My Brain Never Stops Thinking...and it drives me crazy!

Okay... So am I crazy or should I start making our signs for Davis Design Market again? I think Matthews's eyes just about popped out of his head when I mentioned wanting to build another flatbed printer to use at home. Near the end of our sign making a couple of years ago I bought the parts and built our own custom flatbed printer. It was too little too late for me though because I was so burnt out by the onslaught of orders that we had received that I never wanted to see another sign again! Before I got the printer I hand transferred every single letter, and every single design onto each and every sign. Not only that but we also cut, painted, sanded, stained… you name it every aspect of the sign we did by hand and it was so time-consuming and took over our entire house! I definitely do not want that again but you guys know me and my never-ending thought process and I just can't get out of my head making signs again.

If we do it again I want to change a couple of things. First, I want to find pre-made pre-painted wood ready for me to put the signs on. Second, I want to find frames that are already done as well or possibly a combination of wood and frame that is ready to print on. The third thing I want to change is that I want to incorporate more art into our signs. That's not to say I would be getting rid of all of our signs that have sayings and verses and those types of things on them. More like just adding another design style to our already very diverse shop LOL!

So... I share that brainstorm with you because I want to give you a little glimpse inside of my head every single day. I don't know if there's something wrong with me or if it's simply the way God made me but I am never satisfied with what I am currently doing. I always want to add one more new thing or get rid of something I'm already doing and replace it with something else. I love and hate busyness all at the same time. Can anyone relate? 

If I had my choice I would sit in the sun on my deck napping or reading a book or sipping coffee or chatting with my husband and watching the kids play. I love relaxing. I love to sleep. But I also have this burning desire to accomplish things. I can’t sit still for long. I am always multitasking!

It has been a part of who I am since I can remember. Even in second grade when I was the new kid at my school I wrote and directed an entire play for our class. In my spare time... at school... I have no idea why my teachers let me because it had literally nothing to do with any classes that we were actually learning in second grade. 

I remember creating a book of paw prints and taking the other kids on a wild animal hunt in the snow one time for recess. of course, I'm not sure how many wild animals we actually could have found since we were In the playground behind our school. Needless to say, my mind is always racing with ideas and thoughts BUT I struggle to complete anything. There, I said it. That's just the cold hard facts. 

My office is currently half painted and the filing is half done. There is a hole in my office ceiling and one in my kitchen…and let’s not even talk about the basement… And if I go from room to room it's the same way pretty much everywhere in my house. Before long all of the unfinished projects start to blend in and I don't even realize they're unfinished anymore until someone points it out to me. (Usually, my sweet husband, who is much better at starting and finishing things than I am! We are a perfect match!)

What can I do... What can you do... To help myself or yourself learn to complete projects and not feel the need to be constantly busy? I honestly don't know if I have the answer but I want to share with you some things I have been doing to help me! 

• Tackling one room at a time in my house. Instead of hopping from room to room and finishing a little bit here and a little bit there I set aside a day and work on one room. Today is the day I finish my office. I have one wall to paint that already has one coat of paint on it but it needs a second one and then I need to take down the curtains replace the blinds got a filing cabinet and get this place organized. Honestly, this might be a 2-day project but I will get it done. This is definitely one strategy that has helped me as someone who works from home to be able to tackle unfinished projects and stay more focused. 

• A Daily Planner. This may sound like a no-brainer but as someone who always has a thousand things going on in their head, I have always struggled to keep up with a daily plan or schedule. I actually created a planner that I now sell, simply so that I would have something cute that I could use and keep track of the priorities for my day as well as things that I needed to look at for the next day. It also reminds me to drink my water, exercise, and eat…All things I start to neglect when I get laser-focused on something and start ignoring everything else around me! It is definitely helping me stay on top of what needs to be done and what can wait for tomorrow.

• Saying no. Sometimes it means telling myself no. Literally sitting in my office having a conversation with myself telling myself that I do not need to create one more stream of income or one more variant of a design or one more line of products for our store. And if you think I'm kidding I am not. I sit in my office and talk to myself about the pros and cons of what I'm considering in my head. Again, this is just how God made me and how I've learned to cope with my overactive brain.

• No guilt trips are allowed. I am the worst at going on a guilt trip for myself. My brain will go down a road telling me the worst things about myself. I try my best to stop that before it starts or as soon as I realize it's happening. It is so easy for someone who has stayed home with their kids intentionally for the last 25 years to still have Mom guilt. I feel guilt for working on all of the things that I do for our businesses because I'm not spending every waking moment with my kids, or making my house cleaner or more complete or better decorated and the list goes on and on. Our brains can take us down some pretty sick paths sometimes. I will even lay in bed sometimes and think about how I can't remember certain moments in some of my kid's life. Like years sometimes where I can't remember when one of my children was a certain age... What did we do together? Was I present? Did I hug, kiss, love enough? This is such an unhealthy path to allow yourself to go down and one that the enemy wants us to visit often. It will do you absolutely no good. I'm here to tell you it is impossible to remember all the details of every child and their specific childhood. Are you a good mom now? That's all that matters. My guess is you were a good mom then too. Replace those thoughts with positive ones when you feel them creeping in!

• Take time to just be. Honestly, this is one of the hardest things for me. To just sit and relax and maybe listen to music or listen to a book or maybe listen to nothing and just relax. The sound of the birds outside or the hum of the leaf blower next door is in the background but I am not focused on creating, learning, educating, finishing…literally nothing. Allowing yourself to just simply be present in a moment and not have to be busy doing something is a learned skill. It does not come naturally to many people including myself. I feel like it is so important for my overall well-being though so I am purposely making this part of my day. The phone is not with me, I am not in front of the computer, I am not doing anything except taking a few moments to breathe deep and just soak in where I am who I am and be grateful for the blessings that God has given us.

I am not sure if this resonates with anyone or not, but I hope that it does! I want you to know that you are not alone and there are things you can do to help gain some focus in your life! There is nothing better than the feeling of completion!! I promise!

If you want to grab the planner I created you can get it here! I love it and it has helped me SO much. To all of my creative souls out there, you are not broken you are just unique and it takes every one of us to make this world what it is. Imagine how boring the world would be without us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Keep living The Crazy Life,

XO

Wendy Jo