Why am I doing what I do?

Even I didn’t really know the answer to this question, until one day someone asked me something simple “what do you do for fun?” I was literally stumped. I couldn’t form words. I couldn’t name a hobby, an activity, even a moment in my day that I would consider fun. Don’t confuse this with me being happy; because if you know me you know I am one giant ball of radiating happy energy. I am always happy, but what do I do for me? I couldn’t think of a thing. Woah. Would this be the rest of my life? Would I never find time for me?

I wasn’t going to let that happen. As a recent college graduate I was feeling more lost than ever. I had this super cool (expensive) piece of paper and I was like… okay, what the hell… what now? Do I just keep going through the motions, keep answering the question what do you do for fun with a blank stare and a polite; “uh, I don’t know… I work out, sometimes?”
So I worked my little butt off. Probably harder than I ever did on any of my 15 page college research papers. I spent hours researching companies that I could work for on my own terms while learning. I would wake up at night and google things like “best company to start up.” It took me countless google pages and a handful of free e-courses to realize this journey had to start with me.

I soul searched for months. Then Chloe + Isabel found me, stalked me really. I kept hiding this pesky Facebook ad until I finally clicked my way through and realized this was my chance to learn. Not just learn about the online world but also to learn about myself. And oh, how I watched myself grow. I watched a little lost college graduate grow into a thriving entrepreneurial spirit. ME, the child of two librarians, an entrepreneur. Hey, gene pool, you messed up somewhere! But here I was, I had a passion for building a company and I wasn’t going to stop. I knew my why and I knew what I needed to answer the question “what do you do for fun?”

And then it wasn’t until the CEO of the company, Chantel Waterbury (one of my biggest role models) said to me, “do not ever let anyone define your own happiness.” Then I realized, I didn’t have to have a hobby to say what I do for fun. I didn’t have to go take up knitting or roller blading tomorrow, I could just design my own creative lifestyle.

So, what do I do for fun? I create, I inspire, I network, I learn, I read books by empowering business mavens, I write when I feel like an idea is tugging on me, I journal when I need to, I spend at least 10 minutes a day dreaming up a new plan, I talk to people who want to create their own freedom lifestyle and hope for them that they find their why too, I watch TED talks at least once a week, I walk on the beach because I have time to and I go on mini-vacations every time I have an urge (which is a lot).

What’s my why? Simply put; my why is to give myself happiness in each and every day and to live out the lifestyle of freedom that I only thought I would dream of.