2019: The Year of Realizations, Manifestations, and What to Expect Next
Art by @katepullendraws in collaboration with @typingfeminism
These past couple years have been full of growth, risks, failures, and excitement within my business and personal life. In the last two years I have started the best relationship I’ve ever had, had a baby shortly after, quit my full-time job, started my business with my family, and got engaged. Now I am working on a couple design projects and building up our store, while raising a child and planning a wedding.
I need to take a big breath after writing that, and I also need to continue to remind myself all of the above whenever I have a day where I can’t seem to get anything productive done.
I love this life and I am grateful for everyday that I wake up to, but of course it is not easy and comes with its challenges. I am constantly writing down my goals for this company and what I want to achieve everyday, but there is always that day that nothing goes my way and I just have to improvise. Like just the other day… getting my daughter in the car to go to the babysitter while I get some work done:
I get an email that I ordered a light kit with the wrong voltage for US light fixtures (so thankful they caught it while processing the order), but I also needed this lamp like yesterday so that the electric inspection can be finished.
Spilled coffee on the white T Shirt that I always manage to spill on right away EVERY time I wear it.
The tile guy lost the last sheet of tile for one of my projects.
The next few hours are spent putting out the fires, placing new orders, paying for expedited shipping and now I’m behind on the rest of my day I’ve planned. Since I started my day with stress level on high, I seem to notice every single tiny thing that is slightly annoying me that day. I skipped my workout so I could just focus on what needed to get done, and all together the day is starting to feel like a huge bummer.
Sometimes my baby will get sick or the babysitter gets sick and I have to cancel a meeting, or something goes wrong with one of my projects and I spend the whole day problem solving. Some days my baby needs me more, and I just drop everything and roll around on the floor or play outside with her. I would find myself feeling so down when things went wrong, or doubting myself as a business owner and a mom. My daughter goes to daycare part time, and sometimes when I drop her off I think I’m just wasting my money and should be spending every single moment with her.
I have sat with these thoughts for awhile now and I’ve realized one big thing: at the end of the day I am just trying my best! Also the mind is such a powerful thing, and I know I have complete control of my emotions and how I decide to handle stress. I am working on recognizing when I am angry or annoyed, taking a deep breath, figure out how to turn the day around, and keep going.
My daughter is so full of life, healthy and happy. She absolutely loves her daycare and it gives her the opportunity to develop friendships. The money I put towards daycare is 100% worth it, and it allows me to have a clear mind when I pick her up and bring her home. My fiancé is the best support I have ever had and works so hard for our family. Our business is slowly growing and our hard work is really starting to show. HGTV is good at showing design projects done at a fast pace, and hides what goes on behind the scenes. My job is to create the perfect space for the client, while dealing with shipping, installation details, discontinued orders, and all the headaches so that they don’t have to. It comes with the job, and it is rare that a project is completed without any of these issues. I believe a great designer is someone who can push through the day, even when everything can go wrong, and keep up positive energy to find a solution to all the issues.
Another realization is that sometimes I feel embarrassed for admitting that I am having one of these bad days. Thoughts like “things are so much worse for a lot of people in the world, why am I complaining” will pop up in my head and I’ll just keep it all in. I feel like people are obligated to share only their positive experiences, and hide the negative situations that helped them get there. The truth is that every person on this world has a different story, and everyone experiences stress and negative thoughts that should not be ignored. It will only mask your true potential.
Art by @alilcreativeco
Art by @haveanicedayy_
Everyone needs to figure out their best ways to cope with these bad days. Here are some things that keep me going:
Go outside and “play”. The mind of a child is so powerful, and sometimes we need to just breathe fresh air and open up our imagination. Let go of some negative thoughts and allow in some fresh ideas.
Keep myself busy. I find that when I stress out about money or an important deadline I need to work hard on something like cleaning the house, emptying and reorganizing a closest, working on the garden, or paint a wall in your house! Something to keep your mind open and focused on something else that is important to you.
The one that everyone knows: eat clean and exercise. I have decided for myself that I don’t diet, but I definitely keep my body and mind healthy by eating clean and mindfully. Exercise can be a hard one to achieve for some, but there are so many different types of exercise that are fully accessible to every one. My personal story: I hate running, I have no idea what to do at a gym, and I love barre, Pilates, and yoga classes at an amazing studio in town. I found what works with me, and I’m obsessed with it. Find out what works for you, and eventually it will become routine.
Write it down and manifest. Your goals and dreams are not just handed to you. If you really envision what you want, think about what it looks like, how it sounds, what it feels like, anything can come to life. Whether it is a material item or an idea, write it down and pour in your heart and energy into what it could be. I’ve seen it happen with myself and many others, and it is a pretty magical quality we have as humans.
So now to write out what our goals are for the future for AND Design:
Interior Design: Finish a couple of our first big projects and create a portfolio for our website. We want to show that we are here to help create beautiful spaces that are innovative and unique to the client's needs.
Instead of creating that picture- perfect space that you see in a magazine and it seems unreachable, our challenge is to help Interior Design seem less scary and more accessible. The real challenge of design is that perfect mix of aesthetics and functionality.
A.N.D. Design wants to offer beautiful and sustainable products, and a functionable design plan for the end user. This will continue to take a lot of research, travel to trade shows, and creating relationships with reliable professionals.
The Studio: The more accounts we create, the more furniture and décor we will be able to add to our showroom to mix in with our vintage pieces. We envision eventually renovating the barn and creating a comfortable meeting space for our clients, an organized area for fabric and material samples, and to continue to sell old and new furniture and décor.
Social Media/Website: The blog was a big goal I have been manifesting. I have so many thoughts that I have been trying to get on paper, and I want to continue sharing with all of you. It might turn into a daily blog, maybe a weekly, but I’ve gotten better with jotting down my ideas right away and seeing what comes to life. I am so inspired by other design blogs and books, and I would love to compile my best ideas into a beautiful book of my own someday.
As far as social media, I want to continue to grow organically and show the positives and negatives of everyday life. Owning a business is not all sunshine and rainbows, and it’s really exhausting to even think about setting up the perfect shot everyday for our Instagram. The profiles I love most share beautiful ideas and images in their raw form, and they share what is real and how they get through their own bad days.
There. I wrote it down. Now let’s get to work, and look back in a couple years from now and see how the manifest is going. :)
If you’re having one of those off days today: Keep going, do some stretches, drink water, eat your vegetables, take a day of doing absolutely nothing if you have to, and keep being your rad self.
XO Alyssa
Art by @i.am.mky
Artwork from one of my favorite Instagram profiles, @womenofillustration
