Spirited Enterprise

Heading up customer service for SE provides me with insight into all of our client's personal lives.

 

Its a wonderful thing sometimes as you really get to know people for who they are, the accomplishments they've made, and the obstacles that they've overcome.

I feel as though I've gained an entirely new family here at SE. Every single one of our clients has touched my heart in one way or another. I'm very thankful for that.

 

I hear extraordinary stories of births, reunions, wedding days, love, progress, and success. These stories absolutely warm my heart and these kinds of stories are the stories that keep me going on the days that Im feeling overwhelmed and second guessing myself, not only as a practitioner, but as a person.

But in the same sense, walking in Mother Moon's shoes can be a very depressing thing. Day in and day out, I hear stories of hardships, illness, loss, grief, and everything in between. Over the years, its definitely taken a toll on me.

 

Its gotten to the point where I've actually had to seperate Mother Moon from myself. At home, Im me. Mother Moon's shoes and cloak are removed at the door and placed within the closet (picture Mr. Rogers taking off his sweater). It took me a very long time to be able to accomplish this feat as Mother Moon is also ME. MM has been a big part of who I am and who Ive become for as long as I can remember.

 

5 years ago, I was to the point where the lives of our clients overtook my own. I couldnt seperate my home life from SE. I worried constantly about what our clients would do if I wasnt there, sitting at the computer, every second of every day to hear their worries and give advice. I felt like I was a knight in shinning armor or a savior of sorts and that without my gospel, people just wouldnt be able to go on with their lives.

 

Its silly, I know. My thought process wasnt based on any one case, but rather hundreds and hundreds of clients and cases, all with their own needs.

 

I wasnt sleeping, I wasnt eating, my hair was thinning out. I was seeing doctors for nutritional supplements as my stress had gotten so bad that the food I was trying to consume, just wouldn't stay down. At my worst, I weighed less than 85 pounds!

I was literally sick from all of the stress.

 

But eventually, it was actually a client that helped me start a new beginning of sorts. It was a case where we had been working with this particular client for months. Each day, she told me that she didnt feel like she could face the day without communications from me. One day, though, I confessed to her that I was worried about her well being but that I really needed some time away from the office. So I asked her if she would be OK if I took the weekend off to spend some time with my family. I told her that if she didnt think she would be, then I'd figure something out where my family and I could take a day trip, but then I could be home for her during the evening hours.

She then admitted to me that she was shocked and completely disappointed in herself. She told me that she had gotten so wrapped up in her own situation that she forgot that I was actually a person, outside of SE, with a life. She admitted that she never thought about other clients or me at all. To her, I was a life line and, just as I had grown accustomed to her needing me every day, she had grown accustomed to me being there for her.

She convinced me that she would be fine during my days off and that I deserved to have time away just like any other working citizen.

She and I promised each other that, she would work on being less needy just as I would work on being less "dedicated." lol.

 

With her help, I was able to start the process of seperating SE from ME.

 

My point to this blog was simply to let you all know that even though I am not always able to get to your emails in a timely mannor, that doesnt mean Im not thinking of you and wishing you the best.

I work very hard at customer service. Most evenings, I will even answer emails from home after my children are in bed. But even so, 8 or 9 hours of near-constant work, cannot keep up with the mass amout of emails that come in each day. On a good productive day, without too many interruptions, I can get through 60 to 70 emails. The amount of emails that we actually receive each day is 4 to 5 times more than I can answer.

 

Though Raven does her best to help with customer service from time to time, processing orders, packaging, labling, and shipping is also a full days work.

 

We've tried adding people to the customer service "department" perse, in the past, and it turned out that most clients just didnt like it. They didnt want to talk to "some other person," they wanted MM. So, here I am. I am human. And Im doing my best.

 

Thanks to all of you who understand that I have a life outside of SE. Without you all, I dont know what I'd do. I love you all!!

MM