Make Things That Feel Good To Make
Becoming a writer and starting my own business has taught me how important it is to make things that feel good to make.
One of the main reasons I wanted to run my own business was so I could make my own decisions.
Decisions that aligned with my desires, and allowed me to have a healthier balance in all areas of my life.
But somewhere along the way, I fell into the trap of doing things because I thought I should do them. And not because I necessarily wanted to.
I was consuming a lot of content at the time – podcasts, you tube videos, Facebook and Instagram posts – and the constant, overruling theme was: do more.
More, more, more.
So that’s exactly what I did.
I started a you tube channel, even though my heart wasn’t really in it. I created products that I thought would sell and increase my profits. And I tried to keep on posting multiple times a day on my social media channels, even though it felt like a waste of my time and energy.
It wasn’t long before my creative well completely dried up, and I felt overwhelmed, and burned out. And the worst part was, it wasn’t even worth it.
Because a lot of that time I spent making those things didn’t feel good for me. It didn’t make my body tingle, it didn’t make my heart skip a beat, or my soul light up.
I wasn’t proud of what I made, because my whole heart wasn’t in it. And that filled me with a sadness; a feeling of hollowness.
So I asked myself, Shani, what are the things you are still proud of?
Pouring everything I had into my very first book, Bloom, and watching it get published.
Working 1:1 with women in my coaching programs, and feeling like I’ve made a real difference to their lives.
Dreaming of and then leading my first retreat in Sri Lanka, and empowering the three beautiful souls who travelled half way across the world to be there in sacred circle.
Creating this baby that you’ve found your way to – She Rose Revolution – and sharing stories and books written by incredible women, so they can find their voice, and inspire other women to find theirs.
Then I asked myself, what do all of these things that I made, share? What’s the theme that weaves them all together?
Heart. Soul. Love. Passion. Adventure. Dreaming. Fulfilment. Joy. Play. Spaciousness. Magic. Spirit. The Universe. Creativity. Fun. Imagination. Wonder. Beauty.
There was no pushing or forcing or trying to make things fit. I wasn’t looking around at what other people were doing, and falling into the comparison trap.
I made things that felt good to make. And I think that’s the whole point. I think that’s what all of us should strive for.
Whether you’re writing a book, baking chocolate brownies, painting a house, stitching the pattern pieces of a dress together, composing a song, having sex, scripting a movie, designing a website, planting daffodils in the garden, falling in love, collaging in a scrapbook, wrapping a gift, brewing a pot of tea, planning a wedding, or even raising a child.
Make things that feel good to make when you’re making them.
The things you can’t wait to get started on, and love tending to and nourishing every day. The things you can spend hours on, and not even notice as the time slips by.
Y’know? The things that will still bring you warmth in your belly, and open your heart when you look back on them in a month, or a year, or ten years from now. The things that require you to stretch and step up, and help you grow and expand in ways you could never predict.
You only get so many hours in a day; so many days in a year; so many years in a lifetime.
Why waste a single one of those moments? Fill them up, making things that feel good to make.
And when you find yourself in a beautiful, centred place of bliss; and your mind starts whispering, life can’t possibly feel this delicious, when will I crash back down to reality?
Release the guilt and the judgement. Return to the moment, and drink it all in. You’re allowed to feel good. Creating something from nothing, and working in harmony with your soul and the universe was always meant to feel good. Some of us just forgot that worldly wisdom somewhere along the way.