The First Step is the Hardest...

Today, I spent the day with my mother-in-law on her farm.  She lives a much simpler life than me -- and in many ways, I'm jealous.  It's just her and her "babies" on the farm: goats, chickens, llamas, dogs...  Her farm is organic and she raises her animals for fiber.  In addition to being a farmer, she's a fiber artist.  She makes beautiful fiber art and "lives the creative dream".  She is her own boss and she gets to do a job she loves every day of the week.  I think many of us dream of a job that makes our heart sing.  We wish that we were the boss... I know I do. 

But today, driving home, I reflected on the conversation with my mother-in-law... about life, passion, creative spirit, and hard work.  She LOVES her work.  She is PASSIONATE about the life she has created for herself.  Yet, it's clear that her life isn't as romantic as many of us might think.  Yes -- she is the boss, but along with that comes the responsibility that sink or swim she alone bears the burden.  As the "family farm" continues to disappear in the United States... taken over by big corporate farms or pushed out of existence by "big government"... her way of life, her livelihood, becomes more and more difficult to maintain.  Three years ago in her little area of Colorado there were 60 cattle ranches.  Now there are 6.  As hay becomes more and more expensive AND difficult to even locate and purchase and as her overhead continues to rise... being the boss isn't all it's cracked up to be.  She stands at a crossroads of how to move her business forward and how to maintain the life she loves -- decisions that will be difficult to make in the months and years ahead.

And yet... she continues to find creative ways to life the life of her choosing.  She may be at a crossroads on how she moves forward - but I have faith she will evolve.

I guess all of this becomes important to me because I, too, find myself at a crossroads.  I'm a new mom -- getting ready to return to work next week.  And while I enjoy my job... I'm not sure it's my life's passion.  My priorities are shifting... I'm suddenly seeing that it's important to live a life of purpose -- my job is to teach my little man how to be a good person, to live a life of integrity... In order to share my values with him, I better make sure that I'm "walking the walk".  I wish I could stay home with him -- to make sure he's learning from me -- and not from the daycare provider.  But financially, that just isn't in the cards.... YET.  So it's time to do some reflecting:  What is my passion, what is my purpose?  What are my talents and how do I best utilize them? And is my life in line with my values?  While I think I do a good job at being true to myself - I have work to do.  The first step is going to be the hardest -- but I'm going to do my best to teach my son what "Being Brooke Frances" is all about.  This blog is my first step at being true to myself and living a life of purpose, passion, integrity.  I've always wanted to write... today I will begin.