Describe one positive change you have made in your life.

I am proud of what I accomplished in my professional and academic career. I spent most of my 20s living for the next milestone and I heavily attribute my career success to this.

While climbing the career ladder and growing my education I also had two young kids. I am thankful to have a close and supportive family that never hesitated to offer their time to make memories with them while I was making career gains. I criticize myself on this choice as kids are only young for so long. My kids never went without love or the things they needed but how many memories did we make that hold value in their heart?

When you are young and successful you tend to chase the shiny object or next best thing for a few years. I thought my kids were loving the objects that money could buy them. One day my son called me out and said, “Mom, you are rarely home and when you are home you work a lot.” At this moment I knew I needed to reassess.

I made sure to start taking time as I rarely took vacations. I made sure to be fully present in the mornings and the evenings. Not only did quality time expand, but I noticed my wallet expanded less. The nagging feeling to make more, to get more was dwindling.

My positive change was to slow down and be present each and every day. To stop living for tomorrow. Not only did this help with adding time for family, but it also modeled to my kids what is important. Yes, you need money to survive but you won’t get time back for the people that cannot be replaced.