Gaining Perspective on Courage

So I alluded last week to some big stuff in my life. The news is that I was laid off from my day job last week. This is ACTUALLY GREAT news, as I was almost ready to leave on my own, and if I had, I wouldn't have received a severance package...so I left under the best circumstances. The organization is going through a restructure and there are about 20-25 people in total being let go. I was getting prepared to leave at some point soon as I was ramping up the business...so the timing is fantastic!

So here I am, full time entrepreneur! Just a bit sooner than I expected, but I am very excited, nervous, hopeful...everything you can imagine...I feel very fortunate that I have the resources and COURAGE to handle this change...so many other friends don't.

14 hours before I got the news at work, I found out that a dear young friend who was our dogsitter died last week. She committed suicide at the age of 19. It certainly put things in perspective. I am blessed to have a life, and the strength, to persevere when she could not...it is just heartbreaking.

Here's a photo of Chantal, on the right, with our other young friend Ruby and our dog...he loved her so much. Look closely and you'll see he's proving that in the photo.



Chantal was a brilliant artist and sweet, sweet girl who had a terrible family life and a lot of pain. I pray that she is at peace.

So the loss of a job that I was ready to leave isn't much of a loss...and it reminds me that if we can inspire women and girls to be fully expressed and to explore their emotions, maybe there will be one less senseless loss. I'm dedicating the teen program we're working on to Chantal's memory...more on that soon.