build your beautiful self

The end of the year is quickly approaching. I can’t even believe it is already November. It always amazes me around this time at how quickly time flies.

When I look back at the year, there were so many things that I can’t even believe are real and so many lessons and challenges I have overcome. Yet at this time we are facing another challenging time in business. We are facing a high inflation, mortgage rates rising, more legislation around the real estate industry in multiple states and the gap between wealth and poverty is growing.

I choose to see this as a an opportunity to grow. It is just time to pivot and adjust not fall apart.

When I started on my business journey in 2007 I had been laid off multiple times due to a shift in the economy. The bubble of prosperity and easy money had finally burst. I learned how to work for myself and learned how to be creative. I was hungry to be the master of my own destiny. That will serve me well through this period of life and business. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t still suck from time to time though.

Last week was an eye opener for me. It was all about lessons and how I am guided to what needs to happen for me to become my best self. It is a weird phenomenon to get what you ask for even if it isn’t in the way you had hoped it would come.

How many times have you wished with everything you had and prayed with everything in you to make something come together? I can recount several occasions where I wished and prayed for months and years before things came together. I have also had things come together that I wished and prayed for and found out they really were not what I wanted in the first place.

Examples:

I wished for a partner that I could be myself with, that would treat me how I envisioned a partner in life would treat someone, someone taller then 6 feet so I could lay my head on his chest as he pulls me in and wraps his arms around me. I wanted a partner with dark hair and a handsome face, and the build that I find the most attractive. Someone I could really trust with my heart and my life, and someone who would be my best friend.

At 38 years old, I finally got what I wished for. It came to me after an abusive partner, an antisocial, destructive partner, and a failed marriage with a narcissist.

I wanted to be in real estate as my business. I was excited to renovate houses and make them pretty for a profit. Was able to pull that off in many different facets. Then life happened. I started to try to control my outcomes and wished for a different life because things started to go wrong. I was burned out and not receiving the financial bumps I needed to keep our lifestyle going. Every large step forward ended with 4 steps backward. We were not able to keep it going. I was depressed, miserable, afraid, and started to experience panic attacks. It was a mess. I wished for a new life, in a new location for a fresh start.

I also got that when I was 38. New location, new experiences, eye opening appreciation for the beauty of the world, but boy did I have a TON of TRAUMA to work through. It showed it’s ugly face. I had to make sense of it all. Another opportunity for growth and change which I had asked for came about. I asked to heal from my wounds. When the struggle set in, all my old behavior patterns started setting in. That was what I had asked for. I needed to work through those wounds and traumas in order to become a better version of myself.

There are several occasions and things in my life that have been wished for things. Currently I wished to have a business that ran without me in the day to day. I am learning lessons on that right now. It is not the easiest thing building a business with employees, especially when you are used to doing everything for yourself and for other people. That was the story of my life until now. I had to learn through trying and failing and persistence. I recently built up a team to support me in business. I was supporting them and myself easily at first. I put my faith and trust in the person I thought would help me get this thing right. I thought I had my person I could count on so I can do the other things I wanted to do.

Last week I had to let 2 people go. That was a difficult decision.

I was not ready to rely on others to manage my business, because I had not built a strong enough foundation to make it through the tougher times. I had spread myself too thin so I was not able to give myself to the most important things fully. We had been seeing declining numbers for 3 months and it finally got to the point where I could not longer keep them on. The value of their work was not enough to close the gap in the revenue decline.

I choose to see this as a gift. A gift of understanding. A gift that forces me back in to the priorities of jumping back in to understand what needs to happen and the opportunity to show leadership to my team to build back stronger. I also am grateful that I did not have to completely shut it down as so many others have already done. This is the opportunity to shift and grow. I look forward to it.

You can get through the tough times you experience. It is only a temporary situation. Keep remembering that you have the power to change your life. It is never too late so long as you are still breathing. This too shall pass and you will come out better on the other side. So will I.

Let the journey begin.