Rain.
Overcast days and a good downpour.
Growing up in Southern California had rain here and there.
I have always enjoyed the rain, from afar.
I remember being a kid and on rainy days I was busy doing homework when it was raining.
I told myself, "One day, I'll enjoy the rain."
And then college came and again, I'd be busy doing homework.
"Next time." I told myself.
Then for the ten year run in my previous tech company... the rain would come, and I'd be working.
"I'll enjoy the rain when this client project finishes."
There were other variations...
"I'll enjoy the rain after this marketing initiative."
"I'll enjoy the rain after I hire another employee."
"I'll enjoy the rain after we pivot the business and focus in mobile." (2009)
For many many years, the rain would come, and I would delay my enjoyment of it.
Enjoy: To appreciate. To relish. To savor. To soak in. To experience. To feel.
Maybe it was a battle between my mental self and my emotional self.
My mental self would make up these stories to delay my gratification.
My emotional self wanted to feel.
I had to learn how to slow down.
I had to allow myself the space to experience.
I had to create the space.
When I did this, and did it frequently, I learned how to fundamentally change my experience of what I thought it meant to be human.
You may see people who have aged well have a different presence about them. You may not be able to describe it, but perhaps you can feel it.
It is a different way of being. A different way of existing in the world.
I have come to value this, both in myself, and in my relationships.
I now enjoy and fully breathe in the rain, at a coffee shop, with large windows, a hot beverage in hand, staring out the window.
If you want to enjoy moments in the entrepreneurial journey, then allow yourself to enjoy them.
Our self-awareness of how we see the world helps us to see how we don't allow ourselves to enjoy.
If you have a tendency of delaying gratification, you can learn what you prioritize above yourself.
I invite you to enjoy the small wins. Create the space.
This is a habit that requires effort to execute.
Often, by default, I've seen entrepreneurs chase what they actually don't need anymore (despite needing it at one point in their life).
And we can't have enough of what we don't need.
When you allow yourself to enjoy the entrepreneurial journey, you give those around you permission to enjoy it too.
