Saturday Morning Chatter - Go For It

Just the other day, I updated my Facebook status with "Ever feel like your standing still while others are running circles around you?" That's how I've been feeling lately. I have several irons in the fire, tons of feelers out there, and working on projects right and left, but nothing has really taken off. My husband says it's because I don't focus on one thing, but I have the philosophy that if I don't work in several things at a time, how will I ever know what I'm actually good at. Right now, I feel like I'm failing at everything.

There was a time in my life where I felt like I fearless. Willing to try or do just about anything. Now that I'm 41, married, and have a child, I feel like I'm such a coward. I have people who rely on me and I can't possibly do something to jeopardize them or their future. But at the same time, if I don't take that flying leap, I will never be a success for either of them or me. I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Standing still while others are running circles around me. I think my life could be a true cliche.

Then my mom and I had this amazing opportunity to meet Ina Garten. Ina came to Kansas City to talk at the University of Missouri-Kansas City about her self-made brand and entrepreneurial spirit. She talked about how she left her government job in DC because she didn't feel challenged anymore. She and her husband Jeffrey headed to Westhampton Beach, NY to look at a space she had read about to possibly pursue a completely new venture in life. After making a low offer on the space, they returned to DC where she assumed that journey to NY would end. Turns out they accepted her offer and she was the proud owner of her next challenge in life. A challenge that brought nearly 30 years of challenges, personal gratification, and incredible success. 

Ina's life has been one leap of faith after the other. She is a woman who likes to challenge herself and take flying leaps without over-thinking or analyzing every step. Listening to this was like listening to my own voice. I too am a girl who doesn't think before she leaps. I just leap, when I can. I don't analyze every step. I don't plan out my life and tell myself I have to be somewhere at certain age because life gets in the way and totally derails such ideas. But right now, I feel I've lost that spirit that I used to have and I'm trying to re-ignite that spark.

While Ina was speaking, my mom and I would look at each with that knowing look. Ina could have literally been talking to only me. If I were sitting down to coffee with this icon, she could have just simply said, "Andrea, you just need to go for it." And that's what I'm planning to do. I'm tired of just planning. I'm tired of just talking. I'm tired of just typing. I need to just do. And, I need to follow my crazy inner voice and stop listening to the buzz around me. I need to focus on my own career choices that involve working solely for me. To start that business, or businesses, that drive me, excitement me, challenge me, scare me, and move me to be the person I always knew I could be.

I'm currently working up a business plan for something I would never really have thought about doing until I had sleepless night(s) last week. My mom is all in with the idea and I'm literally reaching out to everyone I think might be interested. I've put pen to paper and I like what I'm seeing. I'm excited. I'm motivated. I'm challenged. I'm moved! It's everything I would expect when trying to get a business(es) off the ground and I like it. "If you build it they will come", right? And I owe it all to the amazing spirit of one incredible woman, Ina Garten!