Whoa. It is 2017. 17 years since High School. 20 years since the first Adelaide Vans Warped Tour (how old does that make Steve Caballero!). 10 years since I quit my day job and went solo, and 6 years since I started DN. Every one of them just seems to fly by faster and faster. Relativity.
None have seemed as breakneck as 2017. My business life has been non-stop, with some brilliant new contracts and fresh work for existing clients. The team is growing and so is the responsibility. My role is constantly evolving, which I love, but it brings new challenges. Old habits are hard to break and finding the time to make it all happen can be tough. The process of ‘working smarter’ is time-consuming in itself. Learning to delegate more, finding the right people to make it all happen without hiccups. I am a firm believer in constant evolution and always learning, but sometimes you do just long for ‘steadiness’.
I have never, ever, felt in my life that things are going ‘steady’. Perhaps a few years in my early twenties but that was probably more like ‘stagnant’. Even then I was sure making life as challenging as possible for myself…it seems to be quite a common trait in entrepreneurs and business owners. That nagging feeling of restlessness, the sense that things are never perfect and require more work. It definitely keeps things interesting, but is life meant to feel like a race? Is this just a symptom of our times?
Stopping to smell the roses and capturing them for your daily instagram story, then seeing a cool post about…
Or is a personality quirk? It is very difficult to stay mindful and enjoy the moment when you have 10 conversations across 3 continents, 3 devices and 5 platforms happening most days from dawn til dusk (and darkness).
And now I am rambling. I am sitting down at a great new cafe in Somerton Park called Lampshade for a moment away from the madness and have enjoyed two strong coffees, a homemade pickle sandwich, and a great chat about the art of home pickling (yet another new hobby to occupy my time). But even here the reality of the world is sneaking up on me, via silent vibrations and red notification alerts. And those rare times when I ignore the ‘net’ for a whole day the re-immersion is intense. Do I really process and respond to 50+ emails everyday? Madness.
I guess that is just the challenge set: how to stay sane and somewhat balanced in the age of Snapchat, Brexit and endless fragmentation.
I guess it is always best to heed the eternal words of HST:
Buy the ticket, take the ride.
Indeed.
