New Year, New Life Transitions

Happy New Year!  I hope you enjoyed your holidays and are amped for 2015 to be the best year of your life!

As I prepared to create the Curva-Lish New Year series, I found many articles and posts on resolutions, creating a new you, etc. but I wasn't able to find anything regarding the point that I am at in my life...transition.

Quenita Fagan ("Que")

I turned 40 a couple of months ago and my life is continually evolving.  A New Year doesn't present a new year to make resolutions for me but it does present a time for me to reflect on how the transitions I've experienced have impacted my life, my level of happiness, whether I can see progress and positive change, etc.  I care about these things because I don't want my life at 40 years old to resemble my life at 50 years old.  So unless someone makes a concerted effort to assess their life in its different transitions, your life won't positively evolve.

As I've written about before, I created Cuva-Lish as a positive action to honor my mother who passed away suddenly at the age of 52 years old in 2007.  I wanted her birthday to be replaced with a memory of something that has impacted my life in an awesome way.  I made my first Curva-Lish post the day before what would have been her 57th birthday and I haven't looked back!

So for this new year, it took me a few days into the new year to decide what I was going to share with y'all about what my new life transition would be focused on for the 40 year old woman that is me.  After consideration, I came up with the items below:

2015 Theme: "Authentic Transitions"

My Declaration: I will focus on those things which I know give me the most joy, peace and surrounds me with a sense of well-being.  I will stop saying "yes" to those things that are outside of what adds to this well-being even if I used to do it.  I will write more, serve the clients more for my companies, get over my fear of selling and be more aware of those energy drainers that cause me to not give and be my best!

Activities:
Vintage Lover:  I have loved vintage since I was a teenager but for some reason have not been as focused on it in the last 10 years.  I guess busy-ness at my demanding corporate job caused me to do what most people do which is to search out the easiest and most convenient way to shop which is ready-made outfits from department stores.  No more.  You will see my passion for vintage reflected in future posts.

Style vs Fashion:  I believe in style and not trendy fashion.  There is a difference.  The more you define your style, the more authenticity you reflect to the world.  You will see more information and inspiration for defining your unique style in future posts...it's going to be fun!

Health & Nutrition: One clear thing that has suffered from me running a startup is my health.  I've gained weight and feel sluggish even though I'm a naturally high energy type person.  No amount of coffee can replace what I know to be the energy that comes from optimal health.  I'm not embarrassed or shy about how I am clueless about what it means to have great health: healthy and balanced eating, consistent and regular exercise, managed stress, and proactive health checks.  I will post about my journey of learning about these key areas...subscribe so we can share our journey together!

Finances:  Another area that has suffered in my startup life is control over my finances (managing cash flows of my companies, paying myself first, balancing fun, etc.)!  Ugh!

I know, I have been judged multiple times for choosing the pathway to bootstrap versus getting some big bank loan.  Most people knew me in my six figure days and scratch their heads at what I chose to do. It was my choice and I don't regret it.

It's been extremely hard with sacrifices I never imagined but my goal was to always have creative and financial control over my companies with awesome women entrepreneurs including Spanx Founder Sarah Blakely as my reference point (she bootstrapped starting Spanx with $5,000 of her own money and reached the status of billionaire because she owned her company).  Plus, I have adopted a frugal and simple lifestyle so I know how to work miracles out of a dollar!  Stay tuned for future posts as I interview some of the greatest minds and their ideas on handling finances.

Travel and Fun:  Since I have used every penny earned for the last two years of my startup on reinvesting the capital, my "social capital" has dried up!  Boo!  I have cut out nonessential travel, have lived off a social budget near zero(!) and can't remember the last time I went out for a long night of drinks with friends.  What's interesting about this though is that the 40 year old me doesn't event want to do the same social things I used to do...future posts will focus on what my travel and social life looks like now that I am older, wiser, frugal but also excited about what I can do on a more strict budget (meaning, no longer paying $100 for a round of drinks when I was 28 because I could and had no real responsibilities)!

With all of this said, I can honestly say that as the page turned from 2014 to 2015, I sat back and smiled that good, bad or indifferent...this is MY LIFE!  No regrets, no looking back, no fantasies about what I wish I could do...I accept my life for where I am and who I am.  Is that not the ultimate sign of a life of well-being...I'm on the road!

Please feel free to share your 2015 themes, goals and areas that you'd like to give more energy to...I'd love to hear about it!

P.S.  Besides these personal activities, you will see Curva-Lish go to the next level with videos, sponsored events, more partnerships, style-ized shopping, and more posts tapping into our global readership...pure fun, inspiration, empowerment and purposeful ideas all to support YOUR evolution to authenticity!

Que
Curva-Lish
curvalish@gmail.com