It’s Sunday, September 17th and I’m sitting here writing this and wishing I would have made more of an effort to celebrate this milestone in my life. Not in my business… in my life. Because this freelance life has blessed me in ways I couldn’t have conceived 10 years ago. I left my corporate life in December of 2012. I put myself back together and then started putting together the pieces that became BetterBe Creative Services.
Dad in his happy place… Niagara Falls.
I count September 18, 2013 as the “first day” of my business not because of any paperwork that was filed, or first project landed, or first check received… it’s because it’s my dad’s birthday. September 18, 2013 would turn out to be my dad’s last birthday. At that point in his life, he had watched the last of his children get married the month before. He had seen his second grandchild come into our family in 2012. And over the last 9 months, he had seen his daughter come out of a dark and angry place and come back to herself again. That daughter is me. I had released myself from a work situation that was no longer working for me, and stepped into the freelance life I had envisioned when I started down the graphic design path at the Art Institute. I am grateful that he got to see all that before he left us to watch over us from the other side.
I could write forever about the gratitude I have for this life. The internet isn’t big enough. I’m grateful for each person who has entrusted projects to me, or has referred me to someone. Those people allowed me to be there for my mom when my dad passed in March 2014 . Those people allowed me to take care of myself during my cancer treatment in 2021, and to take care of my husband after heart surgery in 2022.
So today, I celebrate those people… some of whom I knew before I worked for Dick’s (I’m looking at you, Gateway Clipper!), some of whom I know from that corporate life at Dick’s, and those I’ve met since then. I thank them for their partnership. I thank them for keeping me out of that dark place. I thank them for allowing me to care for myself and others in a way I couldn’t if I didn’t have the flexibility of this freelance life.
I don’t take time to celebrate a lot… I don’t do the social media thing a lot (there’s a reason it’s not one of my services!). But know that I honor those people today and every day. And now I will honor them by getting some rest this evening, then getting back to work. I give my clients my best because they have given me so much. I give them my hard work, 30 years of experience and any talent I have been blessed with to help them achieve their goals.
The self care I have incorporated into my life now includes side gigs… like creating and selling my own journals! I have been blessed with having one of them being carried at the gift shops in Niagara Parks. I released that first one year ago on September 18th, and it’s one of the many things I couldn’t have conceived 10 years ago. So I’m officially releasing my second one today as well.
When I think about it, the theme of that journal got me here…Persistence. And my new journal has a theme that helped me turn from misery to happiness… Letting go.
I hope you have a life that gives you unexpected blessings if you just take that scary chance to follow your heart, and throw in a little pixie dust. :)
Thank you for being here and reading this. Please stay awhile - look around and see what’s new. And check out the new journal on its official release date - TODAY!