Little daily things to feel more connected
While I was trying to put my thoughts together about the exercises that usually work for me to feel more connected for this month’s blog post, I had so many debates in my head. So many of you can easily relate to this, when your business is young and it is still a one-woman team, you work for yourself and by yourself tumbling around thoughts and words.
It is a very useful exercise for myself to sit down and review my little daily things to get over my mental block and then share the outcome here with you. This process also reminded me of a blog post published on Harvard Health Blog, where the author suggests a few daily practises on how to ‘forge connections’ such as taking note of appreciation each day at least for three things. Mainly because I found the day to day practice of gratitude as something that I often need to remind myself.
Feel More Connected to Myself
Baking as a mindful routine, I realised how my flatbread making as a grounding exercise helps me to avoid being isolated, especially during the challenging time.
Sitting, chatting with friends, and spending quality time with them, especially with those that I feel comfortable sharing my vulnerability with.
Feel More Connected to My Values & My Flock
Engaging with the creative community and those like-minded small business owners and founders with inspiring stories and journeys. I am grateful to be a proud member of two networks AND SO TO SHOP and The Sisterhood of Arts, plus follow more online through social media as a source of inspiration and reassurance that as a female entrepreneur, I am not alone on my business journey.
Besides, in my Wednesday morning ritual I am trying to listen to one episode of Conversations of Inspiration and make a note of the most inspirational moment for me of the whole podcast. Recently, I was listening to Joe Wicks’s story, founder of The Body Coach and his challenging time running his own bootcamp in Richmond Park. He did not give up thinking of that one person who may show up.
Sara Lazar, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School suggests engaging with others challenges our assumptions. It forces us to say, "I never thought of that." Also, it diminishes some loneliness.
These little daily things helped me a lot to feel heard, seen, and respected also less disconnected from the world. You may agree that these are not hard practises, but hard to remember to do, especially when we are overwhelmed with workload. But at the end we need to renew our sense of purpose and energy and remind ourselves why we started doing what we love.
Enjoy it!
Leila x