Beginning Again

As 2015 begins, I welcome country life here in Sonoma County with a new home, a new community, and a new routine.  My new husband, our (my new) dog Bandon, and I are in a tiny little cottage together quickly making up for the time spent apart dating long distance.

A year ago, I was newly engaged, and the realization that I might leave San Diego started to settle in.  I was both elated in the possibility of a future with Dave and filled with dread in the thought of leaving the life that I had built.

San Diego held my dearest friends and an inspiring community.  It was also the place where I recovered and rediscovered a passion for life.  Out of that passion, Heart of Leadership took form, and in considering a move, I had to come to terms with all of its potential outcomes.  One mentor suggested that I fold it while board members said they were committed to the mission no matter where I lived.

I hardly wrote last year because I was in the trenches wrestling daily with what it meant to choose love and how choosing love for myself, friends, family, career, and purpose aligned and didn’t.

Heart of Leadership is finding a new direction this year.  (More to come on that in future posts.)  And I am finding new direction in my purpose.

What I know for sure is that this year I will be writing more.  Since my days in Mr. Bostian’s 8th grade English class where I wrote for hours and hours to being an English major in college to working in magazine publishing in NYC, I have always had the desire to write.  But I have also had enough reasons why I shouldn’t: writing being an irresponsible career path, the fear of being judged, and being too busy, to name a few.

Few things in life have been able to keep my interest like the phrase, “I Choose Love,” has.  With each decision, each day, and each moment, the phrase seems to have something to teach.  Choosing love illuminates life in a hologram with new facets and colors.  It has been and continues to be my guiding light.

I hope to share more about what it’s like to choose love through writing this year.  It’s messy and imperfect and beautiful and so worth it all at once.

Happy to be back!

Love,

Stephanie