Most people don't know how The Blonde Egyptian came about. Sometimes finding your "why" is a force of nature more than a subtle stumble upon.
About 3 years ago, I was a single mom to the most adorable 6 year old. "A" was in still stuck in Egypt and had been for about a year at this point. Dealing with immigration and that circus of monkeys, working almost 11 hours a day, and having my child raised by a lovely woman who's name might have been Towanda (I can't remember but her nails were long enough to be submitted to the Guiness book of world records), was starting to get to me. By get to me, I really mean crippling anxiety attacks, 7 doctors who couldn't figure out what was wrong with me and why I was so sick all the time, and finally a phenomenal naturopathic doctor out of Denver that figured out I had adrenal fatigue so bad they were on the verge of shutting down. She put me on medical leave that ended up lasting about 5 months and entailed more blood draws than I ever want to encounter again. She said "Go home and rest." I'm sorry. Huh? I don't do well with laziness. Fun fact, did you know that the word "rest" doesn't actually mean to lay on the couch and binge on Netflix reruns? It just means doing things that don't feel like work! Oh happy day!
I had attended a painting class with a friend a few months before and found out that I could in fact paint and quite enjoyed it. So I started painting to pass the time and to literally teach myself how to relax. It sounds easy but it was very difficult. Growing up on a farm, that word "relax" is worse than dropping the F-bomb in front of your grandmother. "There's ALWAYS something to do" was my father's most commonly used phrase. But painting, this seemed productive and also relaxing. After all, I had some time to kill now. For 5 months my basic jobs were to sleep, live, keep a strict regimen of supplements, and "relax". I know, it sounds like the best job ever but it's not very glamorous. When your adrenal glands are that messed up, you feel like crap all the time and you have about enough energy to walk to the front door before you feel like you need a nap. Recovery was a process!
When I finally felt up to it, I started posting pictures of things I'd created and I had several people inquire about purchasing so I sold a few pieces. I never wanted to be an entrepreneur but I sure did love being able to spend so much time with my son. So I started researching.
A month into my recovery, I started a Facebook group (The Blonde Egyptian) just to see where it would go. It was a month after that "A" came back to the states. What should've been the most exciting time for us was the most stressful- financially, mentally, emotionally- we were all a mess.
After my recovery, I went back to the high stress sales job; none of my restrictions were met by managers and the toxic environment ended up leading to me being let go. I spiraled into a deep depression and felt like the biggest failure for having been fired. I'd never been fired from anything, ever. From there, my little family struggled to pay our bills, we lost our health insurance and then my Dad had a heart attack. Remember that the next time you don't think that relaxing is important...this is what that kind of lifestyle leads to. So, we moved back to Kansas. More stress, more change, more pain, more adrenal/liver issues.
I kept pushing. I pushed through, renewing my teaching certificate and applied for 130 jobs. I heard back from exactly 0 of them. I lost who I was. I was "just" a mom, "just" a wife. I had no purpose but I kept creating and kept selling in that FB group that had now grown to over 600 followers.
It wasn't until August of 2018 that I found my purpose. Sitting in a church group called Younique, listening to a pastor by the name of Jay Cull ask questions and have us fill out worksheets like a high school psychology class, I figured it out. Deep connections, divine purpose, encouraging excellence and recognizing potential. This is who I am, what I do no matter what I do. It's what I have endless energy for! Guess what professions that translates to- Artist. Life Coach. Oh hey! What do you know?! About as subtle as a gun, my purpose had just hit me in the face like a bag of bricks. I take pieces of wood and make them into something beautiful all day long. I make gorgeous things out of nothing. I help people to meet the potential I see in them from the very first introduction.
The best part of this was that being an entrepreneur fit my goals as a mom- to be the one raising my baby, not leaving it up to mile-long-nailed Towanda. To be here on the days my pilot has to leave and on the days he comes home. To be able to handle the daily life and work on my own terms, not on someone else's and certainly not to fulfill someone else's dream. I make my own schedule. I fulfill my own dreams and nobody gets to fire me from that.
My life may have fallen apart at one point but picking up the pieces and putting them all back together lead me to have a profession that gives me more life than I ever dreamed of. The best part though, is being able to paint for my own therapy and look at women who's lives are falling apart in front of my very eyes and being able to honestly say "Me too. I've been there and I can promise that it's going to get better."
About 3 years ago, I was a single mom to the most adorable 6 year old. "A" was in still stuck in Egypt and had been for about a year at this point. Dealing with immigration and that circus of monkeys, working almost 11 hours a day, and having my child raised by a lovely woman who's name might have been Towanda (I can't remember but her nails were long enough to be submitted to the Guiness book of world records), was starting to get to me. By get to me, I really mean crippling anxiety attacks, 7 doctors who couldn't figure out what was wrong with me and why I was so sick all the time, and finally a phenomenal naturopathic doctor out of Denver that figured out I had adrenal fatigue so bad they were on the verge of shutting down. She put me on medical leave that ended up lasting about 5 months and entailed more blood draws than I ever want to encounter again. She said "Go home and rest." I'm sorry. Huh? I don't do well with laziness. Fun fact, did you know that the word "rest" doesn't actually mean to lay on the couch and binge on Netflix reruns? It just means doing things that don't feel like work! Oh happy day!
I had attended a painting class with a friend a few months before and found out that I could in fact paint and quite enjoyed it. So I started painting to pass the time and to literally teach myself how to relax. It sounds easy but it was very difficult. Growing up on a farm, that word "relax" is worse than dropping the F-bomb in front of your grandmother. "There's ALWAYS something to do" was my father's most commonly used phrase. But painting, this seemed productive and also relaxing. After all, I had some time to kill now. For 5 months my basic jobs were to sleep, live, keep a strict regimen of supplements, and "relax". I know, it sounds like the best job ever but it's not very glamorous. When your adrenal glands are that messed up, you feel like crap all the time and you have about enough energy to walk to the front door before you feel like you need a nap. Recovery was a process!
When I finally felt up to it, I started posting pictures of things I'd created and I had several people inquire about purchasing so I sold a few pieces. I never wanted to be an entrepreneur but I sure did love being able to spend so much time with my son. So I started researching.
A month into my recovery, I started a Facebook group (The Blonde Egyptian) just to see where it would go. It was a month after that "A" came back to the states. What should've been the most exciting time for us was the most stressful- financially, mentally, emotionally- we were all a mess.
After my recovery, I went back to the high stress sales job; none of my restrictions were met by managers and the toxic environment ended up leading to me being let go. I spiraled into a deep depression and felt like the biggest failure for having been fired. I'd never been fired from anything, ever. From there, my little family struggled to pay our bills, we lost our health insurance and then my Dad had a heart attack. Remember that the next time you don't think that relaxing is important...this is what that kind of lifestyle leads to. So, we moved back to Kansas. More stress, more change, more pain, more adrenal/liver issues.
I kept pushing. I pushed through, renewing my teaching certificate and applied for 130 jobs. I heard back from exactly 0 of them. I lost who I was. I was "just" a mom, "just" a wife. I had no purpose but I kept creating and kept selling in that FB group that had now grown to over 600 followers.
It wasn't until August of 2018 that I found my purpose. Sitting in a church group called Younique, listening to a pastor by the name of Jay Cull ask questions and have us fill out worksheets like a high school psychology class, I figured it out. Deep connections, divine purpose, encouraging excellence and recognizing potential. This is who I am, what I do no matter what I do. It's what I have endless energy for! Guess what professions that translates to- Artist. Life Coach. Oh hey! What do you know?! About as subtle as a gun, my purpose had just hit me in the face like a bag of bricks. I take pieces of wood and make them into something beautiful all day long. I make gorgeous things out of nothing. I help people to meet the potential I see in them from the very first introduction.
The best part of this was that being an entrepreneur fit my goals as a mom- to be the one raising my baby, not leaving it up to mile-long-nailed Towanda. To be here on the days my pilot has to leave and on the days he comes home. To be able to handle the daily life and work on my own terms, not on someone else's and certainly not to fulfill someone else's dream. I make my own schedule. I fulfill my own dreams and nobody gets to fire me from that.
My life may have fallen apart at one point but picking up the pieces and putting them all back together lead me to have a profession that gives me more life than I ever dreamed of. The best part though, is being able to paint for my own therapy and look at women who's lives are falling apart in front of my very eyes and being able to honestly say "Me too. I've been there and I can promise that it's going to get better."
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