Whenever you're building something, especially a business, there are times when the stress of merely surviving is crushing.
You get up every morning, push as hard as you can to make everything work, and then get up the next day to do it all over again.
Any entrepreneur or business owner will tell you the same thing. It takes a lot of effort to build and grow.
Quimbley's has been no different.
Things we thought would be easy and fast turned out to be giant stumbling blocks in our path. Money came and went, and came and went again. We would put out a fire just to have another one spring up in an area we thought was all good. Over and over we pushed the rock up the hill, barely noticing our progress.
But we have made progress.
Games are going into production and new ones are being created.
The last nine months have been some of the craziest of our lives, but the rock has slowly made up the hill.
Our partnership with Petersen Games came with some great opportunities and more than a few pitfalls. Those pitfalls have been the bane of our existence. Still, the games we're looking at producing over the next few years wouldn't be possible without them, so stress is tempered with gratitude.
And I guess that's what we're all feeling right now as we enter the last week before Thanksgiving. There is a lot of stress, but let's be honest, no matter whatever else we could be doing, there would be stress involved there too.
That's life.
Stress is a byproduct of challenging yourself. Stress comes with stretching and trying new things. We get stressed because we're pushing ourselves beyond our boundaries.
Stress is good.
And we're thankful for it.
This time of year, gratitude finally gets it's due, but I think it's great when we look at the things that we don't like and find out how they're actually serving us. Here we are at Quimbley's, pushing and pushing, trying new things and being pushed in turn. I'm thankful for the chance to have those days where I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring. I'm thankful we get to create things that bring people joy. I'm thankful we have fans passionate enough to wait years for a Kickstarter we simply took over and want to fulfil.
It's easy to be grateful when everything is perfect, but it's just as important to be grateful when you're in the crucible.
Stress is good.
I smile as I write that.
We hope all of you have an amazing season of gratitude and are able to spend time with your loved ones, wherever they are. We are grateful for all of you. The last nine months have been an amazing rollercoaster of crazy creation, mistakes, and triumphs. We wouldn't do it without any of you.
Happy Thanksgiving!
