I didn't always have the success I feel and enjoy in my life now. And to be clear, it's MY success. It's personal to me and doesn't necessarily look like how our society would try and define success. 

My life has been filled with many health challenges, failed business ideas, multiple jobs, unhappy family relations, dramatic breakups, no money, struggling art student, bullying, discrimination and harassment, multiple near-death experiences and multiple pregnancy loss, and even weighing in at 250 lbs at the end of a complicated pregnancy.

But in hindsight, after many late night sessions going to work with my dad and listening to him share about the process of his craft in detail (he's a master interior decorator) and seeing how much he LOVED enjoying both the process and the excellence of a job well done, that I would revel in the same in EVERYTHING!!

I should have known that the adventurous, stocky, little girl in afro puffs that got harassed on the playground and singled out...that chose to enjoy the company of nature sitting in a field and sharing her snack with seagulls or rescuing earthworms from puddles... that the little girl who readied in her mind that she would not feel embarrassed if someone pulled down her pants while she was being bullied and laughed at... the "tomboy" that played video games, road a BMX bike with her guy friends, and was often found on the soccer field... that the spry little girl falling from the top of a 20 ft tree to only get the wind knocked out of her would get back up again, and again...and AGAIN! Dusting herself off as quickly as possible so she could get back to enjoy the adventurous journey called life that she keeps getting to survive and live life in...