That Girl Knows; Escaping The Rat Race

I receive questions daily on social media about all things SheLed. What better place to answer our readers inquires right here! 

In a world filled with individuals who are vigorously searching for their pursuit of finding happiness, many believe that wealth and power is the solution. Some could even wonder if wealth and power is the source of true happiness? Some believe that working tirelessly is the only way to achieve true success. Some opt into a lifetime of running the ‘Rat Race’ This month inquiring minds would like to know:

What are your thoughts on escaping the rat race?

First, let’s define Rat Race;

• a way of life in which people are caught up in a fiercely competitive struggle for wealth or power."they quit the rat race to live a simple life"

• an exhausting, usually competitive routine.

or

•  any exhausting, unremitting, and usually competitive activity or routine, especially a pressured urban working life spent trying to get ahead with little time left for leisure, contemplation, etc.

After carefully evaluating the definition, I can understand why our readers want to escape this race rather than run it.  YIKES!!!  Honestly, look at the focal words of the definition: exhausting, competitive struggle, unremitting and LACKING time for leisure. So here are my thoughts: Get out fast!

Allow me to share a personal experience.  I worked vigorously to recover from financial woes that stemmed following  the immense heartbreak of losing my mother & a daunting divorce. Lacking in my ability to control my emotions during these critical times beginning September 11, 2016- April 2018 I lost my firm grip on life, leading to becoming nearly homeless. I felt dreadful, ashamed, embarrassed, and sad to say, defeated. My ego got the best of me because I am admired by my family, friends and community as a successful and well accomplished Female Ceo.  Hence, I set great  intentions for 2018  to make a grand come back. 

The great news is I recovered, but at what cost?

I pursued wealth vigorously and regained  my strength.  I made a grand comeback! I managed to sextuple my income by April 2018. My focus was never to experience poverty again, especially since I worked so hard to escape poverty in the first place. My financials were back to my idea of normalcy. It felt ahmazing!!!  Before the clock struck 12 on December 31, 2018, I promised myself that 2019 would be an even better year, my determination being fuelled more than ever.

You must understand that in 2006 when I first started my call centre, Make Your Dreams Come True, I had a village of supporters helping me reach benchmarks. Unfortunately, as time went on, my support system had either passed away in death or was no longer part of my life. My new support system were a few family and friends, people who I met socially online and new friends locally. What a blessing it was to have them! 2018 was incredible because it was the first year that I relied totally on my God to be the only support system I needed to rebuild my life. I ran with that same spirit and invisible power into 2019. WOW!! I made beautiful NOISE! However, to my dismay, I was in a full-blown rat race.

By October 6 2019, after speaking at a Beauty Expo while heading to witness my brand take its debut in Macy’s department stores, I suffered from a minor stroke. To make matters worse, things were growing FAST within both of my companies, I experienced an unexpected financial crisis and being sued by my ex-husband were just a handful of events all happening at once.  However, even then I felt that I could not stop working because I didn’t want to lose everything I worked to accomplish during my come back.  Here’s the punchline you’ve been waiting for:

In the process of pursuing what I thought my happiness was, I almost lost my life. In fact, during my year-end review, I realised that I enjoyed little leisure time. For goodness sake, my vacations consisted of business with a tiny ounce of pleasure! I failed to execute some lifetime events, some business relationships suffered. Furthermore, my relationship with my children suffered tremendously.  I began to dread my day to day tasks, becoming depressed.  I had little to no social life, resorting to long drawn out texts and social media (uggghhhhhhhh) which I hated but settled for because I was running the rat race. To make matters worse, I’m the honestly the worst person to communicate via text with lol, for some reason, I can’t seem to get the tone right (who makes SMS rules anyway?!) It was clear that I became depressed and exhausted from the constant running. What a price to pay for success. I’m happy to inform you that I’m back on track but I took a brutal beating.

Oh wait, I almost forgot to  mention that my sister purchased tickets for me to see one of my absolute favourite artists Chris Brown perform.  Guess who slept through the concert? Me. I felt like a zombie, in my heart I was dancing and singing with Breezy but my body could not perform. I was too exhausted from the 70 hours I had worked in one week. 

Here’s my advice for 2020, girlfriend LIVE! There is no amount of money or power worth compromising the most precious and simple things in life especially the gift of life. 

Here are my top six tips for escaping the rat race

1. Manage your time wisely- use a calendar or personal assistant.

2. NEVER compare your success to others success. We each are entitled to our own measuring spoon of success.

3. Even if you’re trying to get out of a rut or prove to yourself that you’re good enough, be kind to yourself

4. Enjoy leisure time with your family and friends, make beautiful memories. Don’t fall asleep at concerts. lol

5. Repeat after me, Money and/or Power does not create happiness. Appreciate the simple things in life, be grateful for life itself and use your invaluable time to create memories that you will spend a lifetime loving.

6. You’re not superwoman, ok, well, maybe you are… but girlfriend please ask for help, hire a reliable team and/or outsource whenever projects or tasks permit.

Natasha Lee is a visionary, entrepreneur and advocate for all things SHE led. She has built businesses, raised a family and worked alongside some of the most inspirational women globally.

Her #ThatGirl brand is all about strong female leadership, and she wears what she preaches! Have you seen the red lipstick cute T-shirts?! From an early age (She was an 8-year-old DIVA) to the present day, she worked toward her dreams. Natasha doesn't allow anything to hold her back. You can read all about her journey to becoming That Girl here and if you want to ask her any questions drop into The Community