New year, new me?
I've never really subscribed to that saying that makes itself known every 365 days, but let's just say 2020 was the beginning of some major life changes.
These days when people greet me by asking what's new?, I don't have to think deep into the details of my weeks. Instead, I can rhyme off some exciting updates and avoid the monotonous back and forth answers that usually occur.
So, lemme tell ya what is new.
Well, to start - I've become a part-time worker. After a year and a half in a full-time role, I made the decision to drop down to reduced hours at LP, the home of strength and conditioning classes filled with strong and athletic humans, the home of many friendly faces on the daily, the gateway to my first KW community and an endless source of meaningful relationships.
As you can imagine, it wasn't an easy choice, but when I began to realize that I wasn't directly going after what I wanted, the decision became crystal clear.
Up until last year, I persuaded myself into believing I was on the right track to my vision of The III; that I was "on my way" to building a local, health-focused and socially-conscious eatery.
By working at LP, I was, after all, in the health and wellness field which was generally where I wanted to be, learning parts of what I felt I needed to know. "I'm on my way," I told myself.
By working full-time, I could make a predictable income while building my other business on the side. "I'm on my way."
By talking about it, and thinking about it, and being aware of opportunities associated with it, my actual goal was still positioned in the forefront of my mind. "I'm on my way."
Turns out, telling myself I was on my way was just a personalized safety net; a way of staying within my comfort zone in an attempt to dodge any fear of the unknown.
Turns out, health and fitness isn't the industry that will push me to where I need to go, despite goals of a health-focused eatery. Turns out, working full-time didn't allow the balance that I needed to gain energy around my future goals, and turns out, talking about it and curating ideas and keeping an eye out for opportunities instead of actually creating them is a very passive and unreliable approach (lol, shocking).
At the special place that is LP, I've gained lessons, friends and community connections that have undoubtedly become steps "on the way", but simply put, if I truly want to open my own restaurant, I need to be in the restaurant industry. If I want to create and sell food, I better begin to start creating and selling food; and if I want to figure out how to get a food business up and running, I ought to start gaining a true understanding and making a plan to run a food business. Instead of taking detours, I need to begin to forge my own direct path.
So here I am, living the part-time life and welcoming you along for the ride. I hear the restaurant industry ain't no piece of cake, but looks like I'm going to give it a shot anyways, which, I'm sure, will make for some entertaining trials and tribulations. Nothing worth chasing comes easy, right?
Until next time,
