Start a Blog! DONE!

For years I’ve been saying I want to start a blog. I’m not sure why. I guess I want to connect with people. I want to share my pain. I know I’m not the only one struggling with work-life balance. I figure this can be a platform and a community that shares and helps each other. We’re all in this together and we can all use all the help we can get!

So how did I finally get around to doing it, you ask? (Because I can think of several things that I’ve always wanted to do but I never get around to doing…) To answer that, I must first tell you a little about me.

I am an Interior Designer. I am multi-passionate (always have been) and I consider myself pretty entrepreneurial. While I absolutely love all things design, I have multiple other interests and passions and I am still on a path to find my life’s purpose. More on that soon.

I am a happily married mom to 3 beautiful, amazing, and loving girls. They are bigger now… 11, 10 and 8 but not so long ago, when I was right in the thick of it- I refer to them as “The Lost Years” – everything was a complete and utter blur. I was just going through the motions trying to get through every waking day. I was exhausted. I was burned out. I had lost touch with a lot of my close friends. I barely saw my parents. My life consisted of my husband, my girls, work, clients, and sleep. I did nothing for myself. I had no hobbies. I no longer read anything. I couldn’t remember the last movie I had seen in the theaters. Sleep had become the ultimate luxury. And then my wake-up call.

I was leaving my daughters 5^th b-day party when I got the call. One of my closest childhood friends had been in a freak accident and didn’t make it. He was 35. His wife was 4-months pregnant. The world as I knew it, would never be the same. My heart ached for him, for his widowed wife, for his unborn child, for his parents. Why??? Why had this happened? It made me question everything in my own life.

Was this a life? Why was I here? What if I died tomorrow? Would I have fulfilled my life’s purpose? What was my life’s purpose? What would people say about me at my funeral? I remember thinking to myself that they probably wouldn’t have much to say since they hadn’t seen me in years. This made me incredibly sad. I felt like a bad friend. A bad daughter. I felt like I was failing at life. When had my life become so self-absorbed? I knew I needed to do some deep soul searching and I knew something in my life needed to change.

So here I am, almost 5 years later and I’m finally getting around to doing something that’s been on my “someday” list for years. I’ve spent every waking day since my friend died, trying to find the elusive “work-life balance.” I have read about it, studied it, dissected it. I’ve searched for ways to make residual income to liberate myself from the hamster wheel. I’ve made countless adjustments in my life and I must say, I’ve made some significant strides. It’s an ongoing journey but I’m finding a way to put “first things first.” Myself, my family, my friends, connecting, finding joy, and trying to live in the present moment.

This blog will cover a little bit of everything… from design, to gender equality, to motherhood, business lessons, climate concerns, energy management, mindfulness, social responsibility…. All my passions and interests thrown into the mix in the same way that I juggle everything else in my life. If any of this sounds relate-able, read on! Welcome to “The Juggling Act”!