The 1st day of a 365 day journey

Well…. My 35th birthday was Friday. I have always heard people say they aren’t “celebrating any more birthdays.”  In fact, I have probably said it too, but the other day I was exposed to this quote … “A birthday is the first day of a 365 day journey…”.  Wow! Powerful!

Birthdays

As I sit here on the fourth day of this 35th journey of my life, I have embraced my birthday and my life. I told my husband the other day that “every day is a better version of yesterday”.  I truly am thankful and grateful for so much in my life; my parents, my brother, my husband, my family, my in-laws, my friends, my furry family, my mindset, books, music…. I could go on and on. Ultimately though, I am thankful for me… who I am at this moment in my life.  I am thankful that I have a big heart and so much to share.  I am thankful that I made a decision to inspire you and share my inspired life with you.  As I embark on my 35th personal 365 day journey, I invite you to join me.   I will share stories, recipes, health tips, experiences, inspiration, photos, quotes, meal plans, encouragement and so much more with you so you can live your most inspired life.

The Journey

I heard recently that times of struggle can lead to the most amazing experiences if only we take the struggle and learn from it.  Many people would say that I am in that time of struggle.   You see, two months ago I had what many would call a terrible thing happen.  I lost my job, my really good job. A job that I was happy to go to, a job where I enjoyed the people I worked with, a job that meant something to me. I woke up one day and it was gone.

Positivity through it all

I went through many emotions: anger, resentment, fear, denial, and self-pity.   About a month into this “terrible struggle”, my husband came home with a notice that “due to the drop in oil prices”, his company was cutting costs, and he lost his job too.  I mean, I seriously can’t make this up.  After some additional emotions, John and I started thinking about the future; we read books, we job searched, we enjoyed our time, and most importantly, we stopped worrying about how this would work out.  In fact, one day, John said, “It’s January, and this is the second honeymoon we said we’d go on in January”, and it really has been quite a “honeymoon”.  We’d been here before; we knew we could make it through; we were strong, we were tough, and we had each other. So we started focusing on what we did want, what made us excited, and what inspired us. We did a lot of brainstorming, reading, talking, and questioning.  We watched lots of YouTube videos of our favorite mentors, the people who inspired us, and the people who had what we wanted.   I watched one entitled “Wealth Hacks”.  In it our mentor said, “Who you are has never really changed, what you want has never changed, and outside influences have only changed your direction.”  I thought about that and about my experiences, and I came to the conclusion that who I am (and what I have always wanted to be) is a leader, an inspirer, an educator (but maybe not a schoolteacher), something bigger.  All the events, struggles, and experiences up to this point have led me to reach this heightened level of self-realization.

Inspired life

Teaching my stuffed animals when I was 10 in my parents’ basement wasn’t necessarily about teaching kids; it was about educating others, it was about sharing, it was about motivating.  Going to school for teaching was about lifelong learning, teaching me to always be a learner, and teaching me to plan, develop, and look for the lesson.  My teaching jobs were about gaining confidence, meeting the right people, and feeling successful.  Selling Mary Kay wasn’t just about money and makeup; it was about learning how to motivate, inspire, set and miss goals, and how to dream big. Moving to Pittsburgh with no jobs was about learning to lean on each other, take risks and to believe in ourselves. Working as an administrative assistant was about learning business operations, networking, and relationship building. Becoming a vegan was about acceptance, compassion, educating myself, and learning that gathering the facts myself before making judgments is what should always guide our choices. All the “struggles” were experiences to teach me how to overcome struggles or adversity.

I ask you… What struggle are you experiencing, and what can you do to change it so you can live an inspired life?

All this self-realization has led me to this website and our VegInspired blog.  Here I will share with you how I live a VegInspired life.

Join me on this journey.

XO,

Kathy