When What You Need Arrives When You Need It

Life. It’s inescapable. Chances are we’re all dealing with a full plate. Even if we’re not dealing with a full plate, there are still wars, there’s still climate change, there’s a lot of stuff out there in the collective. There’s still death. It’s enough to keep us busy.

For a long time, my plate has felt pretty full. Being an entrepreneur is already a tremendous undertaking: risk-filled, vulnerable, an enormous learning curve, etc. But “single mom-entrepreneur-expat-who-stinks-at-the-local-language” - well, there can’t be too many of those… I’m guessing.

But like many entrepreneurs, I believe in what I’m doing - I really do - and I love it too. But the “just get a real job” voice must be in the back of all our heads - at least at some point. And it was in the back of mine… insecurity was creeping up like an old, vexing somatic memory, when all of a sudden…

“Do you do Gratitude Buddies?”

Sorry?

“I saw your bag, Gratitude Buddies. I did that course and I absolutely loved it.”

We were at a kid’s trial class, waiting in the lobby for it to conclude, when another mother recognized my Gratitude Buddies bag.

That’s brand recognition (!!) I thought to myself incredulously. There’s something legitimate about that!

In that moment, suddenly, I felt validated, vindicated, like my path matters to someone. Like it mattered to her.

So it was a reminder to keep going and when that voice pops up about getting “a real job”, now I have a pretty good retort: remember that woman from the trial class… !?

My cousin calls those breadcrumbs… you may not have the whole loaf yet, but you get the joy of picking up another crumb. And who wouldn’t be grateful for that… ❤️