My Story

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How I designed a life I love, and how I’m doing it again.

It all started in June of 2011… like all good stories do… with a big, bad, earth-shattering breakup. The kind that left me with very few people I could actually call a friend. His circle was my circle, his life was my life, his hobbies were my hobbies. Without “us” there was no “me.”

I was 27. I had a great job. I had been doing what I went to school for, graphic design, super close to my hometown, already making a decent living. I was working at a non-profit hospice at the time, and truly enjoyed the work I was doing… especially loving WHO I was doing it alongside.

I was the in-house designer and got to flex my skills with all sorts of projects, both internally as well as all outward-facing advertising campaigns. It never ceased to amaze me when I would see one of my billboards!!

I also got an opportunity to do some community relations work, visiting doctor’s offices and nursing homes marketing our particular brand of hospice services. I really loved it, I felt like I was having conversations that truly helped people.

But when the big bad breakup happened, it rocked my world.

I began to see things differently. I realized that I wasn’t just lonely… I was alone. Completely alone. 

I had no one to share my days with. No one to do things for. No one to laugh with. No one to share with.

And it was the best thing to ever happen FOR me.

Life happens FOR us, not to us.

Being alone meant I was stuck with myself. All of myself—the amazing, the terrified, the brilliant, the ignorant, the kind, and the cruel parts of myself. And I got to figure out who I wanted to be. For me. And what I wanted my life to look like. For me.

And I did.

At some point I realized I was a “designer.” And that all the skills and tools that I loved to use to make something out of nothing but an idea could come in handy! At some point I remembered all the times I was able to look at something differently and turn it into something new—renovating an old dresser I found at an auction, using stained-glass windows instead of valances, repurposing jewelry into one-of-a-kind pieces.

And I decided I could look at my life differently, imagine something new, then set out to create it.

As a creative, working with one brand—one message, one color palette, one font family, one audience—got very boring… too predictable. The excitement wore off and I was running out of new ideas. “Hospice” wasn’t my passion, after-all… design was.

At the time I was fortunate enough to have a few freelance clients who kept my mind busy with new ideas, and my pockets lined with play money. I also waitressed on weekends. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to make more money at my job, but that if I played my cards right I could make more money with my side jobs.

I focused my efforts there, and before too long I had saved up enough to quit my job and go all in on the side hustle. I had found a course the SBDC was offering teaching artists how to start and grow a business. I was hooked!

By September of 2012 I was ready—mentally, emotionally, and financially.

I’ll never forget quitting my job. I hated the idea of letting people down, but I knew there was more for me on the other side of that challenge. My attention all day was elsewhere, anyway, I was creating my own logo and brainstorming business names. I knew it was the right thing to do.

That September I quit my job, canceled the lease on my apartment and moved home. My amazing parents renovated the second floor of my grandmother’s house and she became my downstairs neighbor. I was on my own, but I was no longer alone. My life was MINE. My circle was MINE. My decisions were MINE. 

Piece by piece, I designed the life I wanted.

I met my husband who gave me such incredible support as I was starting my business. I waitressed and worked with my parents in our family restaurant and spent quality time with my grandmother.

And piece by piece I designed the business I wanted.

I was never a fan of designing party invitations or Christmas Cards (I still hate it). I was lit up by small businesses and working with big-thinking entrepreneurs. I loved working with non-profit organizations and corporations who wanted to look slick in the marketplace. I knew I was in business to help small businesses, so that’s where I focused my attention.

I knew I wanted to grow a business that would allow me to have a family, too. I wanted to be a present mom, AND one that was able to bring home the bacon. So anything inside my business that didn’t support that goal got tweaked until it worked.

•  Early on my husband would get so frustrated when I said I’d have to work on vacation. He didn’t understand that I was a business owner and that I couldn’t just turn it off! Until I realized I could if I really wanted to.
•  There was a time when I actually had TOO many clients and I wasn’t able to think creatively on the fly for SO MANY different businesses. I thought I just had to work harder. Until I realized I could simply say “no thanks.”
•  I was able to maintain and even grow my business while taking maternity leave two years in a row. 
•  I am able to travel and take vacations.
•  I say no when a proposition doesn’t align with my current and future goals.
•  I am happy and fulfilled. While earning a living AND being a present mother.

It didn’t happen overnight. One decision at a time, staying focused on my dream, led me to take actions toward not just designing but developing a life and business I loved.

And I’m doing it all over again right now.

A few years of feeling restless inside of Inspired, struggling to clarify what didn’t feel right, and wanting desperately to know what was next… I hired coaches and consultants to help. I reached out to strangers in FB groups and asked a lot of questions. I bought digital courses and read a lot of books.

Then I made one big decision that helped me tie it all together. Getting a Certification to become a NeuroCoach^TM.

This new business is giving me new life and new purpose. It’s deeply rewarding and very fulfilling. It’s big, expansive and scary. It’s new, exciting and inspiring.

And I’m right smack dab in the middle of conceptualizing how I want to design it.

Because that’s the power I have—that we all have. We have the power to design our lives exactly the way we want to.

Life doesn’t happen TO us. It happens FOR us. For us to learn. For us to decide what we like and what we don’t. For us to think differently and dream bigger. For us to take inspired action toward our deeper purpose.

I hope my story inspires you to take a look at your own life, what you like and what you don’t like, and start to think about how you might re-design it. 

And don’t just take my word for it. I bet you’ve already done it before—asking for a raise, planning a birthday party, deciding what college to go to and what to get a degree in.

You already have designed your life.

You are currently designing your life.

And you get to re-design it if you want to.