It's taken me 31 years to get to this point. It will likely take several more years to really, truly get it. Or maybe, my whole life! Or maybe I never will really truly get it. Who knows. Regardless: I feel like this last month has been a huge lesson for me in the simple fact that I have permission for myself to stop or slow down something, whenever I want.

I started the crowdfunding campaign and thought "I will do whatever it takes, I will squeeze every drop of productivity out of each day of the next month!" That was in one of my moments of E&E, or Enthusiasm and Exuberance. When I'm in that zone, I say yes to everything. It's all possible! I don't know how! But I'll figure it out!

Then a week later I felt overwhelmed, burnt out and tired.

Then I remembered: t's up to me to slow down.

It's up to me to set my schedule, whatever it's going to be. If I want to start a project to write 100 poems in 100 days, and then on day 6 I'm bored of it, and I don't want to do it anymore, that's OK.

If I want to not plan a dance party for the whole community, and not look for partnerships, and instead get a line of credit to cover whatever I don't raise through crowdfunding, that's OK.

If I want to make napping on the couch after work with my boyfriend a priority, that's OK.

That's how I'll build the business that will work for me. That's how I'll avoid burnout. That's what it takes.