That title might have sent shivers down your spine, and I have to admit I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to switch off. On previous holidays I’d always taken my laptop with me (just in case), I’d gotten into the habit of second guessing, what would happen if I actually switched off, would something go wrong? In previous roles although never written down in the contract it was assumed that you would be available, I remember taking a call in a rainy Scarborough one year because my boss needed something that could have waited but I took the call anyway as I hadn’t really understood how crossing that boundary would make me feel, soaked to the skin wasn’t half of it.
Why was this holiday different?
Over the course of my NLP Practitioner training, I worked on my values and one of them is family, does that mean I take every weekend off, not necessarily as sometimes that’s when inspiration happens, and I now see that as a choice, not a given. So back to how setting boundaries helped me truly relax and enjoy our holiday. It allowed me to feel confident to let my clients know that I would be taking a break, I chatted to them and also sent an email a couple of months before letting them know that their creating and scheduling would be taken care of before I went away and that there would be no disruption to their visibility online. The response that I received was truly humbling, they were fully onboard and I was blown away.
Was anything else different?
Through my training I worked on my money mindset and was not as anxious to look at my numbers, why was that important? When we had been away before I was always conscious of what we were spending and in the past that has stopped us making memories, such as celebrating getting engaged in Paris with a McFlurry instead of Champagne! This time was different the highlight of our time away was celebrating my youngest’s birthday on a sunset cruise and being fully present – anchoring that moment for times when things might feel less easy.
Has being able to truly switch off changed how I look at my business?
Absolutely yes. It gave me the time to reflect on my vision for Frelsi and the support I provide to other small business owners. I love seeing others grow and that’s why my renewed focus will be mindset and business support coaching.
I’m going to leave you with a question, when was the last time your truly switched off?