There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. Ecclesiastes 3:1. 

I really love the concept of a season. A season is characterized by a certain kind of behavior (weather, for example), and while we never know what a season’s exact length will be, there is always the hope and assurance of the current season coming to a close and new one taking its place.

Seasons can be bleak and dreary, but they can also be beautiful and bountiful. Sometimes it is all a matter of perspective.

In the time following Christmas, business and general household productivity slowed to a snail’s pace for this mama as we entered a new season as a family: the anticipation of a new baby. Baby sickness (mainly extreme, chronic exhaustion and overall ickyness) commenced with the New Year and held on til just last week. During that time of reduced output, website projects got either postponed or drastically slowed down (did I mention how AMAZING my clients are?!) as I seemingly had no choice but to rest or else collapse.

Fortunately, I was able to let Verity simply coast during that season. Sure, some momentum was lost. I wasn’t proactive in creating new connections. Sheesh, I could barely keep up with social media. I still had ideas but no way to physically implement them, so nothing new was built.

It was a little discouraging but I was quick to realize that this too is just a season, a season that I was truly grateful for! We are elated about this new little life and would do anything to encourage healthy growth and development. As important Verity is to me, it is a fleeting shadow in comparison to the importance of my family and the blessing of another anticipated child.

Coming out of this season (a short season when I look back upon the last couple months, but feeling long while in the midst of it), I have a new clarity about a few short-term goals for me and my family, and for Verity and business moving forward:

• Spend the next five months growing a healthy babe, taking the time and intention to give my body the nutrition and rest that it needs. Nothing is more important to us than bringing this new little life into the world. This is the biggest goal of all. 🙂
• Maintain my current clients with the attention that they desire and deserve. My aunt, one smart cookie and a small business owner herself, once told me that it’s no good to gain new clients or customers if you can’t take care of the ones you already have. Growing is useless if there isn’t a system in place to adequately serve current clients. This struck a chord in me, and I made it one of my business goals right then and there. If customer service isn’t a priority with the clients or followers or customers one already has, then new ones procured won’t receive their due attention either and overwhelm or complacency will occur.
• Whip my blog into business shape. Two friends of mine and I recently had the inaugural meeting of our mini business mastermind (more on that next time–so fun!). We talked shop and biz and life and domestic, and as we discussed things, my biggest takeaway from the meeting personally was definitely the potential impact that consistent blogging of valuable, helpful content could have on my business. Pretty images and an intriguing message may bring people to your blog, but it’s the consistent, valuable content that others can learn and glean from that keeps readers coming back for more.
• And in general, take the time to research and consider, but also act. I am guilty of spending so much time deliberately learning and planning to do certain things that I often never get past the thinking stage to the stage of decisive action.

If you are in a season of life that is knocking you down or stealing your drive, don’t be afraid or ashamed to take a break to regroup and take stock. This anticipated baby was a joyful reason for me to slow down and hiatus from my business, but no matter what your reason, it’s okay to take a season of rest.

Perhaps you simply need a day away. Or maybe you take a week or a month to step away for a better perspective. Or perhaps you are dealing with life circumstances that give you no choice but to rest or take a break. It’s okay. You may just come away from your break with increased clarity, more focused goals, and a greater zest for life than you would have had before.