The Work/Life/Side Hustle Balance
There are probably thousands of articles and blogs about the work/life balance out in the wild west of the internet, from plenty of self-help advice about how to unplug and destress after the work day to making sure your work stays at work to deconstructing if there’s even such a thing as the work/life balance in the first place. (I am firmly in the camp that there is, but that that looks different for everyone — example, I work in Thoroughbred aftercare professionally, and then also spend a good chunk of my free time working with my own retired racehorses, which some might argue means that in a way I’m working all the time, and maybe I am, but it’s also the lifestyle I enjoy, ergo it must be balanced, right? Just agree with me here.)
Crafting has always been a relaxing hobby for me, a way to keep my hands occupied which in turn quiets the mind. I enjoy making things, having visible progress in a thing I have produced and some equity in tangible object for the time, energy and action I have invested. It is a physical activity that is not strenuous; it requires a particular skillset and practiced movements and knowledge of materials and tools, but not in a way that is purely taxing on my mind and focus the same way that sitting at a computer all day is. There are lots of voices out there that would advocate to not turn your hobby into a side hustle, but I always knew that I would scale appropriately (at least initially, and likely forever — as I’ve discussed before, it’s difficult to make a comfortable living doing this full time).
But that means that in this trifecta of work, life and side hustle, there will be times when one — or two, sometimes — of those things needs more attention than the others. And two of those things, ultimately, carry more weight than the other. So when something has to give, I need to admit that I am not some sort of superwoman who can keep all three plates spinning fully at the same time, and modify a plan.
You could say I have a... pretty full basket. Ey.
That’s the really long and fancy way of saying: I’m in my busiest season at my day job. We’re preparing for our big event of the year, which goes down the second week of October and means that I’ll be out of state for about eight days, during which I’ll pull 12 to 16 hour work days. I’ve made time to knit a little bit every evening, but I’m a bit behind where I wanted to be at the end of September to be ready for an October new product drop. I’m already a day behind where I intended to be to write this blog! Right now, the work piece of the pie needs more time and energy, and I have no interest in drawing from the life piece of the pie to make up extra time: I have horses to take care of, a husband to relax with at the end of the day, and family and friend relationships to be nurtured… plus a garden that desperately needs to be winterized, houseplants that need tending, and bread to be baked.
Telling you publicly that I’m investing less time at the moment in this business might seem like a weird marketing strategy — we’re a culture that emphasizes how much hustle someone can put into a side hustle, after all. But I’d like to change that narrative a bit and push an alternative message, and be honest with you: we can’t do it all, all the time. There’s a season for everything, and that’s okay. That’s healthy!
I’m looking forward to a bit more downtime in mid-October, and am already excited about the knits and baskets I plan to create as the days get shorter and the nights get longer. Watch this space, my friends — good things are coming, in their own time.