Tuesday, December 20, 2022

If You Don't Laugh, You'll Cry

The other day, I told you the story of how Eliot's and my "Hell Week" ended back on Saturday December 17th.  It was a hot mess, but at least I can look back at it now without the complete horror and dread I was filled with while it was happening. 

For anyone who thinks running a small business is easy, lemme fill you in… it’s not all sunshine and roses.  Sure, I can take an afternoon off to sit and do absolutely nothing if I want to.  But I’m also the same person practically glued to our Happily Ever Hatter and Snowblade Creations "to do" lists, messaging customers back (sometimes at 2:00 AM) and keeping track of when everyone's Disney trips are to ensure they get their items in time.  You don't have a fall guy; you are the fall guy and when someone does complain, I'm the one that has to find the resolution.  (Thankfully, we have wonderful customers and the complaints are 1-2 times a year, if that.)

Last Saturday was basically as extreme as it gets, and it was the most stressed out that I've been in regards to our businesses in a long time.  I have been a lot more balanced this year between our personal lives and our business lives.  But that day was something unique.  At the end of it, we made it and it all turned out ok, but I definitely tried to find the humor while we were going through it.  I think I look to humor to get through tough times.  If you don't laugh, you'll cry, right?

So with that, today I wanted to share a few gems that were born out of stress.  You probably saw the first one (below) if you read my other post.  But here's the original (and larger) version before I posted it over on Facebook with all of the fun emojis.

The 12 Questions of Small Business "Hell Week"

Have Eliot and I slept much the past few days… no.

Have we been taking more naps than adults ever should… probably.

Have we consumed way too much caffeine, sugar and who knows what other terrible foods this week… yup!

Were we singing Christmas carols at the top of our lungs at 3:00 am a few times this week… um, maybe?

Did I dance around the living room like a psycho while singing at the top of my lungs… ok fine, I did.

Did we lose our power just before 10:30 PM on the WORST night of the ENTIRE year to lose electricity… don’t remind me- it’s too fresh.

Did we put our final orders together by the light of Eliot’s battery powered LED light until the sun finally rose this morning… yuppers!

Did I want to breakdown and cry a few times… mm-hmmm.

But did we keep pushing forward anyways… hell yeah!

Did I basically force Eliot to take this photo before he left… yes.  (See below.)

Will we spend a good portion of this afternoon sleeping… heck yes!

Did Eliot and I survive “Hell Week” and get all of our holiday orders out in the mail in time to arrive for Christmas... I have no idea how, but YES!!!

What I didn't tell you in my other post, was that while Eliot and I were both scrambling around like crazy in the dark, I started singing random lines to Christmas carols, but with the lyrics as whatever I was doing or thinking at the time.  (I should note that this is a normal occurrence around here… much to Eliot’s amusement.)

Now that the complete chaos of last Saturday is over, I thought I'd amuse myself with making my own song to commemorate this uh, “experience".  I actually wrote part of it while we were in the middle of it, but since I didn't want to use up all of the battery on my computer, most of it was written after Eliot took the second round of packages to the post office, but before I fell back into bed for an afternoon nap. 

So now I present to you my latest holiday carol… 

"The Final 12 Hours of Small Business Hell Week 2022"

12 hours without power,

11 times I flipped the light switch out of habit,

10 hours of dread and panic (we slept for 2 hours while it was dark out), 

9 times I tried to ask Alexa something,

8 times I felt nauseous (due to stress),  

times I thought of our upcoming Disney vacation (and how much we earned it this past week!), 

handfuls of trail mix (to sustain me), 

loud swear words, 

deep breaths to calm me,  

3 packages that didn’t make it (to the post office by noon),

2 awesome mail ladies (who told us to go home, pack them up and bring them back over since they’d be there anyways), 

and 1 more USPS holiday shipping deadline we survived!!!

And there you have it, finding the laughter through the pain and stress.  It's absolutely ridiculous, but I would have been a pile of tears otherwise.  Instead, I kept trying to find the humor of the situation.  It resulted in these gems... musings from a sleep deprived, half crazed woman trying to survive the busiest time of year for her small businesses.

I wanted to share them, and it seemed appropriate to let them breathe in the open air of the inter-webs.  Plus, who knows what's in store for our future.  If Eliot and I ever find ourselves in another tight spot, I'll have these silly gems at the ready, poised to bring the laughter when things might look bleak.  Cuz if you don't laugh, you'll cry... °o°

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