Its nearing the end of July as I'm writing this. In February I moved from Pittsburgh with my husband to start our new adventure together. He was starting a new job, as was I. This meant shutting down a therapy practice I had in Pittsburgh as a contractor and relocating the practice to Massachusetts as a solo entrepreneur.

Many people looked at me like something might seriously be wrong with me - it just didn't make sense. Why leave an established business only to start another one? Especially when I seemed to have all the benefits of contract work. While those answers are personal and I wouldn't necessarily expect anyone to firmly understand, or even agree with them - it is fairly simple: because I wanted to.

Let me tell you, there have been many ups and downs in the last 5 months. (More ups though, in my humble opinion). I'm still in the midst of transition with Cultivate. There are issues that need resolved, for certain, and I intend to continue to keep an open line of visibility into that for those that are wondering, or wanting to learn. (Heyyyy, other solopreneurs!)

I also, generally speaking, am a person that likes to reflect (no surprise there, I guess!). With that, I'm sharing some reflections and lessons I've learned over the last 5 months of being on this adventure.

1. Imposter Syndrome is still real: I've questioned myself more times over the last year than I have in a long time. Can I really do this? Am I qualified to do this? Humility helps in recognizing that with growth comes discomfort. While we can look online in social media and think that it's easy for some, I assure you it isn't. Many more people I've talked to than not, across multiple industries, has encountered imposter syndrome at all stages of their careers. I've learned to take it as an indicator I'm heading in the right direction >> out of my comfort zone.
2. Ups and downs: The day to day roller coaster is also a thing. I've seen funny meme's about this. One minute you can feel like everything is going awesome and feel great and then a set back comes and it totally knocks the wind out of your sails. I've learned to rely less on the day to day view and stay grounded in my larger vision. This helps with authenticity and ensuring I'm building a business that works for me, but also helps me lessen the importance of a small set backs that likely won't matter in 6 months.
3. Comparisons: We all know this, right?— Comparison is the thief of joy. Depending on how that roller coaster day is going that I mentioned to you, I could use comparisons to totally trigger imposter syndrome and then were off to the races derailing myself. I've learned that for myself I can use comparisons to be helpful or harmful. To me, they are only helpful when I'm comparing myself to myself - reflecting on past versus present; this week from last week; today from yesterday. Comparisons are unhelpful when I'm comparing myself to someone else. We are two different people with different lives, different experiences, different goals, different trajectories. It isn't a comparison at all, in fact. It's a time to respect individuality and celebrate others doing their best, too.
4. Confidence: I wouldn't have described myself as lacking confidence prior to this, persay. I will say, though, I've felt my confidence change in certain ways and solidify even further in ways I wouldn't have known I need prior to this. It's a great feeling to see yourself working through hard moments, ideas, or projects and finishing them. It's a tangible example on the roller coaster days that 'yes I can do this'. Maybe I don't always know how, but I can.

If there is anything else I can say that's been a huge gift of a reflection, it's that you don't have to do it ALL. Its easy to get caught up in that, especially with seeing all the passion out there right now. Do what you love or even what you LIKE to do, and leave the rest. Anything else is building a business that doesn't fit you. I know many of us are used to the "work is not fun/work is work" mentality. It's time we consciously changed that for ourselves.

I hope this was helpful in some way and I wish you the best. If you know someone that might need to see it, please share.

Best,

Cristen