By Julia Cohen – Atreva-se
Tiredness. In these last weeks, whenever people ask me how I am, my answer has been: ok, just tired. In this crazy routine that has become working from home, being available at all times, setting limits for rest is increasingly essential. Every now and then I realize that I’m working much more than eight hours a day. The reality is that our heads never stop, not even when we sleep! I am the queen of dreams. Some days I dream so much that I wake up, amazingly, tired. It’s really crazy.
These days I saw a meme on the internet about entrepreneurship. “Have your own business and you will work less”. Hahaha what a joke! There were several entrepreneurs laughing, because if there’s one thing that’s not true, it’s that sentence. At least not for a long time. On the contrary, we work much more than what is required in a regular job. So many times that the 24 hours of the day are not enough.
Another sentence that to me is pure silliness (ok, what adjective is this Julia and what year is today?!) is the one where people say “work with something you like and you’ll never work a day in your life”. Bullshi*! What a load of bollocks. Every, I mean absolutely every, job has at least one task or activity that we don’t like. There is no way. Sure, days can be lighter when we do something we like, but by no means all days will be good. We are human beings, and as such, we will have ups and downs. And look, it’s all right! Getting discouraged, or down, is part of the process. Just remember that tomorrow is another day and we can start all over again.
Anyway, tiredness. These last few months, doing investment rounds for Swood, my life has been about having meetings. And with different time zones, there are days when the last meeting starts at 11pm, 11:30pm in my schedule. Insane, I know. But when you have a dream and set some goals, you do everything you can to achieve it. Entrepreneurship is a bit like that, you know? Being willing to persist, face fear and the unknown, learn something new every day. And always, always believing.
My father has often said to me a phrase that has helped me a lot: “feet on the ground and head in the clouds”. That’s exactly right, we need to dream, to aim, to plan, but without floating. To reach the dream it takes work and, for that, our feet must be really nice on the ground. It is by building, day by day, the whole process, between cool and boring activities, that we get closer to our final goal.
And you know, tiredness comes, goes away, comes back, stays for a while, we recover, goes away again and comes back again. Honestly, there are times that when the day is over I don’t even know my own name. Sometimes I laugh at that, sometimes I question whether it is really worth it. But then again, humans, right? In the course of life we never have a 100% sure answer for anything. It is to live with our choices, remembering that this will generate sacrifices and consequences, go adjusting our ways when necessary and, on the days when we do not even know our name, is to accept that it is time to rest. Even because tomorrow the sun will rise again and we can always start again from where we left off.
So, rest, work, have fun. And if you forget your name, you know: a good night’s sleep always helps you recover – at least a little bit.
Take care, get vaccinated and see you soon.
Julia