Have fun with it

Let’s be honest, owning your own business is hard. And anxiety inducing and can often result in a loss of sleep. Often, I am bombarded with an impending sense of doom. Sounds fun, right? My “day in the life” videos never broadcast the tears shed, the sleep lost. The long dinner conversations with my husband about how the hell we are going to make this work.

One night, during a particularly rough spot in this process, my husband said something to me that I will never forget.

I’ll set the scene for you -

I’m sitting on our bedroom floor, stricken with fear over the potential failure of my physical therapy practice and overanalyzing the small, minute details of my day-to-day. Really, I was just voicing my complaints. Frustrated with the process and irate with the fact that I don’t automatically know how to do everything, on my own, all the time.

In response, he says: Roni, right now is the only time you’ll ever get to do this for the first time. Years from now you’ll reminisce on the days when you were just struggling to figure it all out. But the struggle is always a part of the process, so why don’t you just think of it as fun?

I had never thought of it that way. Enjoy the process? What a strange concept. In my mind, if my nose is not pressed to the grindstone and I’m not constantly plagued with an underlying sense of unease derived from the fear that I’m not doing enough, then I’m just not doing enough. But to have fun with it? He really made it sound so simple. And maybe it actually is.

Ever since that conversation, I’ve made a little change in my mental mapping. Whenever I’m afflicted with worry or feeling doubtful of my plans entirely, I take a deep breath and force myself to remember - I get the chance to do this. I have an opportunity to touch people’s lives, do what I love, and grow as a professional through my very own business. That, to me, is the definition of fun.