A Day at the Amusement Park

I’m going to share a story with you. It’s about roller coasters. Maybe you can relate. Maybe not. Here goes…

In my twenties, I co-founded a graphic design studio with my then husband. Two kids in tow we hustled like the milk was burning. One of my ex’s typeface designs spread all over the world. I’ve seen it used in places like India, Romania, Italy to name a few. Storefronts, magazines, ads. Big companies such as Disney and Mcdonald’s used it. Yeah, it blew up.

A few years later the ex and I went our separate ways. He got the company and I got the kids.

Here I am dreamingly reminiscing over the times I used to be a young hot CEO – drumroll and bah bah bah…. Akshually, there’s a moral to the story and it’s that one day you’re part of something, someone, going somewhere seemingly important, and the next day you’re lost. And that’s ok. It’s ok to be lost at times.

It’s easier to get social cookie points with success, hotness, riches, and smarts. Yes surely. How about happiness? It depends, how deep do you want to go? Maybe your life has more to it than you knew? Maybe you need to trust yourself enough to test your strengths sometimes? Let go of things you thought were good for you? Let yourself feel.

Let’s go back to the story I told you. The story is based on the truth but it was told with a specific angle to illustrate the idea of identity, values, and moving on. It’s also a story about smoke and mirrors. Anyone can be a CEO on paper. My ex made the decisions, not me. Anybody can start a company, it’s running it that takes skill. We run ours as badly as is expected from two first timers. I was happy for him to have it. Smoke and mirrors. It doesn’t take much to build a story to make our selves look good. 

What if you’re not a bundle of messed up dreams, but a glorious container of potential and experiences? Success, failure, happiness, adversity… – who decides what it means? For you?

What if life is a journey and all that you are, all that happens to you, all that you learn will benefit yourself in some surprising way and at the same time lift others? What if you choose that narrative?