Kayak, Snorkel or Paddle?

As I sit on the balcony watching the dolphins frolic in the ocean nearby, I feel content and relaxed. When we booked this vacation to Jamaica back in January, we were excited to have something to look forward to for our third anniversary.

There were many things we didn’t know about what our lives would look like on September 2. We believed COVID-19 would be fading away and life would return to “normal.” I didn’t know that later in January, I would take part in a week-long writing workshop, which would inspire me to write a memoir over the next few months.

In April, I set a goal to finish copy-editing the manuscript before our trip so I could just relax and enjoy it, something I’m not particularly good at. In June, I realized my heart was calling me back to consulting and decided to return to it full-time on January 1, 2022. I was so grateful the manuscript was complete because it freed me up to focus on business development. In July, I hired my editor, who I found in my networking process. She is a fellow Westmont alum who was a friend of a friend. When we reconnected via Zoom, I knew she was the person I wanted to hire. Her first availability was the week before we left for Jamaica, my personal deadline. How fortuitous.

The business development process has my mind operating on overdrive, in a good way. I have felt so energized and excited at the prospect of contributing to multiple projects and working with amazing colleagues. But I wondered if I could relax on vacation, with this significant work transition ahead. Articulating and selling my ability to provide outstanding project management, communications consulting, and public affairs services is much more intimidating than actually doing the work, which I’ve been engaged in for 30 years.

But God has opened the doors these last two months, confirming that this is the right move at the right time. Within a week of my informal networking launch, one friend referred me to another who hired me for a project and that consultant then referred me to another organization that put me on retainer. I have substantial amounts of ongoing work lined up with previous clients and am thankful this fell into place before our trip. I don’t know if I would be as relaxed if it wasn’t unfolding so seamlessly. Every day in consulting is a journey of faith, but it is clear that this is the right direction.

Today, at this all-inclusive resort, the biggest decisions are whether to sit by the beach or the pool, stand up paddle, kayak, or snorkel, eat churros or ice cream, or both. It is divine. My mind is not constantly churning about what to do next. I feel extremely refreshed and excited about life. I am blessed to have a supportive husband who says he loves to see me shine, and if this makes me shine, he’s all in.