"Everyday stuff reveals grace and grit," it's the phrase Gabrielle Howell read on a vinyl painting inside Crystal Bridges Art Museum in Northwest Arkansas.
Howell, a graphic designer for a decade, walked out of her corporate job two months ago. "Why are you upset right now? This is the last day, you'll wake up hating your job," her husband advised when she arrived home in a bucket of tears.
But you don't have to quit your job, to change your life. Honestly, for me it wasn't about running away from my job, which I'm in love with and addicted to. This change for me is deeply routed in wanting to experience more out of life. While I hope to inspire you- big and small- you don't have to be this extreme. In fact, there are people all around us constantly changing their lives. This takes courage to swim thru a sea of fear that can either drown you or make you stronger.
Howell, a graphic designer for a decade, walked out of her corporate job two months ago. "Why are you upset right now? This is the last day, you'll wake up hating your job," her husband advised when she arrived home in a bucket of tears.
But you don't have to quit your job, to change your life. Honestly, for me it wasn't about running away from my job, which I'm in love with and addicted to. This change for me is deeply routed in wanting to experience more out of life. While I hope to inspire you- big and small- you don't have to be this extreme. In fact, there are people all around us constantly changing their lives. This takes courage to swim thru a sea of fear that can either drown you or make you stronger.
"The little nitty gritty's you have to work out, it's not everything. It's just now. It sucks sometimes and it's hard sometimes, but it's going to work out," Howell told me as we set in the sunlight after a hot yoga class last week.
Our yoga teacher that day, Keri Edwardes, has also catapulted herself through change the last two years. After 21 years as a stay-at-home mom, she left her large house in South Tulsa to survive as an independent woman raising two girls by herself.
"I had to do it and I did not want to go get a job I didn't want to do. I cannot even see myself sitting behind a desk doing something I don't like. I didn't go to college and I don't have any skills that can give me (a lucrative) income... I have to be able to count on me."
Edwardes admits the black and white facts she can't change are scary, i.e. her financials. She stresses it's all about your attitude and she's not a believer in self-pity.
"You will come out of this stronger that you ever thought possible. Everything that comes at you, that you're afraid of, and that you take care of, you will come out stronger. Don't shrivel up and feel sorry for yourself."
As for Howell, only two months into a major change, the security to get another design job looks really tempting. Instead, she focuses on what she can do, like painting art to sell and picking up yoga classes to teach.
"If the security of being there makes you a peaceful person when you're at home, then stay. If the security isn't worth it and still makes you crazy when you go home, then maybe it's time to look for something else… whatever that is. It doesn't have to be some crazy passion. Maybe just something you're more interested in, that fills your soul in a different way," Howell said.
Our yoga teacher that day, Keri Edwardes, has also catapulted herself through change the last two years. After 21 years as a stay-at-home mom, she left her large house in South Tulsa to survive as an independent woman raising two girls by herself.
"I had to do it and I did not want to go get a job I didn't want to do. I cannot even see myself sitting behind a desk doing something I don't like. I didn't go to college and I don't have any skills that can give me (a lucrative) income... I have to be able to count on me."
Edwardes admits the black and white facts she can't change are scary, i.e. her financials. She stresses it's all about your attitude and she's not a believer in self-pity.
"You will come out of this stronger that you ever thought possible. Everything that comes at you, that you're afraid of, and that you take care of, you will come out stronger. Don't shrivel up and feel sorry for yourself."
As for Howell, only two months into a major change, the security to get another design job looks really tempting. Instead, she focuses on what she can do, like painting art to sell and picking up yoga classes to teach.
"If the security of being there makes you a peaceful person when you're at home, then stay. If the security isn't worth it and still makes you crazy when you go home, then maybe it's time to look for something else… whatever that is. It doesn't have to be some crazy passion. Maybe just something you're more interested in, that fills your soul in a different way," Howell said.
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