The older I get, the more I look back on my life and see different chapters and seasons I went through. I often find myself flipping through these memories and find them fresh in my mind as I close my eyes and go back to revisit that intersection of time and place.
I’m transported back to the moment in Portland, OR, where I put my head between my hands and asked “what am I going to do now?” To which I heard a near-audible response:
”Make beautiful things and help people.”
At the time, I had just been fired from a well-paying job in the FinTech field. I longed to go back to the life of an entrepreneur, but deeply feared that I wouldn’t be able to grab the bottom rung of the ladder and crawl my way back up to a comfortable life; one where I felt happy, free and without worry.
That moment was one of the most soul-wrenching times of my entire life. It was one of my deepest fears that I wouldn’t be able to ‘get back up’ on my feet and transition back to life as an entrepreneur. I questioned whether or not I was still relevant, informed and networked in an industry that I had departed from for several years.
Make beautiful things and help people. What did that mean? I didn’t understand it fully at that moment. However, those words became the filter I used as I embarked on my return journey to life as an entrepreneur, and I had a feeling my future would involve something with artwork – because I wanted it to.
I wish I could talk to that version of me from my perspective in life right now. Not because I have it figured out by any means, but simply because I found a way to persist.
“You’re a Dad. You have a home. Lots of fish. Keep going.”
Sitting in my home, I am thankful for the things I’ve been able to accomplish in the last few years. It took a lot of nerves to fight a plandemic, changing economy, international moves and and personal turbulence as I rebuilt my life – now, as a Dad.
As an artist, I often see the creations I make as the product of going somewhere else – that place between space and time where love, beauty and light live – and bringing a small sliver back into this world giving it a home on a canvas. When you go ‘there’ it makes all the difference in the final output of your work. It’s inspired.
I’ve gone on this journey for many years, and I feel as if a lot of the experiences I’ve had are now compounding into something I can now bring to the world. I’ve had the time of my life working as a marketing/design consultant, and have worked hard to become a Master in that field. However, there’s been a deep-rooted part in me that’s wanted to be my own brand.
In this chapter of my life, I’ve been working diligently to bring Couture Soul to life. Every day, I find something else to accomplish that will bring me closer to having a self-sustaining brand that helps bring beauty into the lives of its customers.
Creating yoga mats isn’t simply a business idea. For me, it’s a passion that stems from a strong belief that these yoga mats will improve the lives, homes and emotions of the people who use them.
I think back to the moment where I asked the universe “what am I going to do now?” because in a lot of ways, I feel a similar feeling now as I did then. I have high hopes that I can transition from my life as a consultant into a brand owner – however, I don’t know if things will pan out the way I hope them to, and that puts a little pit of fear in my stomach.
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