My life has changed tremendously this year.
At the end of December, I stopped working outside of the business and made the running of this House my full time job.
I had come to a crossroads and was physically and mentally exhausted. Although I loved my ‘other job’ over the past two years it increased in hours and responsibilities, and at the same time, the business of running the House literally exploded. For over two years I was able to do both, with the huge and equal support of Rodney who was also managing his job outside of the House. Each day we’d negotiate who could be home for check-ins, or who could manage guest breakfast. From morning to night, we were always working or thinking of work, or talking about work. This was 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. For over two years. Our life became extremely busy and complex and what little daily time we had for ourselves slowly began to slip away.
This business is our dream. We knew and were prepared to work very hard, to put everything we had into trying to make it a success. People told us that it was a ‘lifestyle’ business…but I began questioning what type of life that actually was and who we’d become once we came up for air.
Giving my resignation was terrifying but I knew it was the right decision for everyone. The Foundation was doing very well and the House was beginning to meet our occupancy goals and our rankings on review sites were climbing – but it was still, and still is, very scary walking away from my corporate career. I am after all, my father’s daughter.
The funny thing is that the first month after leaving, the occupancy levels at the House grew by 75% over this time last year. It was nothing I did, truly as I was just heads down in the servicing of the business, but I do believe it was a bit of karma that was telling us it would be OK.
Now almost 6 months later, I sit here in a quaint local café, after guest breakfast and a long hot yoga class and I can’t believe the joy and the peace that I feel about this decision. I’ve never made less money in my entire career. I make beds and clean toilets every day. My wardrobe has gone from dresses and heels to almost strictly head to toe Lululemon…but I experience the joys of a simple life, every day.
I get to walk the dog on a black sand beach and not stress about how long it is taking and worrying that my phone will ring. We walk until we are happy. I get to pop into the garden if the sun is shining at 2:00 on a Tuesday rather than spend every weekend afternoon head down pulling weeds. The garden is now a joy and not a stress. I am starting to ‘fill my tins’ with things like Feijoa cakes from our tree and make big batches of homemade soup and bread. I am becoming a local. I’ve read 12 books so far this year, verses a handful last year. My imagination and creativity are awakening. We don’t spend every waking moment of our weekends on our to-do list. Weston enjoys more puppy-cinos and we enjoy going for walks and out to lunch or dinner. My heart has stopped racing, my health is improving, and I am able to look around and give thanks for all that we have instead of stressing about all that we have to do.
We took a huge courageous leap of faith, believed in ourselves and what we have created, live simpler, and our House is happier for it.