butterflies and sunshine!

Sorry to really bring everyone down with that last post.
It was an intense evening. I needed to write about it and I appreciate all the support I've had poured out via e mail from all of you.
I want you all to know that I am already doing many of the things you suggested. I am being careful and watching out for myself and as someone way wiser than I once said this too shall pass. And I can't wait until it does!

Today was most definitely a good day. Months ago there was a business here in town that asked to hire me as a consultant. They are a retail store and were looking for someone to bring a more youthful look to their store. They were impressed with my resume and felt I had skills, some I didn't even think I had, that could really contribute to their well established business.

Needless to say with all the craziness of the past few months I had not been back in touch with them to talk about this possibility. I stopped by the store today and it was a great experience. They still want to hire me. She already has some specific ideas of what she wants me to do, some of them putting great faith in abilities I haven't actively used in a long time, and while I was there she introduced me to one of her employees who is an artist, a very shy woman, who is looking to begin selling her art and has no idea how to market herself.
The owner introduced us and said "artist" this is woman you need to talk to, she can totally help you start your business and market yourself.
As these words came out of her mouth I thought whoa, whoa, whoa. Who exactly is she talking about. I've never actually spent time in the business world learning marketing. I'm not sure how I could help this woman. But I held my tongue and began talking to her about her art. A commission she recently got, what makes her nervous about getting her art out there and how passionate she is about making time to create more art.
As we talked I found myself already forming a few suggestions and ideas. And when she asked me what exactly my marketing experience was I realized I have more experience than I give myself credit for. Through my last job here in town I learned a lot about what a new business has to do in a small town to market themselves and how personal connections are more important than anything else. I also realized that my time in corporate america with a large corporation that spent almost zero dollars on marketing for the first 30ish years of their existence really taught me something about the importance of presentation and word of mouth and just how much that can do for anyone.
I shared some of this with her and realized just how much I have to offer. I could see this woman feeling a bit more confident about what she could do with her gifts and walked away feeling the same way about my own.

The part I love is that I know the owner of the store knew exactly what she was doing for both of us as she left us there to talk. It was clear at the beginning that neither of us had a clue what we could offer each other but as we parted ways we both had huge smiles and agreed another conversation was definitely in order.

This day was just what I needed after a few things this week that left me feeling smaller and less capable than my usual self. God bless the owner of that store for facilitating exactly what I needed most.
When was the last time something you needed more than you realized snuck up on you and made your day?