highheels with a starbucks cup to speak out against the oversexualization of little girls. Pretty interesting, right? There I go again....!

So, I took my notebook and my brain to Coffee Bean on PCH, where the smell of espresso sweetness enlivened my senses and I sensed a buzz of energy. Looking out the window at the rain pouring every few minutes, hearing the rythmic music at just the right volume, taking just a notebook and pen to work with, that felt right. I did my best to break the project into pieces and identify clear next steps. So now I am going to make a PowerPoint slide by slide, with each slide identified ahead of time. We'll see how it goes. This project is like the entree on the biggest plate on one of my many trays. It's a steak and I had to cut it into pieces to make it digestable.