Being Geek Chic is a blog about one woman navigating the male-dominated industries of production and tech. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi, Founder, CEO and Director of Mighteor - one of the world's first internet video production companies. Learn more about Mighteor here.
If the memes on Twitter are any indication, 2016 has been rough for a lot of us. For me, it’s been painful. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved this year, but the huge professional successes seemed to drown in the shadow of my personal life. I wish I could say that I feel like everything has leveled out, but even now, my personal struggles often prevent me from seeing the beautiful world that is around me.
As a result, I have spent a lot of 2016 on the treadmill and at yoga reminding myself why I need to be optimistic about the future. Here are a few I thought I’d share with you in hopes that you’ll find some reasons to be optimistic as we say goodbye to what has been a rough year for nearly everyone, it seems.
If you haven’t taken the time to try and find the things that you’re grateful for in 2016, be wise and take the time. Grief and pain and loss are part of life always - and sometimes the most painful parts of life all stack up. But, the thing that will make us survive the downs are realizing that the ups have happened and they will CONTINUE to happen.
When I was growing up, I always remember my mom saying: Have an attitude of gratitude and you’ll always be happy. I know my mom was not the first person to come up with this, but I’ve been acutely aware of it this week. Over the last two months, I’ve been thrown into a washing machine of intensity between my grief and my growing business.
In many ways, it’s been a blessing. Having work to do in beautiful locations like Evergreen, Colorado and West Palm Beach, Florida makes it really hard to feel sad. The mountains and the oceans have a calming effect, even when you’re hauling massive gear bags through the sand and woods. And the work is beyond gratifying.
But if you’re an entrepreneur who has had to keep your nose to the ground and get mounds of work done over several weeks, resulting in giving up weekends and long nights in the office - you know that it’s hard to feel that grace. You know that it’s hard to feel at peace with that insanity. And you long for it like a sweet from your childhood that’s no longer in production.
You just keep working. And you forget to check in with yourself.
Here’s a theory: Emotional things happen when on airplanes. (Amy Poehler explores this thoroughly in her book, so I know I’m not alone!)
As I made my descent home on Wednesday night from our latest shoot, I was disconnected from my phone and my immediate technology. This is such a gift. It refocuses my mind away from: WHAT MUST GET DONE RIGHT NOW and allows me to focus on: WHAT I’M FEELING RIGHT NOW. I was struck by two feelings:
1. I love what I do. When I think back to my days of working in a cubicle and compare that to holding a $10,000 rig on the beach, I almost can’t believe there was a day when I did the former.
2. I have successfully built a life I’m really proud to live. When I think about the people in my life, the circles I’m a part of, the work that has my name on it and the legacy I am trying to build, I’m proud of that.
And letting those feelings in is not something that I allow very often. Maybe it’s my Midwestern humility or maybe it’s fear of being considered shallow or egotistical. Or at my worst moments, I think it’s my fear that it will all go away if I don’t keep my nose down and my fingers typing furiously. Either way, this was an important thing to feel, because since I started my business three years ago, I’ve NEVER felt it this profoundly. An intense sense of peace that has not existed in 39 months washed over me and I slept better on Wednesday night than I’ve slept in years.
On Thursday, I walked into the office with joy in my veins. I was so happy to sit down and edit and work with clients. And in the middle of a music selection, I just started tearing up. Now, I am a firm believer in not crying at work, but these were tears of joy. I turned to my colleague Chase and said: I’m so grateful that this business journey has worked out. And I really hope that it continues to work out.
He laughed. Because he often knows what I forget: We work really hard and do amazing work.
For the last three days, I’ve allowed myself to bask in gratitude bombs. Because that’s how it feels. The shockwaves of finally, finally allowing myself to feel a shred of joy about what I’m building and the success we’ve experienced to date has given me whiplash from the peace that settled in the air around me.
If you’ve been working your ass off like me, I recommend you allow yourself to feel a sense of joy for the journey, because it’s all your own. And it’s worth celebrating.
