It's So Nice to Meet You

 At ten years old, I announced to the world that I would leave my tiny Iowa town to become a successful interior designer in New York City. Oh, and I wouldn’t be getting married (because I didn’t want to cook dinner for anyone), but I would be adopting a girl named Brooke Lynn, and we would of course live in Brooklyn. 

That early declaration of mine would morph over the years (I married and became a mother of two), but my mission to become an interior designer in a big city did materialize. I pursued my dream, I became successful, and I was miserable. 

Life tip: don’t assume your dreams will last forever. 

You see, 20 years after that fateful day, I’m on the train from my city office to my home in the suburbs. I look out the window, and it’s dark. It’s always dark because I leave for work before sunrise and return after sunset. I’m perennially exhausted, shifting my tired body on an equally tired, coffee-stained seat. At this moment, I realize my imaginary adopted daughter, Brooke Lynn, will never get to see her mother. 

Life tip: even imaginary children need their parents. 

At 30, I had achieved my dream but I wasn’t thriving; I was merely surviving, and barely, at that. I no longer wanted to be the high-powered corporate interior designer. I needed to find a different path to happiness. I needed to have the courage to build a life on my terms. So, I quit my job. Then, sitting on the couch watching Rosie O’Donnell, I thought, “Oh, crap. Now what?”  

I took inventory of all the creative things I loved to do, and a door cracked open in my mind—an opening to a new way of existing, surviving, and thriving. As it turned out, all of my “Oh, crap” moments would ultimately lead to a vibrant coaching career helping other moms whose dreams may have turned out differently than they had imagined. Together, we reimagine a more fulfilling life for ourselves and our families using our skills and gifts in new and creative ways. 

Life tip: changing your mind is not a mistake; it’s a reinvention with intention.  

 Many of us have made choices based on a dream, and dreams are, well, just dreams. It’s okay to decide you want something else, something different. Changing direction isn’t admitting to a mistake. It’s dreaming forward, and it’s how you build a life that works for you. So instead of thinking, I shouldn’t have made the choices I have, think of it as bringing you to the place where you’re now able to make meaningful and impactful changes. See the door opening in your mind? Walk on through. We are waiting for you!