Oh. My. Goodness.

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted here and I deeply apologize.

Life has been crazy.

Long story short, I work in the music industry. More specifically, I’m a songwriter and I work for an artist development and digital marketing firm in Nashville TN.

However, my family and I have been living in Utah, close to both of our families.

Last winter however, after my husband lost many different jobs in a row (not any fault of his own. They all closed after just a few short months of him working for them) we decided to sell our beautiful home… the one we had never planned to leave… and pursue my songwriting goals.

You see, for the last 8+ years I’ve been flying to Nashville every couple of months to pursue a career in songwriting. It’s been hard. Harder than hard! But I love this industry. I love the people, I love creating songs and I love watching those song babies grow. Not that all of them do, but you get my point.

Well, here I am pursuing a career I love, while my husband is stuck losing jobs he doesn’t even like.

Then, a friend who works in the music industry reached out to me via phone with a great job offer! His right hand woman had just moved across the country and he needed someone ASAP. He knew our plan was to move out to Tennessee. The only variables left were 1. We needed to find a house and 2. I needed a job.

He offered me the job of “Social Media Manager” for his Artist Development and Digital Marketing company on the spot. After a short conversation with my husband, I accepted.

Not only would I be working in the industry I LOVED and just a few blocks from my beloved “music row,” but I’d be able to work from home as needed (so I can still be Mom a few times a week) and, if I have songwriting appointments of industry meetings, I go and do it NO QUESTIONS ASKED. Plus, I freaking love this guy… who is now my Boss, but it’s still weird to think of him as “Boss.”

So, we up and got rid of almost everything we had… furniture and all and sold our home, left family and friends and loaded a U-haul, our truck and our three children for a 1700 mile trek across the country.

Sound crazy? Oh, it get’s better. The home we’d put an offer on but had yet to close on in Tennessee… we’d never seen it in person.

Our real estate agent and dear friend face-timed us in to “walk” through it, but we hadn’t actually seen it!

It was this adorable little white brick farm house on 2 acres of beautiful property… which we needed because of the 2 horses (my hairy babies) we were going to be shipping across the country.

Well, long story short, we arrived at the house after 4 days of driving. I LOVED it! My husband was, eh… Luke warm. Maybe even a bit chilly toward it.

Let’s just say it needed a little more than a bit of work, but it was SO CUTE! And perfect for our horses.

Well, after we went to close on the house, we found out that it had a lien against the property. And not a small lien! I won’t disclose details, but after two months of living in a home that needed to be renovated BADLY and after shipping our horses, we discovered that closing on this property any time soon would be impossible.

So, we were given two choices. Start paying rent that would NOT go toward the cost of the house, or find something else by the first of October. Oh, did I mention this gave us TWO WEEKS to find, close on and move into a house with horse property?

Well, we hadn’t planned on paying rent. So, we decided on the latter and just had faith that God would watch over us and lead us where we needed to be! And he did.

There were exactly 3 homes in a 60 mile radius that were in our price range and allowed horse. Of the 3, 2 were in flood zones.

Thankfully, we fell in love with the only house available to us and were able to close in 6 days.

Coincidence? I think not.

But then there was the whole “pack up everything all over again, move to a new place and a new school and a new neighborhood.” Oh, and find a trailer to rent to move the horses. Ahhhhh.

Needless to say, life has been insane. And in the middle of it all, the company I manage for, which I still love, has TRIPLED in size since I arrived! Phew!

Have I had my down times? Yes! So many! Have I made mistakes at my new job that left me feeling like a total loser? Um, yea I have.

I’ve had so many moments where I wasn’t sure how this would all work out, or if my family would be homeless. So many moments feeling like “I’m not good enough” to be successful in this industry. So many times feeling helpless and tired and completely CRAZY for doing this to my family!

But I’ve also felt a tremendous amount of growth. I feel stronger than I ever have! Funny how that happens huh?

In my ever growing older age, I’ve realized something. Nothing is certain, but trials, struggles, and hard times are! We all have them. It’s part of being human.

And the truly successful people use those struggles to GROW! They view them as an opportunity to prove themselves, push through and become who they are meant to become!

I still feel those feelings of doubt creep in and that’s ok. I’m human. I’m going to feel inadequate.

So, I’m here to tell you through personal experience that YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE HARD TIMES! They might even seem impossible. But YOU are good enough to take it on, conquer and grow into who YOU are meant to be! Can I get an AMEN? Okay… I may have taken that too far. Lol.

For you and for me, I’ve created a list of affirmation for struggles. Because you’re worth the effort and so am I.

Side note: So, I create these graphics and many of the affirmation I use on them. Well, the other day I googled affirmations and do you know what popped up in the images? My lists! Guys… how cool is that?

Here’s to a great week for you and for me! And I’M BACK BABY!