Reneé Claire - Taking Care of Yourself While Running A Small Business

Long term planning, financial statements and lawyers are necessary pieces of a successful business, but I truly believe we have don’t much if we aren’t healthy and happy. Afterall, what’s the point of a successful business if you keel over from a stroke in the middle of talking with a client or treat your family and friends badly because you’re in chronic pain everyday?

Over the years, in order to keep my business open, I’ve had to rethink how I care for myself. Self-care isn’t just bubbles baths and eye cream. It’s real work. I’ve suffered from chronic back and hip pain since 2006 and always just lived with it. Late last year, I found I had two torn discs and arthritis in my lower spine after finally getting approval for an MRI. After a lot of physical therapy and doctor’s appointments we now think I also have a labral tear in my hip joint. I’m in less pain than ever but I still have a long way to go to rebuild stamina and strength.

Progress came after trying a lot of things that didn’t work, including just pushing through the pain no matter the cost. The back pain is real but it was also a symptom of how much I needed change in my life. The cost of doing nothing was very very high to me. I’ve had to rethink how my business functions in order to allow for healing. I had to rethink what I wanted from my life. We are told that in order succeed in business we must do everything it takes. What if it takes prioritizing yourself no matter what?

I won’t lie it has taken the last 3 years of doing whatever I could from fiercely advocating for myself at the doctor’s office to prioritizing myself above EVERYTHING else to not be in constant pain today. I had to stop abandoning my own needs. It felt selfish. It felt short sighted. It felt like I was abandoning others. It hurt other people. I have felt so. much. guilt. But you know what, not only am I pain free and happier, my sales doubled last year and this year I’m up 11%.

Here are things I’ve incorporated into my life:

1 - Meditation- I meditate between 5 and 20 minutes 5 or 6 days a week. It’s not a lot and sometimes it’s really hard but it has made a HUGE difference in my life. Studies show that you don’t have to be any good at meditating for your brain to feel the benefits. You can struggle the ENTIRE 5 minutes and you will benefit the same as someone whose mind shuts off into bliss for the same amount of time.

2 - Physical Activity Every Day- Most days I get to the gym and take at least one 30 minute walk. I can’t explain the difference this has made in decreasing my back and hip pain. When we are physical pain, we don’t want to move but what we really need is blood flow in the areas that hurt the most. That’s how healing happens.

3- Eat more veggies - Do you feel better because you exercise or do you feel better because you eat healthier? What we do know is that our willpower is finite each day - that’s not a fault, that’s just how our brain works. I pack in the veggies in the beginning of the day with healthy fats like almond butter and avocado. I’m not starving when I get home and I’m able to more easily make better decisions. I make a huge dinner and pack up the rest for breakfast or lunch. I eat whatever for breakfast. Sometimes it’s overnight oats, sometimes turkey meatballs and sweet potato mash with almond butter.

4- Say Goodbye to Toxic Relationships or Relationships That You Have Outgrown - You are the culmination of your surroundings. Your inner circle is a huge part of your inner voice. And you’re too valuable to sit around in relationships that aren’t healthy or don’t work for you anymore or are too negative.

I recently read this in a post (I can’t remember where) and I thought it was a beautiful expression about why we may choose stay in difficult situations even though they make us unhappy. Your happiness doesn’t discount the pain or grief you have experienced in your life. You don’t owe your past painful experiences a lifetime of unhappiness by staying in toxic situations. With as much respect as possible to both you and the other person (people), it might be time to move on. Taking on another’s toxicity won’t lessen their pain. (This is me by the way. I literally told a therapist, it’s ok I can take it, I’m not in as much pain as they are) No, girl, you deserve more than a relationship like that!

5 - Get Enough Sleep- For two years I worked the graveyard shift at an all night diner. Once a nurse told me, “oh you definitely shortened your lifespan”, after I explained to her my sleep schedule. Sleeping only a few hours a night does not benefit your business in the long run. It will kill you. The science is very clear.

Making changes in our habits is incredibly difficult. You aren’t having trouble making positive changes because you are weak or something is wrong with you, it’s your freaking brain. We are wired this way.

Four years ago , I was so unhappy in my life. I was so miserable. It was horrible. Everyday. I started with doing more of the things that felt good. Like go to a yoga class. I knew no matter how horrible my back felt that afternoon, going to that yoga class felt better than doing nothing. And then I knew that making dinner at home a few nights a week made me feel better than eating pizza. And then meditating just 5 minutes each morning made the day so much better. I just did more of the things that I already knew felt good. An incredible change came to my life. I knew I couldn’t live the way I had been living so I made a choice each day. It was incredibly challenging and painful sometimes. But each day it was easier to do the things I knew made my life happier and healthier.

I have spent a lot of time working on my mission and values for my business. Knowing and spending time on these things allowed me to follow a mindful path forward in my personal life as well. Progress isn’t a linear line though, and the stickiness of these changes have ebbed and flowed. But movement without purpose won’t move us. I keep the mission of my business close to me at all times, so I can let go of the guilt or the feelings of unworthiness that are often associated with treating myself with compassion and kindness.

Our business is an extension of ourselves and we must prioritize our own wellbeing in order to succeed.