The Next Season of Life

The next season of life is looming. I told you it was coming in Seasons Change.

I took the day “off” from work yesterday, and by that, I simply just mean “off” from Nutiva. We worked it out this past week, and my official last full-time day there is Wednesday, November 25 of Thanksgiving week. My departure, like my entire time spent with them, has been anything but typical. There was no 2-week notice, but instead 1+ months. I wasn’t kidding when I said that leaving there full-time was one of my most difficult decisions yet, and so I am staying long enough to feel like we are all getting the best out of the transition.

During my day off, I did 5 million and 34 things, some of which included:

• worked on the A Loving Spoon nut butter website
• wrote
• ran 4 miles (and paced at 8:11/mile – I about died!)
• met with my friend Lori who founded Case for Kids (because I’m hoping that, through A Loving Spoon nut butter we can do some cool things together)
• chatted with the woman who is starting this cool new online platform for women called, L District
• spent the afternoon with Samarah at Dell’Osso Family Farms
• got a few necessities at Costco
• danced with Samarah
• BBQ’d with Ryan outside, while Samarah and the dogs played

I did all of this, and I realized that the next season of life is going to look very different for me, but I feel so excited.

Family

From a family standpoint, both Samarah and the new child(ren) will be at home with me 24/7. I have downplayed this role in my mind for quite some time, but I know that of all the positions I’ve held over the years, none will even come close to the physical and emotional demands this one is likely to place on me. In case I haven’t told you yet, I never thought I’d be a stay-at-home mom. This one was God’s doing, I believe, for many different reasons. (I will likely only use help when I have to go to my commercial kitchen for production or anything else like that.)

I have been thinking a lot about what our days will look like, and how I’ll structure them to be the best they quite possibly can. I am likely to mirror after my amazing sister-in-law, Kelly, who always had the kids at home with her in the mornings, and in the afternoons they would do some sort of outside-the-home activity, adventure or the like (then again, Kelly is a teacher and probably one of the most talented people I know when it comes to children – I am a far cry from this!).

I told you last week, but I have also been researching this whole idea around “urban homesteading.” I’m beginning to think it will play out more like “urban nesting.” but the idea around it and what I am planning to do really excites me.

Work

I don’t think I should have to justify doing anything above and beyond staying at home with Samarah and the new child(ren) because that, in and of itself, will be a lot for me. Adopting from the foster care system also demands time and energy that not a lot of people know about. We’ll have all new social worker visits, doctors visits and, of course, the potential for bio-family visits. Ryan is amazing about joining any chance he can, but these tasks will always be taken care of with me at home.

That said, of course, I am still going to be working. I am an entrepreneur at heart, and the truth is that the work I do never feels like work, but instead an outlet for creativity and all the bottled-up passions inside of me.

First and foremost, new things are happening with A Loving Spoon nut butters, so we are giving 2016 the chance to see them flourish.

I will be doing project work with Nutiva still, doing the things I was born to do there – recipe development, photography and other creative bigger-picture content development things.

I will be teaching my course again at Cal State, “Writing Social Media Content,” and because I now have several years under my belt working for small companies, large corporations and an agency doing this, I am planning to launch an e-course around Content Marketing, which will live on my website 24/7, at your convenience. (If you will be interested in this course, please contact me for more information!)

The next version of The Gutsy Girl’s Bible is in process and will release + a couple of other e-books I am thinking of writing.

And finally, I will likely do more group health coaching (beginning with a wellness program through the holidays – interested?!) + 1-on-1 health coaching (super limited basis) and consult with other coaches who wish to grow their online health coaching business.

I have no intentions of stopping or even really slowing down my entrepreneurial goals, and giving back to women (and foster children) in the ways I deeply desire. The difference now, though, is that most things will be projects I work on when time allows and then release to groups of people vs. 1-on-1 specific time commitments.

The Next Season of Life

The next season of life will be lead by the daily needs of my family, followed by my personal goals and ambitions from a career standpoint.

The shift is going to be a huge change, but the building blocks have been put in place, and I am ready for all that is to come. I can’t wait to share the journey with you.

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Xox,
SKH