Can you be a girl boss and have a healthy work/life balance?

I'd say the answer to the above is yes. But my goodness it takes a hell of a lot of practice and much trial and error before things feel 'right'. That horrible feeling of overwhelm is the biggest source of my anxiety, with too much to do in too little time being the ongoing theme throughout my life. Not enough time to do all the things I wanna do, and see the people I wanna see. While squeezing a bit of time in between myself to do absolutely nothing (Cause we all need a bit of that sometimes, right?) Or simple pleasures like reading, baking, painting... things which I hardly do these days because I just guilt myself thinking I could be clearing up, or doing that pile of washing, or getting some tax paperwork done! Yay to adulting! Yay to being freelance and spinning an abundance of plates at the one time, always knowing that if you let one drop then you might not pay your bills that month. But y'know what, it's okay. I've just spent 7 weeks on an extremely enjoyable but intense job, and I feel like for the first time in forever I didn't feel anywhere close to burn out at any point during it.

Bag - New Look (old) // Iron Fist kitty shoes - Spartoo

Throughout that last job I decided to do things I would never usually do, while working an average of 12 hours each day. I socialised in the evening after work a few nights a week, got my dancing shoes on and went out with the girls at the weekend, and went for lots of walks and lots of food with Pete. I made an effort to get to bed at a decent time and get up in the morning with no rush, enjoying doing my makeup, ironing my clothes and making a coffee for the road. I even wore my new cat hairband (random ebay find) to work a handful of times just for the hell of it, and found a silly wee thing like that really boosted my mood for the day! And it made other people smile too. (They probs think I'm cray cray but you can get away with it when you work in the art department) I guess what I'm trying to say is if you're stuck in the same routine, and sick of getting the same results, then you need to make a change. I would normally lock myself away during busy periods of work, with my only priorities being sleeping, eating, and working. Yet I was still tired, and the isolation from not chatting to my friends or allowing myself to have a social life made me even more miserable. For the past 7 weeks I've let myself have a social life, still got to bed at a decent time, which in turn has made me much happier at work because I don't feel like the long crazy hours are depriving other parts of my life. For a couple of years I told myself I'd sold my soul to the TV industry. I realise now, that was such a negative and destructive outlook to have! No wonder I began to resent my routine. My life is my life, and I'm lucky to be in the position where I get to be my own boss and call the shots. The way I earn a living should enrich my life, not take away from it. It's crazy what a slight change in perspective can do for you.

The only thing which did still suffer a bit was my blogging schedule, along with replying to emails and texts which often took me a bit longer too. But my friends and family are pretty understanding if I take longer to get back to them than what I usually would. And I hope by now you guys all know I've not dropped off the face of the earth if I miss a blog post for one week! This blog is pretty damn personal to me, so I really struggle to feel inspired to write a post when I'm in a tired or pissed off mood. Understandable right? Why would you force yourself to do your hobby if you just don't feel like doing it that day? Any hobby should be a pleasure rather than a chore, and you should never force yourself to do something that you don't wanna do. Unless it's paying a bill or attending a dentist appointment then YES you should probably just get it over and done with! But no one is gonna come knocking on your door if you don't publish that blog post, or finish that cross stitch, or list those bits and bobs on ebay. I laughed out loud last week when during a chat with Lynsay she text me saying 'Wait... who's that at the door? Is it the blog police? NAW - they don't exist!'

I've always had a feeling my skin problems were partly stress related, and right now my skin is the best it has been since it started breaking out around a year ago now! I think it's half down to the products I'm using (more on that in the next post) and half down to sleeping well, eating well, and letting my hair down every so often. I got some lovely new Moschino glasses from Specsavers at the Glasgow Fort, which has really helped at work and with any computer related headaches as it turned out my prescription has changed quite a bit since my last test! They're open until 10pm on weeknights and were super efficient in testing my eyes and helping me find new frames. That sort of customer service is much appreciated when you've already been on your feet for 12 hours that day. I'm learning to look after my body now as well as my mind, and self care in any form is so bloody important. Shake up your routine and don't be afraid to keep experimenting until you find your balance (and this applies whether you are self employed or work 9-5) Now it's time to even up how super wordy this post has been thus far, so here's some photos to break up my word vomit and show how I've been playing hard as well as working hard!

// I fell in love with freddar cheese and the most squishiest of buns when the new Byron Hamburgers opened in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago! Did you know that their oreo milkshake with a lil' shot of baileys added is essentially heaven on earth? Byron, we will be back to work our way through the rest of that awesome menu soon //

// This year the Corinthian played host to Debenhams SS16 press day. I couldn't get enough of the Floozie by Frost French Bikinis, beautiful beaded Jenny Packham clutch bags, and I NEED EVERYTHING from the Savannah Miller sleepwear and lingerie range for Nine. Ended up treating myself to this gorgeous lace bodysuit (for £22.50, how could I say no?) //

// After being like passing ships in the night with Pete during the week, we had a little date day with some retail therapy at Braehead. Mainly for stocking up on our bath bomb stash with some of the special easter themed bits from Lush. Yo Sushi have just launched their new menu, so we stopped there for lunch followed by dessert at Krispy Kreme //

// Clearly needing to burn all those burger and cake calories, me and my work bestie Chloe went along to Airspace for an hour session in their indoor trampoline park. It was SO MUCH FUN. And must have been quite a work out as my legs were sore for days afterwards. So many kids doing backflips and we could barely bounce for 30 seconds without feeling absolutely knackered //

// My friend Clare invited me along for a gin afternoon tea at Cup in Merchant City. The cakes and sandwiches were delicious, along with the gin inspired cocktails which came in this gorgeous teapot! Drinking gin from a teacup should be a regular Sunday ritual. If only my handbag was big enough to quietly smuggle that tea set home... //

// I thoroughly enjoyed working on that last job, I won't mention the name of it until closer to when it airs (halloween night!) but our director Greg Hemphill was an absolute joy to work with. After being a massive fan of Chewin' The Fat and Still Game, I was slightly fan girling the entire time. Okay... maybe majorly fan girling. Can't wait for you to see in October on your telly boxes what we have made! //

// Last but not least, I treated myself to this light box from Firebox, for a blog event me and a bunch of Scottish Bloggers are hosting soon. I can't go into any detail yet, but I promise you it's gonna be a good one! ♥ //

So I guess you could say in a short space of time I've realised that you CAN be a girl boss, and maintain a healthy work/life balance. Will I be able to be keep it up when the next job starts in a couple of weeks time? I'm not totally sure... I really do hope so though. There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to. I need to have more faith in myself, but I'm just shocked that a simple change in mindset and regular self care has helped establish a balance which I've enjoyed in 7 short weeks - out of the (almost) 6 years I have been my own boss. I know you can't be all things, to all people, all of the time, but you can take control of your life and your schedule and learn the value of saying no to things if you are feeling overwhelmed (which is often even more important than saying yes) I've never been great at prioritising, I just wanna do EVERYTHING and I want to do it NOW! But basic planning and list writing can really help make the most of your time, and establish what NEEDS done right now, what you SHOULD probably do soon, and what WOULD be nice to do but isn't urgent. Think of it as a sort of green light system and label your lists red, orange and green. Do I have this whole adult thing down to a T yet? Not quite, but I'm closer than I've ever been before. We are all just making life up as we go along, I honestly don't think that anybody on this earth is 100% sure of what they're doing. In the meantime let's not be afraid to have some trial and error and share our lessons with one another.
After all, 'happiness is the journey, not the destination'