Recipe for a Happy Life

What makes you happy?  That's the question my life coach, Steve Truitt, asked me.  My answer made me smile from ear to ear:  "I love to make people happy".  I told him stories about how my high-profile job afforded me the opportunity to do wonderful things for the people I loved.  That was the up side...I made plenty of money.  The job itself, however, did not make me happy anymore. To be honest, it played a large role in making me very unhappy.  I'll get into that another day, because it's a very long story.  Plus, I don't want to defuse the joy I feel at this very moment - as I imagine my dream coming true.  :)

I can't tell you who I am right now - not until I know for certain my day job is a thing of the past.  But I ask you to follow along with me on this journey to see how far this "dream" of mine can go.  When the moment is right and my dreams are fully baked, I'll share my name and welcome you to the new life I've created.  Until then, consider me the "dreamer" inside all of you.

Dreams take on many forms.  For me, it's not about making tons of money (although that would be a bonus).  Instead, it's about smiling the way I did when Steve asked me about the things that brought me happiness....true happiness.  We talked excitedly about my family, about my love of cooking and baking, my passion (and if I say so myself, my talent) for interior design and how much I love to entertain.  Suddenly he blurted out, "Why don't you start a bakery?!"  I'd heard people say this many times.  I loved the idea, but it felt as though that's all it would ever be...a lofty idea.  But this time, something clicked.  This time, I felt what Steve had called "possibility".  I added to it a dream of an "Inn" that my little sister and I shared many years before.  What about opening an Inn with a Bakery attached - and let's make it a family affair!  I described all of the images I associated with this as I overflowed with love inside.

A family-run Inn...infused with the tantalizing aroma of freshly baked cupcakes and the like.  Is there any sweeter scent in the world?  I think not.  Add to it a beautiful cottage-style Inn - where everyone who steps inside becomes family.  Could this place really exist as it does so vividly in my mind?  The answer was, "why not?"

He paused, sat back and looked at me with a wide-brimmed smile smacked across his face and said "THIS is what you need to do...THIS is your calling.  You need to do this."

This would mean a lot of things.   It would mean quitting my high-profile, lucrative job (and likely the end of that career forever), moving from glamourous Los Angeles to much smaller town across the country where my family lives.  It would mean taking a "risk".  A huge risk.  Along with the excitement came the fear of change and the question of would it all work out?  The "what ifs", Steve said, should end with "it all works out perfectly?" 

Immediately, I thought of the possibility and not the risk.  Every situation comes with both of those...and the outcome could go either way.  So why assume the worst?  Why not assume the best?  So that's what I am choosing to do, to assume the BEST!  I knew this could work.  

I also knew I'd make less money. However, I knew first-hand money had very little to do with making me happy.  For years I made hundreds of thousands of dollars and wanted for nothing.  I had designer clothing and shoes, a beautiful home, an expensive car... yet I had never been so sad, stressed and lonely in my life.  I am an attractive, well educated, fun, smart woman.  By average standards, I was the quintessential successful woman.  Yet somehow I found myself single, with no children, attracting all the wrong men and all the wrong things  - all of which made me unhappy.  So the aforementioned societal standards I was meeting, in essence, meant nothing.  My life was not as I had once envisioned.  Something had to change.  And it was up to me to change it.

As time goes by, I'll share my stories.  I trust you will relate to some of them.  My hope is that as I set off on this quest for happiness, dream in hand, that in time it becomes a reality.   If I can do that, perhaps I can inspire you and others to follow your dream as well.  

Sweet Dreams, 

Me