Everything is a Choice ...

... 10 years ago I would have never guessed my life as it is today. Yes, I would have thought about my future life and hoped that I would be married and have children but I don't think I would have ever thought that I would no longer have a "career" the way I defined it at the time. That I would be re-creating an identity for myself.

For most of my adult life, I, like most of us identified myself through success in my career. It defined "who I was". I was a manager, I was a consultant, I was ... I was ... I was ... what my "title" said I was and that made people see me as important. I was "climbing the corporate ladder". Even today, if I say I worked for IBM or on the Boeing 787 Program, it makes people look at me differently. It makes people respect me more. It's how our society/our culture defines success and achievement. That; in and of itself, is so incredibly hard on us as a society.

When I was laid off at 7 months pregnant and Kevin was traveling more than 150 days a year to sail (mostly weekend), it seemed that life was telling me to take a step back and reassess. For so long, I felt lost. I felt broken, I didn't really want to talk about other people and their "careers" or what I was "doing these days". I felt like a failure, and like I had disappointment written all over me. I was felt like every last bit of who I was 10 years ago had disappeared. I no longer felt like I knew "who I was". It was depressing and it honestly didn't get any better after baby number 2. Truth be told; I am no longer that person. I am no longer an "I" ... I am a "We". It has taken a long time to really grasp what that has meant.

After a lot of external pressures and my desire to still feel some financial independence as well as some sort of accomplishment; I made the decision to go into real estate. Like so many who do, I did it for various reasons;

1. financial need

2. flexibility in schedule

3. I am good at negotiations

4. I am good at contracts

5. I am self motivated

6. I know the area

7. I LOVE helping people and do so on a daily basis just because

I knew I wasn't good at sales... I'm actually terrible at sales, but I figured ... not everyone has to be good at sales. I believed that my friends and family would support me, that they would believe in me. I was sure that the things that I had proven/accomplished in my past and the things that I had done for them over the years would be proof enough that I could reinvent myself as an entrepreneur and that they would trust me to be successful at this too. After a little over a year of establishing myself and trying to grow, I have had disappointment after disappointment. I am heartbroken that every time I take a turn there is someone else that I have loved, helped and stood by, choose to not give me a chance. Choose strangers over me...

What I have learned these past few years of reinvention.

1. You have to have thicker skin to do your own thing than to sit behind a desk with a paycheck

2. Respect is earned and not always for the reasons that you think.

3. Don't expect anything from anyone

4. Don't beat around the bush and hope ... you have to take action and speak your mind to be heard.

5. Never assume anything

As I struggled to find my way in real estate, I also happened to fall in love with a program that gave me strength and courage again. A program that is intended to allow you to grow as an individual in whatever way you what/need to grow. I was given the gift of being able to help people as I helped myself. Beachbody is AN AMAZING PLATFORM ... that is; in the simplest terms, ALL it is. It is a platform. If you wanted to learn spanish, would you go teach yourself by reading books or would you try Rosetta Stone? Fitness instructors create diet and fitness plans all the time and they are great but they are one person's opinion on health... Beachbody has hundreds of dietitians, fitness instructors, specialists that have STUDIED what works. There are millions of success stories and furthermore if you actually listen to your coaches and you do the things, you workout daily, you eat healthy and you take time to be introspective ... YOU become a success story. This platform has taught me that I have choices and that I am ME, not who people see me as

. It has taught me to take care of myself and to believe in myself. I choose to continue trying to succeed as a real estate agent and I choose to coach people through beach body because I want to share the gift I have been given.

So here I am.... today finally vocalizing things that have been deep in my heart for so long. I am sure you are asking why is she writing all of this? Well... I am doing it because maybe, just maybe there is someone else feeling defeated, feeling like a failure, feeling like they are trying to climb a wall of grease and maybe this will help them get past all of the BS and realize that it's time to take charge of their life. It's time to say f it, I WILL SUCCEED, and I sure hope for you you'll join me for the ride! It's time to CHOOSE to succeed in a world that doubts you when you aren't staying inside the lines. Truth be told I never was one to stay inside the lines... it was too boring for me.

Please feel free to contact me if you want to any of this discuss more