Behind The Scenes: The journey of the last 6 years

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If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I share a lot of day to day stuff and real life. I was recently reminded by a long time follower (who started following me because of my grandfather back a decade ago!) that she loved when I told family stories and misses them. She doesn’t have Instagram so it was a reminder to me, that cross promoting the content I share on various social media channels is a must! So Evelyn, this post is for you!

I’m about to get real personal with you today. I’ve never shared this until now, but I think it’s time I open up about some of the struggles and triumphs I’ve encountered over the past few years.

If this story helps just one of you, it’s 100% worth it!

It’s been a rollercoaster, to say the least, and I think many of you might relate or find comfort in hearing my story.

So here it goes….

As many of you know, six years ago, life threw me a curveball that quite literally knocked me off my feet.

Six years ago, within a 14 month span, I lost both my grandparents (gram and gramp), who were like second parents to me, my 13-year marriage ended which ultimately caused an estrangement from my stepdaughters whom I miss and love dearly to this day.

It wasn’t until recently during some much needed and overdue counseling, that it was pointed out that I lost 5 human beings from my life in a short timespan and well, that’s traumatic. I never really looked at it like being traumatic but looking back, I didn’t handle it well.

To say I was devastated is an understatement.

Side note…. the divorce was a blessing in disguise btw but at the time, seemed like an avalanche of fear and uncertainty.

If you have gotten divorced, you know what I mean!

Oh and let’s not forget my “not so friendly friend”….menopause.

Yeah, she intruded in my life at the worst possible time! More on her later. 🙄

The year that followed I was so insecure and that was a feeling I was not familiar with.

Fast forward a year later and along came Jimbo ❤️, right before Covid! In fact, we had only been dating for 6 months when lockdown happened.

Meeting him was a bright spot in a tough time, but even with his support, I found myself still stuck in that “survival mode” mindset AND if I’m not careful, that “fearful anxiety” mindset can still creep in. BUT I am better at squashing those anxious feelings before they get too big.

Grief and loss are tricky; they work in ways that can take a long time to understand and even longer to recover from.

For those of you who have been around since the start of my blog (over a decade ago), you know that during the period of Covid, the trajectory of blogging changed, income sources were eliminated and I ultimately decided to get a second job to make ends meet.

To be honest, blogging changed significantly since Covid and it just wasn’t the same.

The rat race to please Google, the SEO nuances, being at the mercy of affiliate brand changes was exhausting and I decided it wasn’t a race I wanted to continue but I didn’t know what I wanted to pivot to.

Have you ever had that happen in your job?

You feel stuck and want to make a change but not sure what to do?

Yeah, that limbo feeling is annoying!

So, how did I pull myself out of that hole? I invested in myself.

Realizing and accepting that I needed help was a game changer.

I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

So, I poured my time, energy, and resources into consultants, masterminds, and group coaching to pivot my blog business and grow reach, engagement and website traffic.

It was a tough pill to swallow, considering the tens of thousands of dollars and countless hours I spent in classes, workshops, and mindset work.

One goal that I had was to learn course creation.

I am so happy that I invested and finished a 3 month long intensive course earlier this year, that taught me how to “create a course.”

I never really thought that was an avenue I wanted to take but once I started looking into it, I was really interested in learning more.

That leads me to our Airbnb business.

Many of you know, that Jim and I started our first Airbnb a little over 2 years ago bringing in just over $93,000 in a little over a year.

After countless conversations with friends and readers like you, I created my first digital product called Airbnb Starter Kit.

I am so thankful that I invested in learning how to create digital products to help people learn what we have already done and succeed at.

Stay tuned because there are more products coming soon!

I’m also thankful to say that I’ve gotten a handle on menopause (after a lot of persistence and being my usual harassing self with the doctors, haha).

That’s a conversation for another day and something I am seriously considering writing a lot about.

I can’t even begin to tell you how clueless and “passive” doctors are about menopause.

Long story short, don’t take NO for an answer. Get 2nd and 3rd opinions and be relentless if you have to.

Pushing myself beyond what I thought was possible, especially from the mindset I was in six years ago, has been an incredible journey. That’s saying a lot!

Now, I want to hear from you. Have you ever found yourself in survival mode?

What helped you move forward?

How do you invest in yourself when the going gets tough?

Share your thoughts and stories in the comments below or send me a message.

If this story helped just one person, it was worth sharing. ❤️

PS. follow us on Instagram for more stories and reels like this post.