A Change Will Do You Good…
This week I made a pretty major life change decision.
There are a few things that brought me to this place. Let’s recap!
I am a major believer that all things happen for a reason. I am about timing. I am about trusting my gut.
After having a couple weeks to reflect on our Mt. Whitney fail (not on our part, but just the overall not happening aspect) I have come to the realization that we were just not meant to be there. The mountain will always be where we left it. Yes, it was severely devastating but…
I believe there was something greater manifesting in that time and it presented itself only a couple days after we left California. No, it’s not quite an epic mountain summit; it is something a little beyond a physical achievement.
I am meant to be better first.
Maybe not physically or mentally…but on a greater plane. I’m not great with change (obviously) and I think I am meant to learn from that experience and grow and push myself.
I never posted real updates after day 11 on our trip because honestly, I was in a bad way. I wasn’t feeling excited or inspired anymore. I was let down and exhausted. We drove to Williams, AZ on day 12 and do you know what we did?
We popped the camper, bought a bunch of junk food, watched movies and laid around for an entire day. I ate my feelings and had a pity party and I needed it. The long drives, the strenuous hikes and the early mornings finally caught up to us and after 2 weeks of go, go, go…we vegged hard. It was a great distraction from the disappointment.
The next day, I got a FaceTime call from Scott at Gear Forward. I looked and felt like a disaster but I answered anyway. He let me know he was sorry about our change of plans but quickly voiced that he hoped he could halfway make up for it.
He proceeded to overwhelm me with some feels and then followed up with an offer to be on staff at Gear Forward. Did ya read that?! I am no longer an Ambassador. I am an employee. I cannot express my excitement and gratitude for this opportunity. It’s going to be a growing and learning experience, but I am ready to embrace it.
I have never stepped out of my comfort zone like this…my job of 15 years is all I know.
7 days ago I made the decision to step down from my full-time, 55+ hours per week job in my hair studio to go part-time. To be honest; it felt right. I didn’t think twice.
I am OVER the 12 hour workday. I can’t do it anymore. My back aches, I don’t sleep well and my brain is fogged. I am burnt out. No amount of money is worth my mental and physical health. This girl is done standing on her tired feet all day long. I’m sick of getting home at 8 or 9pm every night and never seeing Turkey until Saturday afternoons when he finally gets off from his 6 day a week job.
Which also brings me to this; I am jumping in to the world of freelance writing. It’s something I have always wanted to do and well, I’m just going to do it. Why not? I speak out about making life count and only having one go and while I mean well by those thoughts, I never truly follow them.
I’m sticking to my guns and getting more out of my life from here on out than just working the grind. I’m mixing it up. I am READY. Starting mid-September I plan to put my blog back on a weekly schedule (what do you like to see/read?!) as well as weekly Epic Social content!
So, that’s my news! I have said since January 1st that Gear Forward was going to have a big year. After LHX I began to shift my thoughts on a career change. Many ideas and doors were opened up on that trip. (But that’s a post for another day.)
Wish me well, friends! I am SO happy.
Can’t wait. I love to see your real, raw posts about the good and bad in adventures of life. We truly can’t live it up if we don’t have some obstacles along the way and you present them in such an honest and upbeat way I just have to read it!
So much love always!!!
So awesome!! Way to follow your heart!
Life is too short to be spent working 12 hour days towards an early grave. Good for you for following your heart and making the leap. Congratulations!
Good luck with your new opportunity 👏🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Congrats on the new gig!
I am truly excited for you. I don’t know you but enjoy your writing and feed from the experiences you share. Keep moving onward and upwards, just don’t forget to write about it.
I so enjoy your photos and posts as well, Paul! Thank you so much for your encouragement and support. It means so much!
Oh my gosh, girl. I am so PROUD AND EXCITED FOR YOU. Every time I read a post from you on here or on Instagram or in your stories, I just think, “DANG, I NEED TO MEET HER IMMEDIATELY.” We have such similar stories and feelings and ways of dealing with stress and anxiety and sadness (cue all the junk food in the world.) I have had past similar experiences in disappointing travel plans and hikes, and I just have to tell you my heart is with you now and forever. Thank you for sharing and being so honest and open. I’ve said it multiple times and I’ll say it again, I love following your journey and getting to know you via social. You are so incredible and I am ECSTATIC for this new career change and opportunity! Keep shining, on. Sending love and HUGE HUGS from Minnesota 🙂
Wow…CONGRATULATIONS! What a great decision. I look forward to reading more from you.
Congrats! Also, I just caught up on your blog and your Mt. Whitney situation and I definitely feel for you. I just flew all the way to Tanzania to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and had to be evacuated at 15,091 feet due to altitude sickness. It’s crazy when you plan for a mountain summit for so long and something out of your control takes that away from you. I felt all the feelings but I still had to pretend everything was fine even when my friends got off the mountain and couldn’t stop talking about it in front of me. There’s no way I’ll ever make it back there and my chances of summiting are pretty low due to how sick I was, so I’m officially retiring that goal. If you ever need to talk about it let me know! My instagram is @mountain__maven, feel free to send me a DM. It sounds like you got some good out of the trip and hiked in some amazing places so I’m glad you still had a good trip!