Ms. New Boots my life out loud

Okay – so another embarrassing fact about Eran: when I was in elementary school, I wanted to be 80′s popstar Debbie Gibson when I grew up.  Luckily, I’ve kind of grown out of that phase, except that now I want to be this month’s guest blogger when I grow up. Molly Hoyne is the founder of Stratejoy, a training company for women and is also a life coach and a motivational speaker. I am so honoured and so thrilled to have her as a guest blogger this month!

Photo credit: http://legzlauren.tumblr.com/

The Quarterlife Quest.   What a perfect phrase to describe this need to seek, to search, to turn ourselves inside out…. My own life has gone through a ridiculous amount of twists and turns in the last five years and I’m grateful for every second of it.

How else do we learn, but to fail?  How else do we grow, but to try? We fall hard, make the wrong choice, muck it up something awful—but if we’re mindful of the journey, we learn from it.  Learn, grow, stretch, and start trusting ourselves in ways we never imagined.

I was 25 when I first started admitting I’d made the wrong career choice, chosen the wrong life path.  I working my ass off as a Sales Manager at a sexy boutique hotel in Seattle.  It had been my big goal for 4 years!  I’d made it!  But in reality, I was wearing suits I loathed, kissing up to people I didn’t respect, selling perfectly nice clients teeny tiny bottles of Coke for $4.50, and making no difference in the world whatsoever.

Trapped.  I felt trapped, like I was slowly suffocating. How does one start over?  What would I even do?  What was the right choice?  Suck it up?  Change careers?  Move cities?  Stop drinking? Run marathons?

Somehow, part of me knew that I had some major internal growth to tackle. That my journey was first to trust myself with my own true desires.   I was craving adventure, unshakable faith, and experiences that would spur moments of clarity.  I wanted to live my own incredible life.  But how?
Well, I just dove in. I refused to be scared of taking an unconventional path.  I journaled my little heart out, started meditating, stopped spending unnecessary money, danced more, took myself less seriously, and talked to anyone I could about courage and freedom and joy.  I dealt head on with the doubt of others, the haters who feel your new choices threaten their secure view of the world, and the lack of finances when you’re off doing your own thing.

I still do all of that…  It’s part of the journey, eh? Admittedly, I’m completely blessed with a partner in crime who sees the world with a similar adventurous outlook, so I suppose we dove into this life together!

10 month backpacking trip around the world?  Check.   Starting my own business to inspire and empower women?  Check.  Finally getting said business to a sustainable income level?  Check.  Tiny wedding in a garden on a river to the love of my life? Coming in August.  Yearlong RV trip around the States?  Coming in September.  Belly laughing and snapping photos as all my dreams come true?  Absolutely.  Making a difference in this big bad world?  Working on it.

This is our one shot at life.  I’m making mine remarkable in my own quirky, cheerful, slightly ridiculous way.  It’s the only way I know how…

I’m on a quest to “celebrate life authentically and inspire others to do the same”.  How about you?  What’s your personal quest?

Molly Hoyne is the founder of Stratejoy, a training company that provides women the tools, strategies and camaraderie to live life well.  She is a enthusiastic speaker, life coach and editor of a website full of resources and inspiration especially for 20 & 30 somethings, including the online Joy Equation Course.  You can find her on Twitter and Facebook — connect away!