Pop, Goes The Bubble!

December, 2015, my entrepreneurial bubble popped!  There I was, a female entrepreneur, enthusiastically investing in personal development, nurturing an incredible community of support; attracting amazing clients, when BAM  I was challenged to face the "dark side" of life.  Well, not really the dark side, but a world that somehow thrived, yes thrived outside of the life I had intentionally created to claim as my own!

You see, I have been married for the past 42 years to a beautiful man who is the exact opposite of me.  I am gregarious, fun loving, and adventurous.  I am captivated by the unique nature of the human race.  I want to eat what they eat, wear what they wear, see what they see and experience the world from their perspective.  I want to know why they believe what they believe and learn how they define happiness; to say I am curious would be an understatement.

My life partner, on the other hand,  is a quiet man who finds great solace in watching Jeremiah Johnson for the 10th time on a Sunday afternoon.  A man who likes to share his conversations with fish, deer, and raccoons in "no man's land" as well as with all the rest of the animal kingdom that live on our 3.5 acre farm.  A perfect day for my hubby is riding his tractor through the walnut orchard; sharing a meal with me and his kids/grandkids and relaxing in his easy chair while eating a bowl of chocolate chip ice cream. 

I'm a corporate banker of 30 years turned entrepreneur for the past 16.  My husband served 12 years as a police officer before earning his Jurist Doctorate as an attorney.  He served as the District Attorney for our county for 12 years in-between his private practice as a defense attorney.

This past December, his secretary retired unexpectedly due to illness.  Oops, no plan B!  So I offered to stand-in until a new administrative assistant was hired.  I leaned on my corporate know-how, customer service experience, and willingness to learn fresh skills until the perfect new hire came our way. 

My entrepreneurial adaptability allowed me to set up a whole new Cloud-based software system for the office, which has streamlined client management, time entries and billing.  In fact, all of the tedious tasks of past years have finally been brought into the 21st Century (yay!).  However, designing the administrative fundamentals for the office were much more inviting to embrace than what walked in the door or called on the telephone each day.  

You see, I had invested more than 30 years in personal development.  I wasn't on the treadmill at the gym, or pumping weights; I submerged myself into positive books, tapes, videos, seminars and people.  I woke up happy and went to bed excited to embrace another new day.  I knew that there was world outside of my bubble but I wanted no part of it.

However, last December that all changed.  I began to see life through the attorney's eyes.   People walking into an office that were perhaps referred by a friend, family member, client or just a random choice from the firm's website.

Phones ringing incessantly throughout the day asking for appointments for help with some of the most incredibly heinous and abysmal situations I had ever been exposed to.  Dysfunctional matters of family; shocking matters of crime; and sad matters of civil disrespect and dishonesty.  I felt like a child learning to filter out the pain of life in order to survive. 

The entire experience has helped me to understand my husband's desire for refuge at home.  It has allowed me to be so very grateful for my bubble.  A place, albeit a hopeful paradise, that offers shelter from a very tumultuous world. 

Do not let me close without getting to the lessons of the past 4 months.   I always look at the challenges of life as a lesson to help me become more qualified to be a better human being (thank you personal growth investment). 

• First, "poop" happens so you'd better be equipped, willing, and ready to deal with it!
• We ALL make choices, good, bad, and ugly; they are ours and ours only so own them.
• Finding the money to resolve uncomfortable consequences trumps investing money to make better life choices (sad but true).  I can't tell you how amazed I am at the amount of money people can find to get themselves out of trouble or uncomfortable situations; yet complain about not having when it comes to investing in personal development/education.
• Integrity is far more valuable than gold!
• Personal growth opportunities appear in many different ways; seize them whenever possible so you can pay the gifts they bear forward.