This post is from my friend Krysta. Krysta has been one of those girls who, although she is considerably younger than me, I have always looked up to. I honestly don’t even remember how we got connected five years ago, but I’m glad we did. Here is her inspiring story which one, inspires me to have more faith and take bigger risks, and two, helps me feel like I’m not insane for not really having health insurance.
Read her story. Feel what’s moving inside of your heart. And…jump.
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I moved to Los Angeles from Kansas five years ago. That’s kind-of when I lost all control of my own life. If I didn’t believe God existed before that moment, I knew He did then. A year later, I met the hubs: A smokin’ hot filmmaker who totally won me over with home-cooked meals, raw talent and big dreams for the future.
A few years after that, we were getting engaged in Central Park during a weekend getaway (we were ballers then). A few months before we got hitched, the hubs suggested I quit my job and start my own company. The thought of leaving a secure job with great benefits in the middle of a recession seemed really ignorant.
Let’s face it, you can’t just quit your job and pursue your dreams. What are we? 20?
Like most things the hubs says, the more I thought about it, the more I realized the he wasn’t entirely delusional … I was just mad I hadn’t thought of it first. So I started planning for my exit … and my wedding.
Being my own CEO wasn’t going as awesome as I thought. This whole, build your business from the ground up thing wasn’t for wimps. Even with a brilliant business partner, I was feeling highly inadequate and completely out of my element. This was precisely around the time when discussions began between the hubs and I regarding his contract renewal at work. He knew he wanted out. He wanted to move forward with his dream of becoming a full-time director/producer on narrative projects, not stay in reality TV as an editor. So, the decision was made.
The hubs walked away from his 6-figure salary and into the world of freelance, just 4 months after we got hitched. We were partying or what?!
We’ve now been living in this, holy-crap-what-the-stink-are-we-doing mode for a year now. In the last year we’ve had our fair share of breakdowns. We’ve watched our zero-balance Chase account go into the negative as our mortgage payment is trying desperately to pay itself in a timely manner. If you’re wondering, that feeling is much like watching a really great horror flick. Or stabbing yourself with a pencil. We’ve racked up our credit cards and then paid them off and then racked them up and then paid them off. And we’ve yet to acquire health insurance.
Oh, and just a few months ago, we decided the hubs should go back to school. Makes sense, right? He is now in a year-long producing program that is freaking amazeballs. And since he’s so intentional and busy, I decided it was time to start another business with my business partner. Woot! No better time than the present to take more risks and create the future!
I realize we sound like two mentally unstable people just enabling one another into one poor decision after another. I promise we aren’t … at least not entirely. Here are the perks to all these risks:
We have flexibility in our schedules.
We get to spend more time with one another.
We get to collaborate on projects.
We can have a beer with lunch. Mostly, we get to choose what kind of work we take based on our priorities as a family.
Sure it’d be super awesome if this was easier. There are many-o-days when I ask God, “Why wasn’t I a trust fund baby?” But I’m telling you, nothing feels better than being proactive about pursuing the very thing you know you were created to do.
When you step into moments that are bigger than yourself, you get a very real sense that your job is not to play captain. Your job is to just keep showing up.
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Thanks, Krysta, for sharing your story. And for using the word “amazeballs.”
Krysta’s site is here, and you should go to it.
