Gotta stretch my typing fingers–it’s been a while. There are definitely some cobwebs and dust formulating on the blog, and it has nothing to do with the Halloween spirit. It’s time to start blogging again since we have officially made the move and settled down into new life here.
What I mean by here is: we moved to Charlotte, NC. We packed up our lives and with toddler in tow, moved to a new state, became first-time home owners and started new jobs. For my husband that meant a promotion at work (yay hubby!) and for me it meant restart your business from scratch. While my husband’s victories are my victories and vice versa, I’ll admit I was scared, felt like I was taking two steps backwards, and ultimately fell into the trap of feeling sorry for myself.
Fast forward three months and I cannot believe how things have changed. Perseverance changed everything. The first few inquiries I sent to clients went unanswered and I was so disappointed. What am I doing wrong? How am I going to set myself apart from long-time established competition? Some days I would feel on top of the world, like I had finally figured out the “secret recipe” to success. Other days felt like I was desperately and completely failing. After continuous mental pep-talks to myself (and from family: thanks dad), I finally allowed myself to see my own small victories. Focusing on the little failures proved to be the big thing holding me back.
Each time I got back up I felt more sure of myself, developed new goals and strategies and saw more business than I ever thought possible in such a short time. I’ve booked multiple weddings for this year (and next!), teamed up for a stunning styled shoot to be submitted to some BIG magazines and blogs, and actually had a (happy) mental breakdown when I saw my makeup work displayed on over 60 Scott Clark Toyota billboard ads all over Charlotte.
I think it’s normal to feel lost. We all want to succeed–to impress our family and peers, to have people say about us,”Wow she makes a difference. She is extraordinary.” I think it’s hard to see ourselves in that role and we trap ourselves through the eyes of comparison. We stand in our own way of being great because greatness involves many disappointments, a lot of work, and some luck thrown in for good measure. We don’t make the leap because we are too focused on looking down at the cavern below us. “What if I fail?” “What if people think I’m a joke?” We look at people like Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey and assume that that greatness is for others, not me.
Greatness is for you. We’ve all just gotta make like Dory and “Just keep swimming.”
