What's So New About This Year?

It's kind of crazy how time flies by. This is my first blog post of 2017 which is weird to think about--and surprise, surprise it's over two weeks late. I have a pretty decent excuse about why I haven't had the time to write this entry but that's just the problem isn't it? Time.

On January 1, 2016, Joel and I sat down and made lists of what we wanted to accomplish within that year. Now in 2017, as I reflect, there are some ways, like my career, health and binge-watching various Netflix shows, where I exceeded my own expectations but other areas of my list were barely touched. I wanted to write more often, add a more stable element to my career, launch an e-commerce aspect to my website, travel for fun more often, etc. etc. etc. I started to get really anxious and frustrated that I hadn't done everything I wrote down on my list until I realized--

very few things in my life go according to plan.

When people ask me what the most difficult part of my career is, I always tell them 'instability and uncertainty'. As a freelance makeup artist and hairstylist, I could work for two years straight and then not get a call about a job for six months-- the thought gives me anxiety just typing it. While other entertainment industry professionals and I may come across as contracted workers with a 'fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants' attitude, I personally rely heavily on career balance and security. I'd get done working on a long-term project or a few back-to-back freelance gigs and immediately worry about when my next job would be. A little time would pass, I would get impatient and my fight-or-flight mentality would set in and I would start applying for "conventional jobs". Then, right when I would decide to commit to said "conventional job" and integrate it into my day-to-day, I'd get a call about another makeup job or project. It felt like I was constantly picking up and changing my work structure and was never able to fully commit to one career choice which wreaked havoc on my stress level. All this being said, it's clear my work life has never really lent itself to long-term planning and I have attempted to deal with that fact in two different ways.

The first was to plan EVERYTHING-- I bought the massive planner (which i color-coded) that never left my side which I synced everyday with my Apple Watch, then my iPad, then my iPhone and last my computer. I kept lists, notated schedules, created reminders, formulated goals and barely slept. So how did all this neurotic planning work out for me? Not well. I thought that if I wrote everything down and had it on a list that it would somehow keep things more organized or make life more manageable but it didn't. Flights still got delayed, conference calls still went too long, appointments still got rescheduled and I was still left with the same level of chaos-- except now I also had a jumbled, ugly-looking planner (which drove me even more crazy). The only thing that planning every, little thing did was give me this unsightly, color-coded illustration of my anxiety.

The second thing I tried was just embracing the suck and giving in to the chaos. I can see now that this was clearly the adverse consequence to the previous over-planning option which somewhat validated my frustration with total organization. I chose to shove those anxious feelings deep down inside and I quit sorting my e-mails, stopped using my calendar, hired an assistant to respond to work requests and made an attempt to "not care" as best I could. This obviously, had its own set of problems. While I wasn't as structurally stressed, I now felt out-of-the-loop with my own life and constantly felt like I was forgetting things.

Neither one of these options really worked for me in terms of accomplishing my structure goals for myself because each option was an extreme-- which is clear to me now.

I finally sat down at the end of 2016 in preparation for the new year and I inventoried my strengths and weaknesses, what I was capable of waiting for and what I wasn't. I made this list with the intention of finding out what would be the best use of my dreaded, between-project downtime. I eventually narrowed down my results to a happy-medium level of planning and chose to fill my downtime with things that could benefit my career long-term. I focused on creating and fostering relationships with local businesses where we both benefit from each other's services, I designed a plan to give back to organizations I am passionate about, and also launch a new line of makeup-related stuff that I am excited to offer you guys.

So, after this long-winded explanation, I am pleased to say that 2017 is already off to a busy start and has quite a bit of new things in store! Stress levels have never been lower, the e-commerce site is now in sight with product information and launches coming soon and I am now pairing to offer several additional services to my clients such as spray tanning, wedding planning, photography, etc.

I can't wait to announce the launch of the site, so stay tuned for the new changes! Happy New Year to all you beautiful people!

Love + Light,

Emma

#2017 #newyear #makeup #makeupartist #planning #schedule