One lesson I’ve learned in life (and business) is seasonality and cycles. 

Winter-Spring-Summer-Fall. When to produce, when to step back and rest. Not surprisingly, my personal life and my business life have to work opposite each other. While many businesses are launching into new years, new goals and new projects, I take a step back to focus on my family.

January - February is traditionally our busy season and this year was no different. The last 2 months we have done ALL the things. From cheer competitions to college visits, birthdays, road trips, snowstorms, Florida sun, there has been something nearly every day. Of course, when you are navigating life with teens all of these activities are met with ALL the emotions and feelings. And, no, I’m not just talking about my kids. 

This is definitely a strange period in my life where I am also absorbing the emotions of each of their accomplishments and challenges, and even the stresses of everyday life. Teaching them that it doesn’t always go your way, that you may have to do things you’d rather skip over, or that life at times is just hard. Watching them revel in the joy of meeting their goals and achieving their dreams one day and the next, sitting with them as they process things not quite working out as they had hoped. How to navigate conflict, display grit and resilience, not be afraid to communicate, understand that you can’t always get what you want and that sometimes, hard work does not pay off as you believe it will. 

Full disclosure - it has been difficult for me to separate myself from their feelings. When they are full of joy, I fully embrace it. When they are overcome with disappointment, I absorb that as well. As a result, focusing on the everyday tasks of clinical care and running a business have had to take a back seat. Some days, surviving is enough. Knowing there is no hard deadline to achieving my goals and giving myself space to process what is going on in my world. Putting my personal plans aside so I can be there for them during this season when they need me the most. 

You either win or you learn. And we’ve had a lot of both. As I emerge on the other side of these two months of crazy, I now realize that it was a lot. No wonder it’s been a challenge to show up for my business every day at 100%. This is part of the learning process - how to integrate the cycle of “mom” and the cycle of “business”. How to ditch the guilt that the needle is not moving in my business how I want it to but understand that it’s at least partly due to me being the best mom I can be right now when my kids need me the most. 

For those of you who feel like you are struggling as a mom of teens, whether you work outside the home or not, whether you run a business or not, I see you, I feel you and we are in this together. We’ve got this!