My Rocky Mountain Heart

If you are anything like me, a self-motivated, type A, organization freak, dream chasing, hard working, always on-the-go kind of gal, then you know what it feels like to hustle in life. Hustle for accolades. Hustle for money. Hustle for recognition. Hustle for your self-worth basically. And there is this whole movement on social media centered around the concept of being a #GirlBoss, #MomBoss, and #FemaleEntrepreneur. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just go type these hashtags into Instagram and see where it takes you. ***Warning: you will likely feel inadequate. 

On one hand, I get that this movement of #hustling and these hashtags are meant to be inspiring and to ingnite that fire within you to rock your business as an entrepreneur. On the OTHER hand, it is perpetuating this notion that the only way to be successful in life is to hustle and hustle HARD. But then I ask: to what end? When is it okay to let your foot off the gas? When is it okay to pull over and enjoy the view for a minute? When is it okay to stop the hustle and just BE? When is it okay to simply enjoy your life? 

As a small business owner of two businesses now (as a BeachBody coach + an Independent LuLaRoe Retailer), this is something I often think about when I am engaging in online trainings from more successful people than I. But what I’m starting to realize is that only I get to decide what success means for me. When I see people constantly traveling, away from their families, doing online sales late into the night, inviting people into their home all the time for open house sales, never seemingly having a single moment to just breathe – I am not envious, no matter how much money is in their bank accounts. For me, that isn’t successful. That is simply exhausting. Perhaps you aren’t driving to an office everyday and you aren’t part of the “rat race” in a typical sense but from where I stand, that lifestyle is still running on the never ending hamster wheel. 

Now when I think about what success means for me, I think of two words: Freedom and balance. Freedom of time and money is definitely the ideal for a lot of entrepreneurs but if it involves sacrificing life balance, then it’s simply not for me. You see, I’m very much an all or nothing kind of person by nature. Typically, when I decide I want to do something, I go for it and give it 110%! But the problem with this passionate and energetic approach is that it leads to burn out – and it usually happens REALLY quickly. So as I’m aging, and perhaps getting a *bit* wiser, I’m starting to realize the importance of having NON-NEGOTIABLES to guide you in defining what success means for you. These non-negotiables must be rooted in your core values. And for me those include:

• Spending time in nature – daily
• Daily movement/exercise of some sort
• Exploring new places with my husband and pups 
• Having unscheduled free time everyday to do whatever I want/need that day (call a friend, read, write, vision craft, journal) 

Getting clear on what success means for me has helped me stop hustling so hard. Because it has allowed me to pause and realize that hustling isn’t MY value, but rather something I learned from what society taught me I should value. But the thing is, I really don’t.  I don’t want to hustle for recognition. I don’t wan’t to hustle for other people to look at me and think I’m “successful.” I don’t want to hustle for my self-worth. And I won’t. The results of hustling don’t yield more happiness for me. In fact, for me, the hustle takes a lot of my non-negotiables out of my everyday life and leaves me feeling resentful, stressed, energetically depleted and burned out. 

So next time you hear that #everydayimhustlin song or see people know posting about #thehustle – just stop and ask yourself if that aligns with your values and your vision for your life. Because maybe you’re like me and you value balance in your life MORE than what’s in your bank account. Maybe you need those non-negotiables in your everyday life more than you need the money. But if you don’t stop to think about it, you might be running on that hamster wheel forever.