Embracing Courage.
Well, hello, friends. I know. It’s been quiet around here the last few months. The whole story is for another day but please know that as life often does, it was the perfect storm of chaos and courage these last 4 months. And lots and lots of coffee.
If you’re like most women I know, you’re wildly intuitive. As I’ve continued to age I’ve decided that was intentional in how women are designed and I’ve leaned into it. You know when you feel like there’s about to be some major life change happening? You can literally feel the shift in the air. That restlessness was so present all throughout the late summer and early fall and just kept getting stronger. By the later part of the fall semester, things were pretty rough with our kids’ school. In a system that is supposed to be serving kids with additional needs, the system has completely broken down. My husband and I have spent a lot of time and energy fighting for dignity, rights, and access to the appropriate support for our kids. We were at a crossroads. We had several decisions to make as a family and two paths became very clear to me. If Path A didn’t work out, we were marching down Path A2 with confidence because I wanted a hard miss on anything that was not meant for me or my family.
As it turns out, Path A did work out! After spending a total of 18 years in education and public service, I made a major pivot into the hospitality industry to bring my skills around leadership and strategic organizational health into an entirely new chapter of my career. And I absolutely love it! While this may seem to be coming out of the blue, this journey actually started for me in December of 2024. On a road trip from Texas to visit family in Florida, I read Will Guidara’s book Unreasonable Hospitality in one day. I could not put it down! I have a longer post all about that book that I’ll share next week, but trust me when I say it is a book I wish everyone would read. It’s that good! Reading UH really put me on the path to thinking, teaching, and coaching about leadership differently. For the teams I was leading at the time, it radically changed how we approached our stakeholders. But being stuck in systems that are embroiled in red tape is not for the faint of heart and truthfully, I was just tired of fighting systems. That’s why when an opportunity came to join an organization that embraced not just hospitality, but world class hospitality, I jumped at it. It’s been a whirlwind few months of learning so many new things and adjusting to working in a healthy culture (I’m still not used to the lack of after 5:00pm emails…the quiet is weird but so, so good for me). And I’m so excited about what all lies ahead of me still in this new chapter of my career. I feel grounded and confident about my work allowing me to not only contribute meaningfully to other people’s experiences and development, but also my job giving me the space I need to be the best wife, mom, daughter, and friend that I can be. It’s giving me the energy back into my life to advocate for my kids in different environments. And also - change is hard. There have been tears and heightened anxieties and wonderings of if I did the right thing…and on those days, I’m so grateful for my husband, our community of friends who are chosen family, and our collective support system who step in and fill the gap. I won’t ever sugar coat things here. I will also say that the right change is worth all of the challenges that come along with change.
Brene Brown wrote this about choosing courage - “It is the willingness to show up, be vulnerable, and be seen when you cannot control the outcome. Courage requires choosing discomfort over comfort and embracing uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.” The last 7 months have been full of choosing discomfort over comfort. Leaning into uncertainty with absolutely no guarantee that things will work out…other than a steadfast belief that this was the right path. And at every turn, the door kept being flung wide open. While we’re certainly still in a season of transition and change, I do know that by leaning into my courage and truly embracing the new journey our entire family is on, we all are stronger and better because of it.
Obligatory First Day of New Job Pic !
So, I’m back. And you can expect more writings about life, the realities of parenting, books I love, hope, courage, Taylor Swift, all things country music, probably some gardening at some point, and 1,000% lots about coffee.
Love you, mean it, friends.