show up and allow.

I'm learning more about Human Design and it's making so much of my recent life decisions make sense. Like I'm finally learning to trust who I am at my core and how I operate in this strange world. I'm a generator for those who are familiar with human design. What I've always known about myself but have been taught to question over and over again is when I know something is right for me, I know it. Like in 2.5 seconds. I'm often seen as impulsive and have been taught that to make good decisions I need to slow down, think it through, weigh the options - and I can tell you that plan usually leads to me making the wrong choice (and getting extremely frustrated in the process). When I trust myself and make the 2.5 second decision, things tend to go well. This is something I'd like to dig into more but the purpose of this post is make an announcement and share how I got here.

2024 is officially the year I retire from real estate. I have made the decision to hand over my brokerage to someone who is ready to see it into its next chapter. The who it is announcement will come soon. This is about the why. Based on the in person conversations I've had, people have a genuine curiosity about my decision to leave a successful career that I've worked so hard to create. The super short answer is I had a moment of clarity in the midst of a crisis and just knew. The longer answer is I've known for a while but trusted everyone else over myself and have stuck with it far longer then I should have.

This career was not something I ever chose. It chose me and with good reason. I think I was needed to shake things up in our local industry and I needed it to shake me up and help me build some confidence. I can honestly say I never loved the real estate part of it, but I loved the relationship part, the brand building, the mentoring my agents, and figuring out how to be very different in a very status quo world. I loved building what I built with Mitten, but it is a world in which I no longer belong. I don't want to go into exactly why because it will sound like a reflection of my clients and colleagues and it truly isn't. It's reflection of things I no longer wish to have in my life and a lifestyle I am no longer meant to live.

I have played with the idea of what I always called "my exit strategy" for a while. I've had some conversations in the past about not wanting to do this forever and I've had many a conversation with myself about why I kept on keeping on so this wasn't as "impulsive" as many people seem to think. A few months ago the culmination of extreme stress, not taking care of myself, and not living in alignment with my true soul led to some scary health issues and now that I'm looking back, possibly a nervous breakdown. There were more then a few times while waiting on doctors I had to sit with the reality that we don't live forever. While waiting on an appointment that my doctor had moved others around to get me into asap because of how serious her concerns were, I sat with the question of "if this is it, then what?" And my immediate answer was "you're done with real estate." I really wish it had been something about spending time with loved ones or go on on all the adventures, but that was it. I'm assuming because my subconscious knew I wasn't actually going to die that next day but I needed something big to make me make a move. And in that 2.5 seconds, my decision was made.

Took a lot longer to decide on the how of getting out of real estate, but once I laid out my options, learned I probably wasn't going to die immediately and made the commitment to seeing this through, every last piece fell into place. The exact person I had hoped would be interested was, a few opportunities for my other company came out of nowhere, and the puzzle has continued to come together since then. In full transparency, I am terrified. There is no safety net. I cannot live off of what I am currently making in my other businesses, and the last few years I have not been great with my money (though I have been taking very intentional steps to learn to be better). I am putting full trust in my intuition that just keeps telling me to be patient, you made the right choice, stay the course and it will all be OK.

I don't have a super clear vision of what I am meant to do but pieces of it get clearer and clearer every day. I am learning that if I just show up for myself and for what feels aligned and allow it all to unfold, that is where the magic lies. Show up and allow. That is my plan.

In less esoteric words, my main focus will be Happy People Hike while still pursuing my side projects with the retreats, books, speaking, coaching, etc. This will be a very slow and intentional transition that will take at least half of the year, if not more. I will still be actively serving clients and helping to move the brokerage forward during that time. I will still maintain a real estate license after so I can offer guidance to anyone asking my advice in the future. (Also known as I can refer you to another agent and get a referral fee from them.) Often when people quit or put in their notice at a job they kind of check out. It's weird, but this has done the exact opposite for me. I have been more committed to Mitten and my clients over these last few months then ever before. This brand and vision is so much bigger than me. It was never mine, I was just the one to bring it to life. I feel honored to have been a part of that and excited to see how the next chapter unfolds.

One of my first professional head shots - wish long hair didn't annoy me so much.

Also, health wise, I'm ok but still figuring it out. I had/have a variety of bizarre infections, one of which lead to a bad staph infection and biopsy at one point to rule out some scary stuff. All treatable but working to figure out the underlying cause because some it is reoccurring. My hunch is gut health and stress. I also smashed my face on the cement while my mom was in the hospital for emergency surgery. Also, the staph infection was on my boob. Yeah, sit with that one for minute. If that's not worthy of a nervous breakdown, I don't know what is.