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For You

justacoloradogal.com - New years always bring about a gaggle of keyboard warriors, proclaiming that they don’t need to make resolutions. And that’s fine for many people, but personally, I often enjoy setting new goals for myself at the beginning of a calendar year. I like the clean slate that inherently comes with the turning of that calendar page. It makes it easier for me to hit the ground running. So to speak, of course. Because I’m still getting back into that whole running thing. See below for more details on that! Last year, I chose the word fearless to act as my mantra for 2017. And while I knew exactly what I was referencing at the time, I didn’t spill it all out in my post. Because that’s the trick with things we are scared of: it’s unnerving to make them public, especially on a blog like this. I knew there were a lot of big changes headed my way in 2017 and while I was confident they were what I wanted, I was still scared of what they meant and what they would bring to my life. Now that they have come to fruition, I’d like to spend 2018 ensuring that they thrive, that I thrive in all aspects of the word. Last January, we planned on trying to get pregnant in 2017. As any parent knows, that is a daunting thought to grow your family from two to three people. While we were confident that we wanted a child, it was still a bit intimidating. Of course, now that we’re in the early weeks of 2018 with a three-month-old beautiful and perfect baby girl, I can’t imagine life before her. But now is where the real work begins: We need to make sure that Liliana thrives and grows into a good person and quality human being. It’s no easy feat to create a good person, but I know Will and I are up for the task. Simultaneously, I welcomed 2017 knowing that I was in for a very intimidating career move. After a lifetime with my family’s business, I walked away at the end of September knowing that I likely was not returning. How’s that for terrifying? There were a few reasons of which I won’t go into, but two in particular that are pertinent here. First of all, I hoped to be home with our future child as much as possible, and I knew that would be difficult while running the family business in Denver. Secondly, I finally decided to make the leap and become a full-time freelance writer. For the past five years, I’ve been balancing two full-time jobs and something had to give, especially with a newborn in the house. I couldn’t keep working one job during the day, a second job at night, and somehow manage to keep a baby alive as well. It wasn’t realistic and frankly, sounded like a recipe for disaster. For 2018, I’m launching myself full-on into writing. Fortunately, I have many clients thanks to the past five years, so I’m not starting from scratch. But, our family is also accustomed to a certain salary and I just removed a large portion of my share when I walked away from our family business. My goal for 2018 is to pick up enough new clients that I offset that which I just left behind. Is it unnerving? Of course it is. But now I have the best of both world (for us): I get to work from home and when I need a babysitter (as is frequently the case), we head over to my parents’ house where Grandma and Grandpa hang out with Liliana while I work in their home office. Perfection. In that same vein, I have some fun news to share: I’m writing a second book that I’m over-the-moon excited about. I recently signed a contract with guidebook publisher Falcon for an idea I pitched last year. The book is an anthology of outdoor women with females from all over the industry: writers, photographers, advocates, pro athletes, CEOs, small business owners, and public speakers. Not only will they be sharing their stories, but there is also a hiking guidebook component too. This is a truly a passion project for me and I am so excited to spend 2018 working on it. I admire so many of these ladies and conducting these interviews is immensely rewarding.