I Broke My Own Rule Today
This newsletter is late, and I'm not sorry.
Hi! I'm Tracy from The Femme Foundry. Your weekly dose of real talk about creative life. Design insights, honest stories, and practical advice that actually helps - in a space where you can drop the act and just be yourself.
I'm posting this a day late on purpose.
I bet 99% of you didn't even realise that this was not on schedule, and to the ones that do - I know you hold space for me and that you realise that life happens and we should all be a little bit easier on ourselves and each other.
I used to be obsessed with my content calendar. Every post planned weeks in advance. Every newsletter scheduled to the minute. It was making me miserable.
I'd wake up thinking about deadlines I'd imposed on myself. You know that feeling? When you're lying in bed and your brain immediately starts listing everything you're supposed to be doing instead of, well, lying in bed. I'd feel guilty for watching Netflix instead of creating content. I turned my creative outlet into another source of stress.
Most of this pressure isn't coming from my audience. It's coming from me.
I have those moments when I want to do absolutely nothing productive. My inner perfectionist has a meltdown during these times. "You're supposed to be working! You have deadlines!"
Then I realised: literally no one cares as much as I think they do. Wild concept, right?
Taking a break isn't always about burnout or deep healing. Sometimes I just want to lie on the couch and not think about fonts for a few days. That's perfectly fine.
I create these self-imposed deadlines that feel life-or-death important but actually mean nothing. Weekly newsletters. Daily posts. Monthly challenges. What's the worst that would happen if I posted this tomorrow instead of today? If I skipped a week?
The answer: absolutely nothing.
Your business won't collapse if you take a day off. The urgency is manufactured. We made it up.
You're allowed to:
Post when you want to, not when you "should"
Take breaks without announcing them
Be inconsistent sometimes
Prioritise your life over your content calendar
When I stopped treating my creative schedule like it was set in stone, I started creating better work. Not because I was more disciplined, but because I was less stressed. Creativity flows better when you're not strangling it with arbitrary timelines.
This newsletter is late because I felt like being late. Your creative work will be there tomorrow. People will understand. But your sanity? Your joy in creating? Those things need protecting.
Take the break. Miss the deadline you made up. Be human.
So here we are. Late, unapologetic, and perfectly fine.
What's one rule you've made for yourself that actually stresses you out more than helps?
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