You are exactly where you are meant to be.

Before I started ESD, I worked in fashion in New York City. I was the corporate merchandise manager for a world famous handbag line, a fancy way of saying that I worked with designers to develop the assortment and then with store buyers to get it sold. Just as most companies do, we had yearly reviews where our managers and human resources would go over our performance over the previous twelve months. We received ratings that were tied to bonuses and promotions, along with our next steps in the company. I'm proud to say that my reviews were almost always positive and I moved up nicely in the company. But what I remember most about the reviews were the next steps because no matter how well you performed, "do more" always seemed to be the message. We didn't take time to celebrate our achievements or promotions. Minutes after, we were already talking about how we could do even better, have more responsibility, make more money. Where we were was never enough. Now I understand that this was a publicly traded company and our main goal was to make more money year after year for our investors. But lately it seems that life is a lot like those performance reviews. We are always looking towards what's next, how can we achieve more, run faster or farther, be more successful. At no time is this more obvious than at the beginning of a new year. New year, new you! New goals! More, more, more! And why isn't it ok to just be happy where you are? To be proud of your here and now without the need or pressure to do more. I'm not saying you shouldn't have goals or dream big. But don't forget to celebrate where you are in the moment and realize that you are enough without doing more.

2022 was an epic year for my business and I'm still celebrating that success. We launched our new website after almost a year of development. I designed and created the official jewelry of the New York City Marathon, a goal I'd worked towards for a very long time. There's still so much ahead for me and I'm excited to grow... eventually. In the meantime, I'm really pleased with where I am here and now. I guess this is my friendly reminder that you are doing just fine exactly where you are.