Standing at the crossroads

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” – Rumi 

Before I talk more about what’s going on this week, I have news to share. I want to pass along this gorgeous gift guide. If you’re looking to support independent retailers this holiday season, check out the guide! My shop is included, but there are lots of great businesses to discover here. Also, lots of discounts and bonuses.

And now: when was the last time you were standing at the crossroads of an old life and a new life set before you? 

Today is my last day of work at the job I’ve held for the past 5.5 years. Tomorrow I wake up and enter my art business with my full energy, instead of just on nights and weekends.

I can’t believe this day is here.

Beyond the successes and frustrations I’ve had with my job, what I’m choosing to take with me into this next chapter is how much soul-work I’ve done over the past few years to prepare me for my next step as a full-time entrepreneur.

The past 5.5 years have transformed me by teaching me how to lead and to set my own limits. I’ve learned more than I ever realized about how to work with people, about how to strive for quality in everything I do, and how to approach all people and situations with genuine compassion.

And so, I’m choosing to approach this transition with gratitude and a nod to lessons learned. 

Do you believe everything happens for a reason?

I do. I believe that each of us has a unique combination of struggles, breakthroughs, and lessons to learn. I believe that if we remain open to what each experience has to teach us, that we will understand so much about how we want to approach the world moving forward.

I feel many things right now: gratitude, excitement, nerves. I feel like I’m stepping into an unknown world where all of the rules I’ve learned about what it means to take care of myself have changed. I feel simultaneously completely in control of my own life and like I’ve handed over the reigns to the universe and said, Okay world, I’m paying attention. Help me discover where I need to go. 

I’m drawing on the past years of my life to see me through the transition. I’m looking to the conversations, successes, and careful plans, to the uncertainties and the times I acted on pure faith that I would find my way.

Our past experiences hold so much truth. Isn’t there such comfort in that? To know that we are continuously shaped and reshaping, that each day provides new opportunities to shift our mindsets, and that our experiences always hold little pockets of wisdom that can guide us further towards connection and peace.

Here’s to dreams, and to the realities they become when those dreams turn into actions,