(art print via Wesley Bird)

As you may know, we are launching our website for The Brand Market tomorrow, and its hitting me like a ton of bricks how crazy the past few years have been. Sometimes you are just in swim or sink mode. I have been swimming hard for a few years now, and there are moments you want to just let go and sink, but something tells you to keep going. So you hang on to your motivations and passions and keep swimming. Maybe a fast freestyle lap or maybe just a dog paddle pace, but you keep going with your eyes focused on the light at the end of the water…

A brief (or maybe not so brief) summary…

I saved a paper from when I was little from a Mad Libs booklet that asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down teacher, artist, or singer. I grew up thinking I was always going to be an elementary teacher since I loved to help others. I started my major in Early Childhood. Second year in, I was realizing it wasn’t the right fit (all those standards and benchmarks…) and it scared the pants off of me. Wasn’t this what I was supposed to do? Why doesn’t it feel right? I was dating Gabe at the time and he knowing how much I loved the creative world, threw out the idea that I should transfer to art studio. What?? Art?? There are no jobs in art, and I am not talented enough, and yada yada yada…

The idea kept poking and prodding until I yielded. I now see God’s hand in Gabe’s words. I switched my major (and schools) and signed up for a Graphic Design class. That professor in that class was brilliant. She challenged me, saw potential in me, and encouraged me to explore this as a career option. Knowing ultimately I wanted to have children one day, I knew this would be an ideal option for working from home. Again, God’s hand worked in that moment through my professor. I wish I could find her and thank her…

Web designer, art teacher, full time freelancer, etsy shop owner, design directer, lifestyle blogger…..all titles I have had on my business cards since graduating. Each of these steps lead to the next. Some doors I timidly walked through, and others I sprinted through. All with the ultimate goal in mind of using my strengths and loves for a greater good.

Well I am standing here looking at this door we are about to walk through and feeling just a tad overwhelmed. How did I get here? How have I managed to keep swimming for this many years when I was so tired and out of breath? Yet its all so clear at the same time…..no distance is achieved without taking steps in between.

Feeling a flood of gratitude for being able to do something I love so much that allows me to be at home with my children. I know they are my most important work in this life and being able to have a career that enables me to raise them and show them a creative life is humbling. Gabe is a champ for always being my listening ear and sounding board as I have tried to  search for and discover just the right shoes to put on. I am so grateful.

I feel like I am always launching something….whether its a new baby or a new website;) Thanks for all the love and support along the way. I think I will chill out and stay a while once I walk through this open door. I will always have to keep swimming but I might grab a margarita and a life vest and just coast for a bit…

Love, Anna

P.S. Stay tuned tomorrow for The Brand Market website launch and super cool giveaway. We would love for you to join us on facebook and instagram!