Let Your Light Shine

This week we’ve had a number of untimely celebrity passings: Tonight Show sidekick Ed McMahon, Charlie’s Angel Farrah Fawcett, Music Icon Michael Jackson and most recently, the man known as the King of Infomercials Billy Mays. Though all of these individuals left their own mark on the world with their unique talent, style and personalities, they share one thing in common – they all loved what they did and let their light shine through in their work and everyday lives.

Hearing of these incredible losses one after the other this week really got me to thinking. Their time came far too quickly but they will all be remembered for the short time they were here because they put everything they had into what they did and how they lived their lives. It made me a little sad that the majority of us go through life just living by the status quo. We go to our jobs, take care of our families and find ourselves tired, exhausted, even resentful sometimes.

I grew up being taught I needed to go to college, find a job stay at that job for 30 + years and retire with a gold watch. No one ever introduced the idea to me that I could be successful with my own business and make money doing something I actually liked doing not only what was expected of me. I think at one point or another we all get caught in the trap of not following our hearts because we need to put food on the table or we worry that others will think we’re crazy for leaving a steady paycheck and benefits for the unknown. Yes the unknown is a bit scary but these days there’s no guarantee that the 30 year job will be there tomorrow. In my opinion, I’d rather be in control of where my next paycheck is coming from instead of relying on someone else to make that decision for me or worrying about pounding the pavement in hopes that someone thinks I’m “qualified enough” to work for them.

I prefer to dance to the beat of my own drum and let my light shine through what I do and who I interact with on a daily basis. Is it a challenge? Yes. Is it difficult sometimes? Sure. Would I trade it for anything? Absolutely not, because I’m doing what makes me happy, contributing to my household and living life on my terms. If something isn’t working, I can fix it. If I don’t like something, I can change it. If I want to move in a different direction I can do so without waiting for a promotion or approval from anyone.

I live a simple life in a small town because I choose to, not stuck in a city I hate just because there may be opportunities there.

The life I am creating is my “why” for doing what I do. I am in control. I have no limits. Though I am an unknown compared to the four fallen souls we lost this week, I’d like to think I am similar in that they all impacted the world in a positive way by doing what they loved and doing it their way and in my own little way I am doing the same thing. If my time came tomorrow would my picture be plastered on Access Hollywood and all over the Internet? Probably not, but somewhere, somehow I have made a difference in someone’s life and that matters more to me than a gold watch for 30 years of service where no one will remember my name when I walk out the door.

Farewell Ed, Farrah, Michael and Billy, thank you for shining your lights for us all. You will be missed.

Change Is Good!

I hope you're sitting, I know it's a shock but yes, I'm back! For my loyal readers I apologize that it's been so long since I've updated but as most of you know my family and I recently moved from Vegas to Michigan (see previous post for the back story). Now that things are put away and a routine has been established I finally feel like I can get back to writing.

Though not completely settled (my hubby is still in Vegas with our stuff and our 3 cats and I'm flying out on the 21st of June to make the 3 day drive back with him), we are realizing more and more every day that this change was exactly what we needed.

The biggest joy out of every day is being able to watch my daughter play outside by herself which she could never do before living in a big city with no yard to speak of. She loves being outside exploring with the neighborhood kids, saying hello to the mailman, and her new favorite thing, taking care of her very own tomato plant.

This change has also taught me a lot about what I'm made of. With my husband not being here I've had to be mom and dad. And without my daughter being in preschool at the moment I've also had to be teacher and playmate not to mention trying to operate my business. Thank goodness for family support but even still, it hasn't been easy. But we're doing it. I've learned I'm much stronger than I gave myself credit for. I've also learned that I can get by with much less than I thought with most of my stuff still in Vegas. I actually don't miss a lot of it.

I'm eating healthier and enjoying walking in my neighborhood with one of my good friends. I've lost about ten pounds since moving back without much effort, just small changes.

I am more creative now than I've been in months. Maybe it's all this fresh air, or maybe it's just because I was bogged down with "stuff" and noise before, but ideas are flowing and I'm definitely in my creative zone right now.

I've also decided to start another business which I'm really excited about. Details coming soon. I finally feel like all of the pieces to my puzzle are falling into place.

Sometimes change is what is needed to get out of a rut and jumpstart your life. It might not be as drastic as a cross country move, maybe it's making a career change, a new apartment or house or even a new outfit. However big or small, I invite you to explore what changes might affect your life for the better. Would you like to be doing different work than you are now? Living in a different location? Be 10, 20 or 30 pounds lighter? Have more energy? What changes could you make in your life to make those things happen? What is holding you back?

Thanks for sticking with me! It's great to be back!

Until next time, have an amazing week!

Thank You Hannah Montana

Last weekend my husband and I took our daughter to see the Hannah Montana movie. We’re all huge fans of the show and knew the movie would be great but we had no idea the affect it would have on us.

With our four year old sitting happily between us we watched anxiously wondering whether Miley would continue to live her double life or give it up for something else. But something happened about midway through the movie. It stopped being about Miley/Hannah and became about us. At one point my husband and I looked at each other both in tears. The storyline in the movie seemed to parallel what we were going through in our own lives. Our daughter looked at both of us like we were nuts but we didn’t care. Let me explain what happened.

Both my husband and I are chronic people pleasers. It’s a blessing and a curse but it is who we are. Family is always first with us and we’ve spent a lot of time over the years working hard to try and make everyone happy.

Before we got married my now husband and I took a trip to Michigan where I’m from to meet my family and friends. He immediately fell in love with the place. Everything about it. The people the places, all of it. I was so excited he loved it as much as I did and we vowed that some day we would make it our home. Unfortunately since we both want to make everyone happy, he worried about what his friends and family would think of him living there and I worried about what my friends and family would think about us moving back there. Thirteen years, three cross country moves and twelve addresses later we have been so busy people pleasing that we lost ourselves in the process. We realized that we will never make everyone happy and now that we have our daughter it is about giving her the best possible life we can give her.

Over the past year we’ve talked a lot about where we will make our permanent home. Our daughter is starting kindergarten in the fall and we wanted to settle down before she started school. After weighing all of the pros and cons we finally arrived at the decision that we’ve wanted to be in Michigan all along. We’ve never let ourselves follow our own dream and have let others talk us out of it for one reason or another. So the moving plans began.

During the past few months our conversations have been about how peaceful we feel for the first time in our 15 years together because we know we are doing the right thing for us this time. We know we are giving our daughter a childhood she deserves in a place where she can be safe and happy. I know that I can share experiences with her that I had as a child and see them again through her eyes. We will be blessed to have family and friends around who love us and will be much closer in proximity to my husband’s family in Connecticut so that we can visit them more often which was very important to us.

We couldn’t be more excited about our move in just a couple of weeks and can’t wait to start this new chapter in our lives.

The lesson we’ve learned is to never let anyone steal your dreams. It’s ok to want to make others happy but you can only do that if you make yourself happy and do what’s right for you. If you can do that everything else will fall into place.