Me, Myself and Little Baby Funk

 

When I first started this blog, it was simply a creative outlet for me to navigate life as a new mom who had just left the working world for this new season of life. Since starting this blog, we have welcomed our second child into the world and I have started my own decorating business. Here is a look into my past, and what really brought me to where I am in life today:

January, 2017 –  “This morning I opened a letter that I wrote to myself in 2015 while attending a business coaching course to help real estate agents increase their profitability. In the class, you write a letter to your future self, describing all of the amazing personal and professional goals you see yourself accomplishing that year. And, one year later, this letter arrives in your mailbox. I presume the idea is that you either pat yourself on the back as you proudly check off your accomplishments, or open a bottle of wine and vow to continue working towards your goals. During the program, I realized something really big about my real estate business. I learned that I in fact really disliked my job. Not at all the course objective. So, while everyone continued chanting their scripts and living up to their fullest potential, I sat dreaming of my escape route. I had just convinced my husband that moving to a new company and enrolling in this course would further my career. I had proudly proclaimed that, “I will become a top realtor in Tallahassee.” And, there I sat, dreaming of a new career. Awesome!

My letter arrived in May of 2016; I knew that I hadn’t reached a single professional goal within that letter and I was also pretty certain that it included something about buying a weekend beach house. Last I checked, we didn’t own a beach house. So, I tossed it to the side and went back to vacuuming, while my newborn baby slept soundly in his tiny, little bassinet. Every now and again, I would see the corner of that envelope staring up at me from beneath a Bed Bath and Beyond coupon and would slide it back into a tidy little hidden stack. You see, I thought that I was waiting to wallow in my failures another day.

This morning, coffee in hand, I opened that letter and began reading the obvious; I had become a design super-star and was opening my very own design firm. We were shopping for our weekend beach house. And, we just found out we were expecting our first child. Anyone who truly knows me will find that just as surprising as I did. It was my own little fairy tale and I didn’t even remember writing those last words down. But, there they are in my own handwriting.

Divine intervention is a funny thing. A month or so after writing that letter, we received the biggest surprise in learning that we were expecting. It eventually became the perfect opportunity for me to take a step back from the real estate industry. What I learned about myself and my real estate business when writing that letter to myself in 2015 was not that I disliked real estate. I learned that my true passion was in design and staging, and not sales. I guess it just takes some of us longer to know what we want to be when we grow up. Yesterday I landed my very first paid home staging gig. Then, I received another call to help with an investment property remodel not even an hour later.

As I sip my coffee and read the letter that I thought would be a gut puncher, I realize quite the opposite. You see, the desires in your heart are always there and it’s never too late to live your life by design. Start that silly blog. Get knocked up (kidding!). Repurpose that furniture. Live with passion and purpose and see where it leads you. How did I not realize that my life was exactly where it was meant to be? Sure, I don’t have the beach house and haven’t opened my design firm. But, I’m heading in the right and perfect direction for me. And, I’m really, really, really happy.”

In 2017 I did open that Decorating Business, you guys! How cool is that!? Now, onto the beach house in 2018, perhaps??