On Taking a Break, Moving, and Going Full Time (!!)
It’s true, there’s been more happening behind the scenes than meets the eye; and not just for the past few months, but for the past few years! Since January, my husband and I have sold our first home, lived with my parents for 2 months, purchased a new home, vacationed in Italy, moved into our new home, and made the decision for me to leave my full time job. I knew how difficult it would be to balance everything, so I also made the decision to slow down on the business front until I was officially finished with my full-time job.
I’m excited to finally share a huge part of my life that has other-wise never been mentioned.
Ready?
Let’s start with the biggest change in my life. As of tomorrow, July 8th, I will officially be working for Sincerely, Jackie full time! For the past five and a half years, I have not only been following my passion as a stationery designer, but I have also been working full-time in the field of Industrial/Organizational Psychology, as a management coach. I am just as passionate about my coaching work as I am about my stationery work, and have even been going to graduate school at night to complete my Master’s in I/O Psychology. I've been so fortunate over the past five years to be able to earn a good living while also being able to support and grow my business. Leaving my job was a difficult decision, but at the end of the day, Sincerely, Jackie is what truly makes my heart happy. My husband (and my biggest supporter!) and I began planning for me to leave my job over a year ago, and we’ve taken some really huge, scary steps in order to make this dream a reality. The biggest step we took was selling our condo and buying a home on Long Island.
With that, let’s chat about the move. My husband and I are now officially living in our new home on the south shore of Long Island. Hooray! We are in love with the house, the location, and being back on Long Island near our family and friends. I don’t think I can adequately express how thrilled we are! I also need to add that one of the best decisions we made was to have work done to the house while we were away on vacation in Italy (more on the trip soon!). Friends, coming back from Italy to a house that was painted and move-in ready was absolutely incredible! One difficult aspect to the move was that we had to purchase our home while I was still employed full-time, which made the mortgage process much, much easier; but it turned my 30 minute commute to work into a 2+ hour commute. This meant that, for several months during my busiest season, I would have almost zero time to get my design work done. Instead of pushing myself and letting anxiety take over my life (and send me to the hospital!) I made the intentional choice to slow down my work with Sincerely, Jackie. There was simply no way for me get everything done in an even shorter day, so I needed to be strategic about my use of time. Slowing down meant less blogging, less social media, only working with current clients, and absolutely not taking any rush orders. It was hard to scale back, especially just before leaving my job, but it was the best decision ever and has really allowed me to feel refreshed as I prepare to dive into my business full-time. In this crazy competitive, creative, how-hard-can-you-push-yourself world, I learned the value of cutting yourself some slack, and being human for a while. I recommend it, friends, we all need to take good care of ourselves.
I also recommend going on a vacation. To Italy. I can recommend that, right?!
During all of the craziness - and just two weeks after closing on our new house - my husband and I spent almost two weeks in Italy with cousins and friends. The trip was incredible! We were in the Calabria area for the first half of our trip, visiting beautiful beaches, the Sicilian Islands, and spending time with family on their farm (hello fresh pasta, meats, and veggies!). The second half of our trip was spent up north in the Verona area where we stayed at a Bed & Breakfast in the mountains. We visited Milan, Verona, Venice, and Lake Garda before returning back to New York. Since we were in remote locations for most of the trip, I managed to stay almost entirely unplugged! As incredible as Italy was, my husband and I were excited to come back to New York and finally move into our home and begin the new life we’ve set out for ourselves.
So there you have it. Six months of change, growth, excitement, fear, and uncertaintly - all boiled down into a few paragraphs. Today is my last day in my corporate office, and I am honored to spend the day with some of my closest friends and coworkers, who have been my biggest cheerleaders over the years. It makes my heart ache to think I won't see these people every single day any more, but I'm excited to keep them as close friends as I start this new journey.
Now, I'm off to have a glass of wine and celebrate!
Sincerely,