say YES to new adventures.....1 year later

February of 2023. i had just lost a job and was in Colombia, looking at Jake & Alesha's amazing wedding venue....and trying to figure out what to do with my life.  aside from take a small sabbatical and figure out (finally) what i wanted to be when i grew up - even though i am already supposedly grown.  the funny thing about Cartagena is that not only is it incredibly beautiful, it is also chock full of signs. like literal signs - there is NEON everywhere.  it might be the most instagrammable place on earth.  and into this whole in the wall restaurant/bar i found "MY" sign.  it just said "say yes to new adventures".  and so i did.

It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves — in finding themselves. ~André Gide

fast forward 365 days.  what an adventure it has been.  i decided NOT to go back into the corporate soul-sucking rat-race that was dragging me down and take a giant gamble.  on me this time.  and while it is still a HUGE work in progress, it has lived up to the "adventure" i said yes to.  why am i telling you this?  mostly because i try to share my lessons as they come up.  and its cathartic. so if you are still with me, thanks!  hope it might help you too :)

so being jobless for the first time in the history of ever was quite a shock.  and honestly a bit demoralizing, right?  no one likes to be told they are not doing a good job - even if they are doing something they hate.  which i was - and did.  go figure.  its hard to be both reflective and honest, but its necessary sometimes. and along about this time, i had an opportunity present itself.  one i had never considered - mostly because i was afraid to take such a huge risk.  and because (as i have said approximately 1 million times) i am not a great business person.  i love the gym. i love helping people.  i love working out. i HATE monetizing it. and every time i have in the  past, it has turned something i love into something i dread.  so you know.  eternal side hustle for the win.  or so i thought.

Adventures are things that happen that aren't supposed to happen. ~Percy Keese Fitzhugh, Roy Blakeley: Lost, Strayed or Stolen, 1921

ANYWAY.  back to my opportunity.  i JUST saw a sign that say yes to new adventures, right?  and someone presented me with a potential adventure - too much of a coincidence for this girl to ignore.  so i took both of those things as the signs they were, and jumped in.  and let me tell you friends, it was SCARY.  like super scary.  like round up ALLLLL the $ you have access to scary.  but then i thought - people go into business everyday - it MUST be worth it - and doable, right? rationalization for leveraging my life away, i guess.

fast forward a couple of months.  that first opportunity that made me take the jump didnt pan out.  but what it did do was make me write a business plan.  and organize my capital.  and find out who i could count on for support.  it made me step WAY outside of my comfort zone and really decide if i was going to FINALLY take the plunge and invest in my business.  and the answer, thankfully, was yes :)

If life is not an adventure it's a sad venture, and drear at the price. After all life is after all; it is not what you make it, but what it makes you. ~Kenneth Alfred Evelyn Alexander (c.1890–1953)

we are not quite at a year of being open at eQuillibrium.  that's a whole other "anniversary".  but we are exactly at a year since i saw that sign, and started to make the changes in my life that have brought me here.  still stressed, but in such a completely different way. a better way.  a healthier way (if its possible to have healthy stress).  no one that has started a small business says the first year is anything but scary - and hard. and expensive.  but worth it.  for the FIRST time i am spending my time and energy (and stress) working on something that is important to ME.  not just a means to an end.

this is where i say KUDOs to everyone out there doing the small business thing.  its HARD. but so so so rewarding.  on lots of different levels.  and honestly, i dont really see it getting any easier.  at least not for a while.  but for the first time, aside from (you know) raising my kids, i am devoting my time and energy towards something I believe in.  i still hate (and struggle with) monetizing exercise.  because i believe we ALL need it.  but i have come to realize that it is hard to find a place where fitness means more than just how you look. and that is what strong is beautiful (and equillibrium) are all about. 

Somewhere inside, we hear a voice. It leads us in the direction of who we wish to become. But it is up to us whether or not to follow. ~Pat Tillman (1976–2004)

i get to CREATE a community that is based on the things that i have found, over the last 30 years in the industry, to be important.  that doesnt mean its the right place for everyone.  i know that fitfams are hard to come by.  when you find one that works for you - you stick with it.  i am just trying to make my fitfam more accessible :). where everyone feels welcome.  its kind of like cheers, but for exercise. i want to know everyone that comes in.  i want people to know that someone is going to check on them if they miss too many days.  i love knowing that some days the coffee clutch is just as important as the workout.  and that for  many of us, showing up is the win.  lifetime fitness is always the goal.  but its a lot easier when you have a community that makes you want to show up.  and THAT my friends, is the new adventure.  building that.  and embracing the community that comes with it.

i am super excited that i saw that sign.  and decided it was meant for me.  as always, i could never have done any of this without my family - my real one AND my fitness one.  so thanks for jumping on this ride with me.  and as i look towards this next year, i get to thank Josh Joson for my latest "sign".  it was just literally waiting for me this week when i walked into his store. :)  "it's hard to beat a person who never gives up".  and that's most definitely me.

Don't be ashamed to fail. Be too proud to cease trying. ~Minna Thomas Antrim (1861–1950)

huge hugs to you all.  thanks for supporting on my new adventure xxoxxo