A lesson in gratitude and understanding that you don’t need to go far to change the trajectory of your life in extraordinary ways.

When my family moved to Nashville in 1994 from Miami, Florida the population was just over a half million people, which slowly climbed to 860,000 people by the time I started driving in 2006. (Nashville in 2020 is now home to over 1.25 million people)

Back in those days, Nashville felt small. The interstates were clear, there wasn’t a lot to do for teenagers unless you wanted to go to the hardcore shows at Rocketown. The musicians I liked packed stadiums in Louisville and Atlanta. Passing over Nashville entirely. As someone longing for something bigger and better, I felt like I wasn’t destined to stay in Nashville as an adult. I constantly dreamed about the day that I would leave and move somewhere, like Denver or Seattle. Somewhere I felt was more me.

Life didn’t go that way though.

I grew up, got a job serving at a new vegetarian restaurant called The Wild Cow in 2010. Over the next 10 years, I went from server to manager, and eventually in 2016 had the honor of becoming a part-owner of the restaurant and opened a sister restaurant I named Graze Nashville.

During that time I met my now-husband, we bought a house in 2015 and I got thoroughly settled on the outskirts of Nashville, the city I was so desperate to leave not long ago. Despite all this magic in my life, I was still convinced that to grow, I needed to uproot and find that growth elsewhere.

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Over the years the image below has popped up in various forms on my social media feeds and in the articles I read, with the stories attached to it sharing how someone moved somewhere new and grew into a better, more successful person. It was a constant reminder that I stayed in the town I grew up in.

Leaving me with the feeling that I hadn’t truly tapped into the magic of personal growth.

In 2019 with my 30s around the corner, I made the difficult decision to change careers. Inspired by my beautiful friend Meg LeAnne.

In early 2019 Megan had emailed the restaurant to inquire about a catering order for the company she was working with. Out of curiosity, I clicked on her link for her website portfolio in her email signature and instantly was completely enamored with the UX process. I read her case studies which lead me down a rabbit hole of learning about User Experience and User Interface Design.

After more than a decade in the customer service industry; helping people and building logical, intuitive processes is in my DNA. A flame was lit when I realized that I could do what I am during currently in an exciting new medium.

I started buying books, researching boot camps, scouring Reddit, and finally put in my resignation to my company partners at the restaurants.

But still, the feeling nagged me, that my educational destiny was far away from Nashville.

After hours of research and reading reviews, I settled on attending a UX/UI bootcamp with Flatiron School. What drew me to Flatiron specifically was that it was 6 months, full time, in-person, and in a different city.

I wanted to maximize my education and felt that the 90-day programs offered by other tech schools wouldn’t give me enough time to truly soak it in. So, with 2020 fast approaching I was accepted into Flatirons in-person program at the Seattle Campus. The program was set up to be 3 months remote + 3 months on campus.

When I paid my deposit I thought in early spring 2020 I’ll be in a new city on the other side of the country for 3 months and would finally be finding that space ‘Where the magic happens’.

You can probably guess by now that I never made it to Seattle.

2020 started unassumingly enough…

If you don’t count the bombing by the US on Iraq on January 3rd that killed a major Iraqi general and if you don’t count the foreshadowing of the detriment of COVID-19 published by The World Health Organization on January 5th.

Worried about a potential war from our attack on Iraq, but blissfully unaware of what was to come I started making preparations to attend school in Seattle in March. Plane ticket booked! An extended stay at an Airbnb booked!

I was ready to capture the magic of going outside of my comfort zone.

Again, life had other plans, It didn’t take long for Seattle to become ground zero for the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

At the time there wasn’t much cause for alarm, dutifully I tuned into my classes remotely. Learned about best design practices, did research, created mock-ups, conducted user interviews and tests.

As time went on and my departure day grew near, the virus had spread like wildfire, moving from Seattle and quickly made its way across the country.

First I was going to travel by plane, then the plan moved to travel by car in the weeks leading to my intended arrival date. Keeping in constant contact with the campus director we tried to game plan and predict what the best move would be.

On March 12th the call was made by Flatiron, in an email that read: “We have shifted to remote operations on a few campuses where UX/UI students would be transitioning onto (Seattle, San Francisco, Financial District and Brooklyn).”

All the in-person classes would be continued in a remote learning environment.

The news washed over me, it was a mixture of relief and fear — relief that I would be able to ride out this scary, unprecedented time in my home with my husband, my garden, and my cats. Fear that I wouldn’t be actualizing my potential by getting outside that damn comfort zone. That fear digging deeper with the fact that a deadly virus that we know very little about was sweeping through the nation causing people to panic and empty grocery stores. A short month later in May that virus would unabashedly reveal itself in my town at the Tyson plant less than a mile from my house.

So I pushed through and accepted that my career shift is happening from my couch.

It is September 18th now. As I write this post from my trusty grey couch and look back

I can honestly say that staying home and getting my education remotely was the best thing that could have happened to me. Despite the turbulence that we are all feeling this year, I am so grateful to hold these experiences close to my heart.

This is a sampling of the opportunities that blossomed in light of bleak circumstances:

• I had the opportunity to learn under Danny Setiawan and Haixiao Hu, both incredible teachers that pushed my abilities and knowledge as a designer to new levels. I could not be more grateful for the time I spent as their student.
• I worked on a team with Kyle Russell and Marco Munoz, two extraordinarily creative designers and the most wonderful, supportive people to work with. Marco is based in Texas, while Kyle works out of Chicago. Despite the thousands of miles between us, we built a close-knit, supportive team environment and worked as if we were all in the same room together. We had the honor of working on a project together that was based in the UK with developers in Ukraine.
• Spending months working on projects and communicating remotely honed my skills of building thoughtful, meaningful relationships with people that are located all over the world.
• Learning and working from home gave me the time and money to put towards continuing my education; opportunities for web design work and building brand identities are coming in. Its a privilege that I can put time towards learning how to best serve my clients while applying and growing the foundation of knowledge I’ve accumulated over the years.

All of those doors of opportunity would not have opened the same way if I had ended up in Seattle. I thought I had a clear vision for how 2020 was going to go, but thanks to my plans getting completely derailed — I have new friends, wonderful teachers, and a wealth of knowledge to take with me moving forward.

Transformation in the wake of a changing landscape

My story isn’t unique, it is estimated that 44% of Americans are now working from home. We are on our couches, in our beds, sitting at dining room tables, writing desks, spare rooms, working in hastily repurposed corners — all doing our best to carve out a workspace and adapt to this “New Normal”.

Though my physical surroundings haven’t changed. Mentally I, and perhaps you Reader, feel like several lifetimes have been lived this year.

In reflection of my experiences, growth, and changes in 2020, I now see that I’ve been wrong for years.

Magic and growth do not come from a new exotic place, but that magic is nestled in your mind, like a caterpillar in a cocoon waiting patiently for the right environment to hatch in. We can be inspired by seeing new places, trying new food, and meeting new people but that doesn’t mean we have to travel hundreds of miles to get there or even go out of your front door.

This may not be news to you. If it's not, that's great! It only took half my life to figure this out.

This quote from Wayne Dyer has always struck a chord with me but now, upon rereading it, it rings more true than ever.

“Change The Way You Look At Things And The Things You Look At Change”

In the wake of waves of heartache, pain and fear stemmed from the numerous challenges 2020 has presented to us on a global scale; I see a glimmer of hope for the future. I’ll keep following that light and carving this new career path, supported by good people and powered by gratitude for the lessons this year has taught me.

If I nothing else, moving forward in life will come with a new understanding and relief that I have tapped into a new part of myself and found the magic- that for many years felt so elusive -outside my comfort zone while being supported by the worn, comfy cushions of my trusty couch.

Thank you for taking the time to read my first Medium post.

What lessons have you learned this year? Feel free to share, I’d love to hear from you! Take care, and be well.

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