One Year Later

Here I sit. My new desk, my new office space, my next year ahead of me. My post one year ago cradled the last gasps of my existence as a professional city planner, and replaced it with my new journey as a travel agent and business owner. Now all I want to do is write.

It’s been a long year – in my mind, anyway. Of course, life around me has flown by as the family continues to grow and take flight in all directions. My youngest, a daughter and new freshman in high school, and my eldest taking on his senior year, tapping out all he’s got to make it into college. My husband has been a stellar rock on which to rely for love and unending support. I am so thankful for Ivan.

If watching the family’s journey hasn’t been tiring enough, I’ve added to my exhaustive state by suffering through and celebrating the lows and highs of developing my travel business and growing a customer base. If it were a garden, it would have all died by now, with multiple deficits in attention due to sporadic household tasks, schedule interruptions, and lack of confidence. It’s that last one that bothers me the most. Luckily the human spirit pushes me further than water does a plant, allowing me to form a focused task list for the day-the week-forget goals for the year. Saying I actually “own” a business is still a little forced and rough around the edges when it rattles off my tongue, and then adding to it by saying I am a travel agent-advisor-consultant-makes it all the more difficult when people question a profession once ended by the well known litter of options on the internet. While that same litter has led many to find experts in the field and travel consulting is on the rebound, so much of this profession is based on knowledge obtained via personal experience, and it turns out raising a busy family makes it difficult to escape for these educational interludes. I do my best, but it’s a slow process.

In spite of my lack of conviction, my only option has been to say “nay” to the “naysayers” and move forward. I will go crazy if I don’t move in some direction. My best days are when I am actually planning a client’s itinerary. My worst days are when I’ve been far too efficient and leave myself with nothing to do. I still hate housework, it lourdes itself over me like a heavy drizzle. The travel agent industry is filled with opportunities for training with suppliers to learn about their offerings, so in this past year I’ve been an expert at Disney trip planning, Sandals resorts, AM Resorts, Tauck Vacations, Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruises…you name it I’ve probably done my time to learn. What is becoming apparent is that actually “selling” these products is the most difficult and frankly, the most unappealing thing about this job. In order to be successful, I have to figure this out. I tell myself not to give up, not to compare myself to others, and to value my own experience. So, what is “my own” experience?

Well that is likely the subject of my next gazillion blogs, as writing about my life story appears to be what motivates me today and many days. I find it particularly interesting, and I hope it will inform my readers to learn how to harness anxiety, self-awareness, self-enlightenment into powerful motivation to take steps every day to keep perfecting a better version of one’s self. But first, you need to break down. That’s exactly where I am.