A god damn decade...
10 years ago and 2 of the best decisions of my life.
10 years ago today I walked out of my corporate job and adopted my rock, my pup, my Nola girl on the same day.
As I sit here as an adult child in the backyard of my parents beach house watching my daughter waddle around as her grandma chases her, I cannot, simply cannot believe how time is an absolute thief.
Changes, shifts, births, deaths, so many have seemed to happen in the past 10 years.
Throughout the past decade, my business has shifted in multiple directions, my titles and ‘known as’ has morphed and evolved. Personal trainer to copywriter, maiden to mother, each title holds its own weight and tiny details culminate to make up who I actually am as a human.
When I walked out of my toxic, miserable corporate job, there was not a single cell in my body that wondered if I was making the wrong decision.
When we picked up our Nola girl from the foster, there was not a single inkling in my soul that wondered if I was making the right one.
In my gut, in my whole existence, I knew both of these decisions would alter my life and — they were exactly what was supposed to happen.
Not every decision within my decade of self employment has been the ‘right’ one, there were plenty that were subpar and kinda dumb (like when I thought I would be a full time Reiki practitioner lmao), but whatever, that’s life, that’s growth.
Some decisions you know in your gut, others, you’re kinda hanging by a thread hoping they’ll work out.
In todays’ lets show everything off culture, I should probably make a post on social media about ‘10 Thing I’ve Learned in 10 Years of Business’ or write about it on my LinkedIn to get some clout, but that doesn't feel right, although It does feel important to acknowledge this internal, life changing feat.
So instead, I share it with you, my awesome as heck community that I’ve grown over that decade.
10 years later, our sweet Nola girl has passed, 8 months exactly to the day, and I miss her with my whole being.
10 years later, I am now married to the incredible man who stood by my side when I had no vision for the future, no plan on what comes next, no idea who I was as a human.
10 years later I have moved cross country, leaving the city and NJ and everything I’ve ever known, and back, to the suburbs where I am still getting used to the layout.
10 years later, I am a mother to a sassy, spicy, and amazing little girl named Stevie Rose, who teaches me lessons with every new thing she does.
10 years later, I am a self published author to a whole ass book and a writer who plans to never stop using words as a means of healing, as growth, and as entertainment.
10 years later, my business is now a melting pot of creative endeavors, one that shifts with my life as it moves forward in time.
When I look back, I have not been in love with every happening of the past decade, but more so, deeply in awe of the amalgamation moments. How lucky am I to have all that I have in this lifetime? How utterly fortunate? This, I will never know.
If I’m lucky, 10 years will be a blip in the radar, a glimpse of a whole lifetime beyond.
There will be more decisions, more books, more dogs, more births, more love, more grief, and at times, there will even be less.
All I could hope for in the next 10 is to believe in myself as much as I did the day I walked out of those cold, corporate doors and into the heart of a young, beautiful Pittie pup; because that girl knew in her heart of hearts, it would all work out.