There are times in business when I feel connected to what I'm creating. Ideas flow, I'm excited about what's possible, and I can see the shape of the things I'm bringing into the world.
And then there are other times.
The sales slow down. The expenses keep coming. I start wondering whether I'm doing enough, whether I should be trying something different, whether I need to post more, send another email, launch something new.
Before I know it, my mind is racing.
I start looking at everything I'm doing and questioning whether it's working. I think about all the things I could be doing differently, all the opportunities I might be missing, all the ways I could bring more money into the business.
And the more I think, the harder it becomes to settle.
Recently, I found myself in exactly this place.
I was worrying about sales, thinking about income and trying to work out what I needed to do next. I have beautiful things to share with the world, ideas I'm excited about and businesses I've poured so much of myself into. But when the financial pressure builds, it's difficult to enjoy any of it.
Everything starts to feel urgent.
I know I need to make money, so I think about making money. I worry about what isn't selling, so I look for more things to sell. I feel uncertain, so I try to think my way towards certainty.
And somewhere in all of that, I lose touch with myself.
When the need to do more takes over
One of the things I've come to recognise about running a creative business is how easily the desire to create something meaningful can become tangled up with the pressure to make it financially sustainable.
I want to make beautiful things. I want to share my ideas, create work that feels meaningful and build a business that supports the life I want to live.
But I also need to earn an income.
And when those two things feel out of balance, the work I love can begin to feel like another source of pressure.
I start measuring the value of what I'm creating by how quickly it sells. I find myself thinking about what I should be doing next instead of being present with what I'm doing now.
It's a difficult place to be, particularly when you're someone who values a slower, more intentional way of living.
Because the truth is, I don't want to spend my days constantly pushing, producing and trying to keep everything moving.
I want to feel connected to my work. I want to have time to think, to paint, to follow an idea simply because it interests me. I want to build something sustainable without exhausting myself in the process.
And yet, when uncertainty creeps in, it's so easy to abandon those intentions.
Remembering the Moon
This morning, I found myself thinking about my energy and how depleted I was feeling.
Then I remembered something.
It was the New Moon.
Here I was, creating Business by the Moon and talking about the importance of working with natural rhythms, yet I was caught up in worrying about how to make more money and what I needed to do next.
I was trying to force answers when perhaps what I needed was a little space.
The New Moon is a time I associate with turning inward, resting and allowing new ideas to take shape before rushing into action. It's a moment in the lunar cycle that invites us to pause, reflect and consider what we want to grow.
I didn't need another business strategy that morning. I needed to remember the very thing I believe in.
So I took a breath and allowed myself to step back from the constant mental activity.
I reminded myself that I didn't have to work everything out right then. I could acknowledge my financial worries without allowing them to consume the whole day. I could take my business seriously without treating every quiet sales day as a crisis.
And something began to soften.
The problems hadn't magically disappeared. I still need to make decisions, generate income and find ways to sustain my businesses. But I could feel the difference between approaching those challenges from a place of panic and approaching them with a little more space around them.
For me, returning to the Moon helped me settle my nervous system. It gave me something familiar to orient myself towards when my thoughts had become tangled in uncertainty.
It reminded me that I could pause.
We are not meant to be in constant bloom
One of the things I love about working with the Moon is the reminder that life moves in cycles.
There are times for beginning, dreaming and imagining what might be possible. There are times for taking action, sharing our work and putting our energy into the world. And there are times for reflecting, tending to what we've created and allowing ourselves to rest.
We can observe these rhythms in nature all around us.
Yet so much of modern business culture encourages us to operate as though every day should be equally productive. We're expected to keep showing up, keep growing, keep creating content, keep launching and keep finding new ways to reach people.
There's very little room for the reality that our energy changes, our circumstances change and sometimes we simply need to stop.
Working with lunar time offers me another way to approach my business.
It doesn't mean I only work when the Moon is waxing or abandon practical planning when it's waning. And it certainly doesn't mean I can ignore the financial realities of running a business.
Instead, it gives me a framework for asking different questions.
Rather than simply asking, What do I need to do next? I can ask, What is needed from me right now?
Is this a time to begin something new, or would it be wiser to tend to what I've already created?
Am I taking action because it feels aligned, or because I'm frightened of what might happen if I stop?
Could I make a little space to rest before deciding what comes next?
Sometimes the most useful thing I can do for my business is step away long enough to see it more clearly.
Returning to rhythm doesn't mean giving up
I want to be clear about something: I don't believe we can simply think our way out of financial pressure by following the Moon.
We still need to look at our numbers, make thoughtful decisions, find customers and create businesses that can support us. Sometimes that means making difficult choices or changing direction.
But I am learning that how I approach those things matters, too.
When I'm caught in a spiral of worry, everything can feel urgent. I want to fix everything at once, and it's difficult to know which action will genuinely help.
When I can settle and return to myself, I can begin to distinguish between what needs my attention now and what can wait.
I can recognise that a quiet sales day doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong. I can celebrate the things that are working instead of immediately moving the goalposts. I can make a plan without expecting myself to execute every part of it at once.
And I can remember that my worth, and the value of the work I create, isn't determined by what happens in a single day.
For me, this is part of building a sustainable business. Not just creating something that works financially, but finding a way to work that doesn't require me to abandon myself along the way.
A little New Moon practice for your business
If you're feeling caught in your own business spiral, perhaps you might like to try this.
Take a little time away from your computer, your sales figures and your to-do list. If you can, step outside and look at the sky. You don't need to see the Moon to connect with the phase it's in.
Take a few slow breaths and allow yourself to arrive where you are.
Then ask yourself three questions:
What am I carrying right now?
Notice the worries, expectations and decisions taking up space in your mind. You don't need to solve them all. Simply acknowledge what's there.
What actually needs my attention?
Separate the things that genuinely require action from the things you're worrying about because they feel uncertain. You may find that not everything is as urgent as it first appeared.
What would support me in the next few days?
Perhaps you need to make a practical plan, reach out to a customer, review your finances or finish something you've already started. Perhaps you need a little rest before you can think clearly.
Let the answer be simple.
You don't need to transform your entire business in one sitting. Sometimes one thoughtful next step is enough.
A different way of doing business
I'm sharing this because I need the reminder myself.
It's easy to talk about working with natural rhythms when things are flowing. It's a little harder when sales are slow, money feels tight and the future is uncertain.
But perhaps that's precisely when the practice becomes most valuable.
Not because the Moon has all the answers, but because returning to its rhythm reminds me that I don't have to respond to every fear with more activity.
I can pause. I can listen. I can rest. And when I'm ready, I can begin again.
That's what I want Business by the Moon to be about: finding a way to build something meaningful that honours both our ambitions and our humanity.
Because just like nature, our businesses are not meant to be in constant bloom.
Sometimes we need to tend to what's growing. Sometimes we need to let something go. And sometimes we simply need to be still long enough to remember what we're growing in the first place.
The invitation isn't to do less for the sake of doing less. It's to find a rhythm that allows us to keep going without losing ourselves along the way.
With love,
Nadiah