Recently, I launched my new website – before we continue let me elaborate. I build websites almost weekly for clients, but there is just something about doing your own work that is SO MUCH HARDER than you can wrap your head around. When I started freelancing 3 years ago, I put up my old site in a weekend and haven’t touched it until a few months ago. 🤦‍♀️ I won’t get into the “everyone needs a great functioning website” stuff, because instead, I want to go out on a limb here and talk from a place of vulnerability.

I write in my journal each morning “I show up authentically”. As I started thinking about how to introduce my site to this audience of people who hit the ground running with their dreams – I decided that I wanted to show up as real as possible and talk about the hard parts.

In mid-July I attended Rachel Hollis’s Rise Conference – It was 🔥! I came back ready to move mountains – quite literally. I paid the biggest business expense of my life (other than equipment) and hired a StoryBrand guide to help me re-align myself with the goals of my potential clients and learn how to speak to my audience in a way that works for them. After our coaching calls – I knew it was go-time to start working on my site. I now had a vision.

However, it wasn’t long after this that everything around me started falling apart.

Just as my amazing content creator had the first draft of text for me to look over, my neurologist informed me that we would have to delay starting our family even longer than I had hoped. While I would love to say that I handled it well, I really struggled with finding the motivation to move forward with any of my goals at that point. It truly was like experiencing a loss. I grieved. I worked for weeks to even get back in the groove of myself and my goals to pick back up on working on my website.

Finally, after finding my motivation again and working out the “free time” to dive back into my site (raise your hand if you feel me entrepreneurs!) I sat down on an afternoon to dive in. Within an hour, Steven and I were pulling cars in the garage and putting harnesses on dogs to prepare to go into the storm shelter because there were tornadoes in Edmond – in August! TORNADOES! Guys, I can’t make this shit up!

For the rest of that week, I experienced power outages and internet outages that made it increasingly difficult to work on client projects much less this other monster project for myself that I had taken on. What. The. Literal. Heck!

The storm systems seemed to throw my body into a migraine spiral that I couldn’t seem to get out of. At first, it was manageable and then it grew increasingly worse to the point where none of my normal medications or remedies were working. I’ve gone years with these abortive practices working and now of all times, they don’t? All the while swearing up and down that the universe is out to get me!

I know what you are thinking – ok, that’s bad, but your site got launched – it’s gorgeous and look at you all showing up authentically telling this story. It all worked out.

No you guys, it got worse! After finally getting rid of my 2-week long headache, I decided to go out for a night and let loose,(not easy for me to do so this is a big accomplishment). I literally fell off of a scooter in downtown OKC going full speed… I can’t make this up. I’m writing this, bruised from head to toe with my right wrist in a brace and finalizing my website today while working on a roll-out plan.

I can’t express enough that I am NOT writing this for a poor, pitiful me story! I am writing this to share a true, real life struggle that those of us with big, audacious dreams go through. I know that many of you who are reading this are like me – even your dreams seem to manifest their own set of dreams – it can be truly exhausting. Life can throw us some serious curveballs and it is so easy to throw in the towel. 

DO 👏 NOT 👏 GIVE 👏 IN!

The struggle is ALWAYS worth it in the end!

It can be so easy to look to your left and look to your right and think that the people around you have it all together – instead, I’m challenging you to open up a bit about the challenges that you faced in order to get to where you are today. It could just be exactly what someone else needs to hear to keep pushing forward towards their big, audacious dream.

To my dreams, I see you!

Even when life gets in the way, I will never throw you away. We may change direction or priority from time to time, but that’s ok. Having these big dreams in my life is a big part of who I am and accomplishing them (even if not perfectly each time) will always bring me joy. Building something with true hard work and grit will always mean more to me than being handed the keys to the kingdom.