Life changes are scary

Every time I say I’m going to start writing regularly something comes up. Work and life (or lack thereof) get busy. The last time I posted was in November 2016, and the end of 2016 brought some big changes to my professional and personal lives.

After a lot of consideration, my business partner and I decided to close Nu’U Vitality Center. It was my baby. Health and wellness is something that I’m very passionate about. I got my MBA with the intention of buying the ballet school where I trained, not to go into government contracting. I finally was doing what I always wanted to do; but it didn’t make sense to keep the business open, and we had to make some hard decisions.

I was getting burnt out running two companies. Even with an amazing business partner, my life had become 7 days and who knows how many hours a week of work.  I had no personal time…no life outside of work. I didn’t have time to exercise. If I wasn’t working on a project for one company, there was always something to do for the other. And when there were emergencies in both companies at the same time – well let’s just say it was beyond stressful. So we made the painful decision to close Nu’U. It was hard laying off personnel; trying to wrap up the services we had pre-sold; closing the Nu’U office and disposing corporate assets; and coordinating the move of employees who worked for both companies back to the D2DInc office.

Get ready…Get set…Go!

I didn’t know it yet, but February started one of the most hectic times of my adult life. To accommodate everyone in one space, we had to expand and renovate D2DInc’s office. And while that would be enough to keep “normal” people busy, I have to be a busy person over-achiever. My lease was expiring in May 2017 so I put a contract on a house in February. It would need a lot of renovation, but no worries…plenty of time, right? And I previously owned two companies and now I only had one, so I have plenty of time to get everything done, right? [Whenever someone says “you have plenty of time”, do not believe them. If it’s you saying it, then you are probably delusional.]

Boxes everywhere!

From the end of February through the second week of June (the construction almost complete as I type), my life has been consumed with moving and renovating both my office and my house. The chaos has been overwhelming!

But there is an upside to all of this. I was scared of how closing Nu’U would be perceived. D2DInc has been very successful and received a lot of achievement awards. “What happened with Nu’U?” I’ve been asked. “It didn’t work out” I responded.

We tried something new and it didn’t go as planned. Successful entrepreneurs also fail. So what?!?

I think the saying should change from “fail to plan, plan to fail” and instead be “fail to try and you will fail.”

Let’s try something else we’ve never done before.

Ultimately 2 dumpsters were filled!

I’ve never renovated a house, nor been on a deadline that meant if the renovations didn’t get finished that I might not have a place to live for a while. In truth I underestimated the project.

The renovations were supposed to be completed on May 10, but with the wet weather, delivery backlogs and delays, and design changes, it look longer than expected. In the end, pretty much everything inside and outside has been changed. It was a HUGE undertaking. Much more complicated than the office renovation, but in the end I used my organizational, planning and researching skills to make it happen. Honestly it probably would have been fine if I hadn’t added extra work and changed some designs at the end. But some of it was out of my control.

I got my dream house. Alex was putting the backsplash up in the kitchen today, and we were chatting while he was working. I was saying how awesome everything looked and admitted that I’ve never lived in a house that had a backsplash in the kitchen and bathrooms. He looked at me, laughed and said “really??” I’ve never put my personal stamp on a house the way I did with this one. I’m really proud of how it turned out.

Change is scary.

So much has changed in my life recently that it’s scary, but it’s also good. The biggest change has been in how I handle situations when they don’t go as planned. I’ve been living and working surrounded by boxes with clutter everywhere! My mind wanted order, but my environment couldn’t accommodate it.

My OCD tends to flair when I’m stressed. There was a breaking point when nothing was on schedule and I was running out of time. Rather than freak out, I came up with a new plan on the spot. Normally I have plans B, C, D and E in reserve, but I was so maxed out that I didn’t have anything ready.

The last 4 months have taught me to chill more. I moved on May 18 and I was teased that I would probably have the house unpacked and rearranged 3 times within one week. [Nope still lots to unpack, but in my defense they’re still doing renovations.] I’ve given my staff more responsibilities, which has allowed me to be more productive and creative – something that I haven’t been able to do for a while. I started making time for me and started training for triathlons and races again.

It feels good! Because of these “scary” life changes, I’ve grown as a person and as a business owner…and I’m ready to tackle whatever happens next!