I'm kicking off our first journal entry with a behind the scenes view into how I arrived here in life and in business. When I decided to pivot the way we were doing business, one of the most important things to me was us being more intentional with our time, both personally and professionally. I challenged the team to come up with words to describe our intention around each month for the next few months as we transition into this new way of life. For September, we chose the word evolve. This is a month of growth for us as a business, but we couldn't have gotten to this place if I didn't evolve myself. So, here's a piece of my story....
A few years ago, my husband suggested we go to couple's therapy. I was hesitant and irritated because I was next level busy. I did not have an hour to sit down and talk about my feelings. For the record, I wasn't fond of talking about my feelings at all. After a couple of sessions, the therapist basically sent James off to vision plan for his life and suggested I needed more intensive therapy. Her "reasoning" was we both needed to be healthy before trying to "fix" cracked pieces in our relationship. As you can imagine, I was not happy about this either. Fast forward three years later of therapy literally every other week, being struck hard by COVID (I'm a long hauler), closing our Franklin location because I couldn't keep up, my right hand of five years putting in her notice, God sending me an actual message (more than once), my child entering kindergarten and the list goes on. My point to sharing this downward spiral, which was the second hardest year of my life EVER, was that I was slowly and painfully evolving. God was preparing me for what was to come. It was a brutal journey. Not much light and paralyzing both mentally and emotionally. I had a dear friend suggest at the time that I share what I was going through with our followers. No way. It was so bad that I thought if I shared that part of my journey, someone would have sent an interventionist and they would have had every right. IT WAS BAD. I didn't understand if I was following God's actual vision for my life (that he shared with me by the way), why was it so difficult? I was being a "good" daughter. I was following my Father's wishes. Shouldn't I be rewarded and not "punished"?!?
Day by day, sometimes minute by minute, I was evolving. I didn't know it at the time. At the time, it felt like I was on a roller coaster and my harness wasn't working. I was unknowingly being led in the direction I needed to go. I learned what I wanted and what I didn't along the way. I also had to be comfortable with what I now could and could not do because of my new health situation. Once I decided I was going to make the change in my business, I hired a mindset coach and that process completely changed my life. Therapy was fixing my foundation. Acknowledging, understanding and mending the cracks. Mindset work was renovating the house with new wiring and a fresh coat of paint. There are still cracks in the walls and the floors still creak, but I understand the house. What's behind the walls. It's history and it's potential. I also own the house. Someone else built it. My childhood, society and 1,000 other things, but I own it. I also understand the significant responsibility of making sure it's taken care of.
I realized nothing was going to change until I changed. Not incorporating a new habit or reading a stack of books. Real change from the inside out and learning my "why". For me, I not only want to do what I love, I want to have a passionate and fulfilling marriage, I want to be a great mom and raise a son who blazes his own trail in this world, I want to create a home that wraps it's arms around our tribe of friends and family and I want to learn and experience new pieces of this incredible life. I don't want to just live it. My business changed because it had to. It was either going to fit in MY life or it wasn't going to exist. I'm beyond grateful for the last 18 months. I don't want to relive it, but I'm glad I experienced it. I've learned evolving is one of life's greatest gifts. Figuring out that you can pivot and change at any moment and for any reason is absolutely liberating. I'm the healthiest and the happiest I've ever been. I know there will be ebbs and flows, believe me, I've experienced a lot of valleys, but I'll be better equipped when those times come around. But at this moment, I'm soaking in every minute and grateful that my journey has led me to this place. Here's to the next chapter. Cheers.
- Ginny