When I look back at the first five years of my bookbinding journey, most of my time was spent in the bindery, restoring books, developing products, and marketing to grow the business. I didn’t socialize much or go to many places. I would wake up early, begin my work, and often continue until ten or eleven at night. This wasn’t just my weekday routine, it included weekends too.
My partner used to say I was working too hard. But to be honest, I never saw it that way. It didn’t feel like hard work. It felt like self-actualization. I always knew I wanted to build something of my own and serve people in a way that aligned with my values and vision.
Working for survival was always in the back of my mind. I believed that we must work to protect ourselves from situations we don’t want to be in. But over time, I realized that hard work can mean more. When it’s connected to purpose, it becomes a path to self-growth. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, self-actualization is something we seek once our basic needs are met. When we view effort through that lens, work becomes more than survival, it becomes transformation.
It’s always easier to talk about these things than to live them. And I don’t write about anything I haven’t done. Before I started my bookbinding business, I worked several jobs I didn’t enjoy just to fund it. Looking back, even that was part of my self-actualization. Doing what I had to do so I could eventually do what I love. Those jobs paid for my materials and helped bring my first products to life.
So yes, the work was long. But when it aligns with your vision, it’s more than worth it.
I’m sharing this not to glorify hustle, but to celebrate the quiet joy that can come from doing hard work, especially when it’s rooted in purpose. Purpose takes many forms. It might be raising a family, building a business, solving complex problems, or simply creating something that brings meaning to others. What matters isn’t what you do, but why you do it. When your work is rooted in that deeper why, hard work becomes more than a duty, it becomes a source of quiet fulfillment and lasting growth.
To read more- www.ccwithin.com
Feel free to share if this speaks to your journey too.
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P.S. My upcoming book, #FromUglyToBeautifulWithoutSurgery, launches between April to May 2025. It’s the result of over 10 years of personal and professional exploration into what true beauty really means. If you’ve ever felt not enough, this book is a heartfelt guide to rediscover your worth, no surgery, no filters, just truth.
