17. When Success Feels Exhausting..a lil solo pep talk <3

If you're feeling bone-deep tired- even though you're doing work you love- this episode is for you.

I'm fresh off a crazy busy week: I just wrapped a musical I produced from the ground up (with 50 kids!), I'm prepping for a huge move, launching the next round of Crescendo Club, and singing paid gigs nearly every day. I'm deeply fulfilled… and I'm also exhausted.

In this solo episode, I'm sharing a raw, honest reflection on what it means to feel both grateful and worn out.
Because sometimes, the life we dreamed of is also the one that stretches us the most.

This is your permission slip to honor your tiredness, zoom out, and celebrate the growth you’ve worked so hard for!

✨ Ready to build a business that lets you sing, create, and live freely? DM me “CRESCENDO” on Instagram for information about my business mentorship program, the Crescendo Club
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Transcript

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Welcome to Success Through Scars, the podcast where we turn our most painful struggles into our greatest success stories. I'm Annie Esso, a multi-passionate entrepreneur, business mentor, and professional singer who's overcome anorexia C-P-T-S-D, depression and anxiety. Each week, you'll hear powerful stories of resilience from people who have transformed their deepest pains into testimonies of strength. If you are feeling lost or broken, but have big goals, you are in the right place. Whether your scar comes from a traumatic past, a breakup, a near death experience, or a mental health struggle, remember this, your scars are proof that you survived and scar tissue rebuilds and repairs itself, and you come out stronger on the other side. I hope this podcast can bring you the hope you need to keep going. Let's walk this journey of finding success through scars together. Hello. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Success through Scars. Today's a solo episode, and this is for you. If you are like me and you are feeling bone deep. Exhausted. It is a super crazy busy time for a lot of people, and myself included, I have been so busy lately this past weekend, I closed out a musical production that. I produced and coordinated from the ground up. We had 17 kids last year. This year we had over 50 kids. And not only did I produce the show, but I also coordinated the entire program, ran all the sponsorships. Literally I ran this show like a business and it was exhausting. It was amazing, but exhausting. We had two weeks of rehearsals where I was at the theater for. Eight to nine hours a day, plus doing other work for my business outside of that. It was a lot. These two weeks are the most that I work in a while.'cause I love this work. I love doing this consulting work. This actually makes a huge difference because I'm bringing this top notch theater program to a school that lost their program during Covid and it's just so fulfilling. I love it so much. It was super successful. I made the school like$5,000 off of their musical, which is basically unheard of for a middle school musical. And I employed people, so I feel really proud of that because the momentum is just gonna keep building and I'm sure I'll work on this contract again next year. It's been three years in a row that I've done this, and every year it's just grown and grown, and it's been absolutely incredible. It's been so fulfilling, but my body feels bone tired today. I feel it in my voice. I feel it in my sleep schedule. I feel it in my body. I feel it in my energy and also. I am prepping to move and it's a really big life-changing move that I'm gonna talk about soon. And I'm also launching my group business coaching program, the Crescendo Club. That program helps singers and artists to build businesses so they can live their lifestyle as an entrepreneurial artist make more money and. Have the freedom and flexibility to pursue whatever career they want. On top of that, I have had a lot of singing gigs this week. I had two gigs pop up a couple days ago each$200 or more for an hour of work. And it means that now I won't get to sleep in at all because these gigs are in the morning. And it's a ton, but I used to dream of being paid this much to sing and now what's happening consistently and I'm doing work that I feel so fulfilled doing. So yeah, it's been really busy with all of those things, with tons of singing gigs, tons of work launching, and then also moving on top of it. It's been so much work, but I'm also deeply grateful because. The past version of myself would've dreamed to have everything that I have now. And that's what I wanna remind you of today. So if you are listening to this and you're in a similar position as me, where you're just exhausted and you're feeling burnt out because of work that you willingly chose to do that. You love doing, but you're feeling so tired from doing it. Maybe it's work that's aligned with you, right? But you're exhausted. I just wanna remind you to focus on the gratitude and focus on the version of you Who wished for this? Maybe the past version of you was broke. Maybe you were trying to even get$40 to sing. Maybe you were doing free gigs, maybe you weren't getting paid at all. Maybe you were working a nine to five job that you hated and now you are teaching full-time or coaching full-time or doing something else. Maybe you're singing full-time and I. You didn't even know that this life that you have now was possible for you, but now you're living it. And yeah, there's more challenges that come with it. Maybe you're exhausted because you're so busy. I'm encouraging you to remember how far you've come and to hold the duality that you can be both exhausted right now and deeply grateful for where you are in your life, because you're much further than you were a few years ago in the things that you have now. Were things that you used to dream of. Gratitude brings me back every single time, and you all know that I talk about this a lot. What you focus on expands. So if you're focused on how exhausted you are and just complaining about it every single day, that's all you're gonna feel. But you can focus on the exhaustion and taking care of yourself and resting your body and doing whatever you need to do. Like I'm gonna have a little. Treat later today, and I'm gonna have my magnesium drink and I'm gonna get in bed early with my book and my heating pad.'cause for some reason it's freezing in Michigan right now. It's 50 degrees in the middle of May. And you can do that. And you can also have the gratitude for where you are. You can feel exhausted and grateful at the same time. So just wanted to remind you today with this quick little episode that what you focus on expands, and even if you're exhausted, direct your focus to gratitude. You can hold both at the same time because a past version of you would've dreamed to have what you have right now. And the more you focus on gratitude, the less. Depleted, you're going to feel about your current situation. Remember that this will pass as well. You don't need to toxic positivity, your way out of your exhaustion, but just remember to hold both. A past version of you wanted what you have now and the reason you're tired is because you are doing work that lights you up and fulfills you. I needed that today and I hope that this helped you too. And as always, if this was helpful, please share it with someone who would love to hear this message. Review the podcast and subscribe, and I will see you next time on our next episode of Success through Scars. Thanks for listening. Bye.