Seasons of Change in the Good(e) Life
I knew it was coming, but I was digging my heels into the ground. Hard.
I will be the first to openly admit that I don’t like change. I’m not interested in it. I want nothing to do with it. Please just keep everything exactly the same and I’ll be happy.
Don’t buy me the fancy new iPhone. And I don’t want a new car. I’ll just be sitting over here wearing the same raspberry-colored Columbia fleece zippy I’ve been wearing since 2004.
For me, 2021 has felt like change after change. (Ironic, I know, because didn’t we say that last year?)
In March, we said goodbye to our beloved fur baby, Lucy, after 12 years with her. We were (are) crushed.
Change.
In June, after 15 months of seeing him almost 24/7, Ben physically went back to work in his office.
Change.
And as I stood on the edge of summer, I could already see the change that the end of summer would bring. Both my “babies” would be in school full time for the first time.
I think maybe the milestone felt a little heavier for me given the decision I made 5 years ago. Five years ago, I stood on the edge of a different change.
Back in 2016, I made the bittersweet decision to “momentarily” leave my career and stay home with our then 5 and 1 year olds. It was bittersweet because I loved my work but had the deep desire to focus on my family full time. I made the change from being a financial expert on the “fast track” earning a $200k+ compensation package at a Fortune 50 company to being a stay-at-home-mom making peanut butter and jelly and waiting at the bus stop with a toddler on my hip.
Big change.
But that change, though hard in its own right, was very intentional and very good. I loved the time at home with my littles and always said that when they both were in school full time, I would go back to work.
But back in 2016, that was eons away. Our little one going to 1st grade? That will never happen! I’ll be picking up his little Cheerios from under his high chair foreeeever.
Change.
Somehow, and I don’t remember how it happened, our little guy is in 1st grade this year. And as I write this, he’s on his first Idaho goose hunt with his Dad and PawPaw. Not so little anymore. (And no, I never thought I would marry a hunter. And who would let their 6-year-old go into a dark field at the crack of dawn with a truck full of guns. Some people…)
So as I stood on the edge of this past June knowing the change the end of the summer would bring, I had a choice: bare those heels down further, resist, and likely cry…or…recognize it, embrace it, and get intentional.
Because change is coming, whether I like it or not. The kids are growing, whether I like it or not.
So here I stand, in a new season, with a 1st grader, a 5th grade, and about 20 extra free hours each week on my hands.
After 3 years of delicately and quietly building a business behind the scenes of motherhood (in between peanut butter and jelly making, of course), I’m ready to get back to my career, like I always promised myself. Only this time, it’s not with a Fortune 50 company and there’s no dragging the kids through Dunkin’ in a full business suit so I can grab my coffee and make daycare drop off before my 8am meeting.
This time it’s intentional. This time I make the rules. This time I set the boundaries, because it’s my own business.
And, intentionally, there’s still lots of peanut butter jelly making and bus stop waiting.
This change is good.
If it’s of any interest to you or someone you know, my business is an accounting and CFO practice making all the business money stuff EASY for fellow female entrepreneurs.
You’re welcome to check it out here: www.ericagoode.com
We also just launched a new IG account here.
It would mean the world to me if you shared that IG page or website with an awesome business woman in your life 🥰
