Three Years of Mud Lotus Arts: Lessons from the Messy Middle

When I looked up and realized it had been three years in business with Mud Lotus Arts, I was honestly shocked. Shocked because time flies — and shocked because I thought I’d be “further” by now. The truth? I still feel like I’m in the messy middle of entrepreneurship.

I feel like for a lot of the things I’ve figured out, I’ve learned them the hard way. I’ve made so many mistakes and missteps — sometimes it has felt like that’s the only kind of step I know how to take. But as Melody Godfred says, “Even the steps backward are part of the dance.” I hold that close to my heart, because there have been a lot of backward steps.

And yet, what we focus on expands. So instead of listing the hard lessons (there are plenty), I’m choosing to honor what’s blossomed during “chapter one” of Mud Lotus Arts:
✨ Seven self-care retreats hosted.
✨ Hundreds of yoga students taught.
✨ Products, courses, and dreams I’ve been holding for decades finally brought to life.

I am living the dreams my college self, my art-school self, and even my schoolteacher self once had. I’m living the dreams my female ancestors never got the chance to.

Entrepreneurship, especially with the ups and downs of my mental health, has been a wild, fun and deeply humbling ride. I know people online often share their highlight reels — but to skip over the hard parts feels disingenuous. This sh*t is hard sometimes. But it’s also holy work. It has grown me in ways I couldn’t have planned.

Over these three years, I’ve been learning, slowly, how to do things the easy way instead of always taking the hard one. I’m learning to build something that is sustainable on a deeper level — not to burn out again.

The projects I’m working on now (Happy Mail, Mystery Boxes, YouTube) are straight from my heart of hearts, not from the land of “should.” I’m done with shoulds.

For most of these three years, I was fully self-employed. But in 2024, I took on client work through Mud Lotus — what I jokingly call my “side hustles.” And even though those projects took up more time than my main work for a bit, I’ve made peace with that.

Progress isn’t linear. “Overnight success” takes years.

If I wanted to, I could make this post a list of everything I’ve learned or achieved. But honestly, the harder, truer thing is this: I’ve learned that life keeps giving us the experiences we need to heal. Again and again, until we finally get it.

Because Life is good. God is good. The Universe is good.

After every fall, we get the choice to rise again. To dust ourselves off and keep going.

And lately, I’ve been realizing how much of this journey comes down to our nervous system and mindset. What we carry with us daily creates our reality. Our beliefs shape our experience. We can change our minds — and when we do, we change our lives.

That’s why I’ve been rewriting this post for literal days. Because I didn’t want to dwell in the muck — I wanted to honor the truth while staying anchored in gratitude.

I’m grateful for the chance to start again, every single day. I’m grateful for the healing that’s unfolded, for the projects that have come to life, and for the fact that I haven’t given up (even when I really wanted to).

So here’s to TONS more sustainable, heart-led years of Mud Lotus Arts. To creative evolution. To choosing love, energy, and presence — over hustle, pressure, and “shoulds.”

The learning will never end, but I’m ready for new levels of everything good as I pivot into “Chapter two”. I believe I can.

What about you? Have you ever been on an entrepreneurship journey? Was it what you expected?
Let me know — and for more tender musings, you can join my email list here.