Challenge Accepted

I used to hate change. When my mom wanted to paint our front door one summer, I staged a mini protest. When my parents told me they were selling our old clunker, I swore I’d chain myself to the steering wheel first. Our door turned blue. We got a new car. And life went on.

I’m not sure when it happened but as everything in my life changed, so did I. I went from despising change to embracing it. I began to seek out newness anytime things felt stale, from my first jobs to my ever-changing wardrobe. But my biggest change started after I left Toronto.

My husband and I got married so I left the city to join him in a tiny town outside of London. While I was all about embracing change, this was a tough one. I’d been building a career in fashion and suddenly, I lived somewhere with not only no fashion industry, but practically no shopping at all.  I sold houses for a few years but I missed my old life, my old job and not getting my cute heels stuck in the country mud.

Then, we had our first baby. She was bright and beautiful and we were exhausted but happy. I spent my months on mat leave debating whether I should go back to my sales job. But even though the money was good, I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it. I started to really ask myself who I wanted to be. I wanted to show this little girl that she could do anything she wanted to do. But first I had to prove it to myself.

So I started Real Life Runway. I couldn’t think of any other way of pursuing my passion without a 3 hour commute. So I wrote. Every single day. I didn’t get paid at all for the first 6 months, which was both embarrassing and terrifying. I was 30 and most of my friends were already settled comfortably into their careers while I was still trying to figure my life out. Luckily, my husband was incredibly supportive. I stayed awake so many nights feeling like a huge failure, wondering if I’d made the wrong choice and freaking because I had no idea what to do next.

Then, a mall in London hired me to write their fashion blog. Next, a lifestyle website hired me as a contributor. I started to write a weekly article for Metro. I had another baby. Two other malls asked me to write their blogs, too. Eventually, I even scored advertisers on my own blog. I finally had a career I loved - one I’d subconsciously designed for myself and one I could see myself doing for a very long time. I was finally back in fashion, able to write and be creative, and I could do almost all of it from home which gave me the freedom to be around for my kids. Things couldn’t be better.

Someone must have heard how much I like change because last year, my world flipped upside down again. My husband decided to leave his family business, so we sold our house, moved to Kitchener, and now he’s pursuing his own dreams of building a startup. Apparently this passion project is contagious.

I have no idea what the next five years will bring, but I can guarantee one thing - things are bound to change again. Imagine how dull life would be if they didn’t?

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Disclosure: This post was brought to you by TENA (SCA) via Mode Media Canada.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of TENA(SCA).

Comments

[SL]

You are an inspiration.. How lucky your babes are to have you to look up to:) xo

[M]

SL said it. Your energy, optimism, and creativity are inspirational.
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