I recently began a new chapter in my life and I’m very excited about it.
Earlier this summer, I was let go from my job after 14.5 years. The morning I was let go I also tested positive for two parasites. I ended up losing weight uncontrollably, 8 lbs in total within a week. This was the third health emergency I’d experienced in 6 months, so there were plenty of warning signs I was in a bad place.
I was immediately cut off from all work-related emails, the beginning of a new reality for me. Thankfully, I was approved for unemployment benefits. This has afforded me the time to work on my passion projects, which includes this blog that I started over a year ago.
Be Ready When The Luck Happens…
“Be Ready When The Luck Happens” is the title of Ina Garten’s memoir. In her memoir, Ina goes into detail about how she learned to cook and buy and manage the Barefoot Contessa store in the Hamptons, without any formal training. She pivoted her career several times, reinventing herself along the way. For example, when she closed the Barefoot Contessa store, she decided to write cook books. Every time she made a career pivot she didn’t know if her choices would have a payoff (they did of course). As she explains it, she was ready when the luck happened.
While reading her memoir I kept thinking this is what is happening to me, the luck has started to show up in my life and I’m ready for it.
A Career Pivot…
I knew I wanted to make a significant career pivot. For most of my career I’ve worked at the Emmys (you know, the statue that symbolizes being the best in television). The best part of the job (for me) was celebrating and meeting the people who work on home improvement shows like the PBS / Roku program “This Old House.” Over the past decade or so those shows have become our comfort food. In fact, it’s not uncommon for Joanna and I to spend our nights binge watching home renovation programs. We continually find inspiration in the transformations we see people make to their homes.
Inspired by those shows, and other factors that I won’t go into here, we leapt at the chance to buy a fixer-upper in the Hudson Valley when mortgage rates were at their lowest. Immediately, I started imagining all the projects we could take on. Since 2022, we’ve been tackling them one by one, and documenting our home renovation journey on this blog. With my time limited while working at the Emmys, I didn’t have a whole lot of bandwidth to tackle all the home renovation projects. But now that’s all changed. I’m now able to fully commit to documenting my own journey as an interior designer and storyteller.
More Inspiration…
Two books specifically in the interior design space that have inspired me are “Make Life Beautiful” by Syd and Shea McGee, the interior design duo behind Studio McGee, and “The Magnolia Story” by Chip and Joanna Gaines, the founders of Magnolia. Starting a new career is always a daunting challenge. Learning how other successful interior designers got their start gives me courage as I set out on my own journey.
Another influential read for me has been “The 4-Hour Work Week” by Timothy Ferriss, a book widely recommended by other bloggers and YouTubers. This book has transformed how I evaluate a proper work / life balance, something I think is elusive for many people, especially Americans.
A final transformative book I’ve recently read is “The Psychology Of Money” by Morgan Housel. One of Morgan’s bullet points really stood out to me, “Use money to gain control over you time… The ability to do what you want, when you want, with who you want, for as long as you want, pays the highest dividend that exists in finance.” Saving money and investing in the future is something that has always been very important to me. It’s also something that is very important to Joanna. My ability to save and make good investments for nearly 15 years has put me in a position that now affords me the opportunity to take the same types of career risks that Ina Garten, the McGees and the Gaineses took.
The Path Forward…
If you haven’t read any of these books yet, I urge you to grab a copy. They each have the power to shift your perspective on life and have made me appreciate the good things I have in my immediate world, the world I now have more control over.
Each morning we sit at our dining room table and watch the sun rise. It’s absolutely magical as the sun cuts through the leaves, especially now that it’s Fall and the leaves are bursting with color.
We like to reflect on the progress we’ve made with our home renovation projects and remind ourselves how fortunate we are to live in a happy home surrounded by nature. We are now able to enjoy our remodeled kitchen, our new bathroom, which is light and bright, and enjoy afternoons on our deck, listening to the sound of the waterfall. Most days (weather permitting), Joanna and I take a walk, passing an apple orchard, a reservoir and a local vineyard. The walks give us a chance to clear our minds and be thankful for all the positive changes in our lives.
We are indeed very lucky and ready to start this new chapter.
