When was the last time you took a step back and acknowledged all that you’ve accomplished and the life that you’ve created for yourself?
Last week, my fiancé and I put our first ever offer in on a home in New Jersey. We still have a few steps before we are out of the woods (like coming out of attorney review, a home inspection, an appraisal, approval of our mortgage, etc.), but, tentatively, it looks like we will be moving out of Cleveland and back home to New Jersey by the middle of December (knock on wood!!).
As excited as I am about being back in New Jersey, I am notoriously horrible at moving. I’m not talking about the logistics of moving (although…who really enjoys the logistics of moving??). I’m talking about the emotions behind a move.
I have moved a total of 6+ times over the last 6 years and, every time before I move, I get super sentimental. To leave a place I love (even if it is to move to another place I love), breaks my heart every. damn. time.
Yet, every time before I move, I realize just how much I have to be grateful for and just how proud I am of the life I’ve created for myself.
When life is just trucking along as per usual, and you’re stuck in the monotony that is your day-to-day life, it can be harder to clearly see the dreams that you’ve brought to life and the blessings that have fallen into your lap. When change rushes into your life, however, it puts the breaks on the monotony and allows you to have the perspective to see more clearly. Change forces you out of the thick of your life and gives you a bird’s eye view of the life that you have created up until now.
This impending move has pulled me out of my day-to-day and has guided me into a space of introspection as I prepare to leave Cleveland and look back on all that this beautiful city has brought me.
Cleveland has been the place where I have grown and fostered a relationship with my, now, fiancé. I came here for the first time 3 years ago to visit my, then, childhood crush, moved in with him a year later, and got engaged a year and a half later. I fell in love here. I created memories with my fiancé that will last me a lifetime here. I learned what a healthy and happy relationship looks like here.
Cleveland has also been the place where I learned to integrate the grief that came with the loss of my brother. It’s where I started to consistently show up for therapy and do the healing work that has been so incredibly necessary for years. It’s where I started taking better care of my mind and my body and it is where I learned just how important it is to slow down if I want to feel well within my life.
Cleveland has also been the place where I stepped into the most authentic version of leadership as a founder and CEO. It’s where I learned how to manage a team, how to make hard decisions and listen to my intuition in business, and how to find joy in entrepreneurship again. It’s where I took this business from a “pandemic project” to a full-time career that provides not just for me, but for 4 other incredible women on our team.
As I prepare for this move, the one thing I have realized more than anything is this:
I’m living the life I’ve always dreamed of living, but have been too focused on and stuck in the day-to-day to fully realize or appreciate it until now.
For years as a little girl and teenager, I dreamed of having a love and life-long partner like this. I dreamed of feeling this good and safe in my mind and body. I dreamed of owning my own business and being able to travel around the world as I work.
I’ve created this dream life for my younger self. Now is the time to appreciate it.
So, friend, have you, too, created the life your younger self always dreamed of and have been to busy to fully recognize it? Have you neglected to truly and fully acknowledge all of the blessings in your life? Have you taken a moment to celebrate all that you’ve accomplished?
Your younger self is screaming, dancing, and jumping up and down at all that you’ve done. And, quite frankly, so are we <3
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