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Before I start this series, I think it’s important to identify – as much as I can right now – what falls in the category of “work” and what falls into “rest.” Knowing the responsibilities of my life that feel like work, whether or not they actually produce an income, is necessary to help me determine what to hustle at while, similarly, knowing what truly brings me rest in life is necessary to be able to pursue it well.
Crystal Stine, in her book Holy Hustle (where this series stems from), describes the extreme ends of working hard and resting well as striving and laziness. and I know that, unless I intentionally seek the balance of working hard and resting well, I will inevitably find myself on one of those unhealthy extremes. Some days and weeks I will strive too much to make it happen on my own, where the “it” refers to this entrepreneurial life and the necessary income we need from it. And other days or weeks, I’ll find myself wasting hours in front of the television, not feeling rested or accomplished but, instead, feeling more tired and irresponsible than ever.
So, on that note, below is a list of the things in my life that I feel like fall into each category (i.e. work hard and rest well) and a couple of things that fall a little into both areas depending on what I’m doing with them.
Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list of the responsibilities or opportunities in my life but it’s a good generalization, I think. And it’s a good starting point for determining how to evaluate my days in terms of working hard and resting well.
Today’s Holy Hustle Review
Work Hard
BJD Photography
Today, I created a booking proposal and contract for a mini family session I’d been contacted about while I was on my sabbatical last week. I use a web-based studio management software system called Sprout Studio to keep track of all of my leads, shoots, contracts, payments, etc., for the photography business. Unfortunately, when I reached out to the client to get her email address to send the proposal and contract to, she asked to cancel the session instead. Turns out, she’d wanted to work with a different photographer but couldn’t get in touch with her. Between my would-be client (verbally) booking the session with me and me getting back from the sabbatical so I could send her the contract, the original photog had responded to the client’s inquiry with her. My would-be client opted to stick with the photographer she’d worked with before and asked to cancel the session she’d (tentatively, at that point) scheduled with me. Bummer.
I had also intended on getting a few more images edited from the newborn session I did right before the sabbatical edited. I’m eager to get those finished up this week and share the full gallery with mama! She’s already seen a sneak peek and seemed super excited and happy with the results!! But…I ended up spending four hours with a friend this morning (see Rest Well section below) and…well…I ran out of time. …so that’ll be on the agenda tomorrow, for sure!
Just Your Average Jo
I did more for the blog today than I’ve done in a while! A little sad, I know…but also true. And, while I don’t want to dismiss that truth, I also have to accept it with some grace. I’ve been in a season of transition since May and that has, for better or worse, thrown off all of my initial thoughts of how and when I was going to focus on building up this blog. October is really the first month I feel like I’m fully entering this new life, free of any 8-5 obligation, and without traveling. As such, today’s the first day I’ve spent as much time doing anything for the blog, much less actually writing for it, in months. Ironically, I will end up writing two posts today. An introductory post about this #write31days challenge series and this, the actual first, post of the series.
I had intended to restart a blogging course I’d signed up for (and started) back in July, but time got away from me. Writing doesn’t always come easy or quickly for me even though I enjoy it so these two posts took me a bit longer to accomplish today than anticipated. I’d also spent more time with that friend than anticipated this morning so, yeah.
But, again, grace. I don’t expect to get this holy hustle thing right the first day or week or month or year….In fact, I expect it’ll be a journey that will last far longer than I ever intend and will be filled with times of a little too much of working hard and not enough resting well and vice versa. And that’s ok.
Rest Well
Worship
I did it! I made my 6am devotional time with the Lord!
…okay, so it was more like 6:20am…but, the point is…I showed up! I didn’t sleep through it (intentionally or unintentionally)! I got up, poured a cup of cold brew, grabbed my Bible and journal and went outside on the back patio to pray, journal and read scripture.
I also had worship music playing via the television (yes, novel idea!) alllll day.
Connecting with Others
Today, I had an extra special treat.
I had coffee with a friend – I’ll call her “C” – that I hadn’t seen or spoken to in at least a year, maybe longer. At least, not until we ran into each other at a local Chic-fil-A on Thursday afternoon. We used to work together at the university; not in the same department, but in two different departments that interacted frequently. We bonded over the craziness of meal plans and started up a personal friendship but, when the department I was in was dissolved and I moved to a different department, C and I no longer crossed paths professionally and we sort of lost touch altogether. Not intentionally…perhaps only because we weren’t intentional about keeping in contact.
Anyway, I’d learned somewhere along the way that she was no longer working at the university either but I didn’t know much beyond that. And then I walked into CfA for lunch and there she was! The new Marketing Director for that location! We immediately began chatting and vowed to get together for coffee soon! She contacted me over the weekend and we made a date to meet up this morning at 8am!
C and I spent four hours…..yes, four hours!…catching up on our lives and connecting with each other again. Talking about the deep things and the surface things all at once. It was wonderfully fulfilling and restful. We didn’t intend to spend that much time together but her flexible schedule (she works remotely, primarily) and mine allowed for it and it just sort of happened.
Now, can we just pause for a minute here and think about that?
We made a coffee date for 8am on a Monday morning. And then spent four hours together catching up.
A month-and-a-half ago, this would not have been a possibility because I would have been obligated to be in an office at 8am this Monday morning subjected to someone else’s agenda. Hallelujah, praise Jesus! I am free!!!
Holy Hustle?
So, did I accomplish Holy Hustle today? …I think so…though, I might have spent a little too much time resting (oops!). ;p Overall, though, I got some work done and never once got sucked into the black holes of social media, television or the internet. And that, for me, is a win!