If you’ve just joined the 20,000-member Staging Diva community, welcome and if you’ve been here for awhile, thank you for your participation! I look forward to helping all of you make 2012 your best year yet!
I don’t generally make New Year’s resolutions because I know how often we fall off course and think, “Oh well, never mind, it’s too late now!” Instead, it’s important to remember that every day can be a new beginning. There really is no “magic” to January 1st.
“The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.” – W.M. Lewis
This quote by W.M. Lewis holds special significance for me because I’ve worked with thousands of women (and a few men), who have let fear stop them from moving forwards on their dreams and really living.
For example, I spoke to a 54-year old woman yesterday who just lost her $70,000/yr job, knows she won’t get another in her field, feels a calling to use her passion for decorating but asked me, “Do you think it’s better to do a job you hate because you know it will pay the bills or is it better to do something you’re passionate about?”
Frankly that’s like asking me, “Should I close up my box of dreams, stuff it in the attic along with my God-given talents and continue living someone else’s life?”
Believe me I understand how important it is to pay the bills but I also know that the biggest regret people have at the end of their lives is not for things they tried (even if they “failed”), but for all the paths they never took.
Throughout my childhood I was taught, “Don’t ever depend on anyone to take care of you.” I took that to heart; got 3 college degrees, including a Masters in Business and Marketing, had an unfulfilling career for almost 20 years, and was (at best) mildly depressed for much of it.
It wasn’t until I neared my 40th birthday that I finally decided my life wasn’t a dress rehearsal and I’d better get busy living and enjoying it. That was 1999 and I never would have imagined where stepping off my familiar path would take me!
In this month’s posts, you’ll learn 5 secrets real estate agents need to hear from you, how the owner of a $5.75 million town house isn’t that different from a typical staging client, how to declutter your desk to make way for achieving your dreams, how a speech I made in New York led to a big marketing opportunity for a Staging Diva Grad in Australia, plus you’ll meet 6 inspiring home stagers!
As we start this new year together, I suggest that we all make 2012 the year we make decisions from a place of strength rather than fear. I too have many new dreams and challenges and plan on taking baby steps to gradually accomplish them. I hope you’ll continue to let me be the Voice of Possibility™ for you as we move towards a life we want and discover the magic that awaits us on the other side of our fears!