If you follow me on social you may have seen my stories of my time here in Charlotte, North Carolina. I arrived on Sunday afternoon for a weeklong training, Burn University, hosted by Burn Boot Camp HQ. Every five years (upon franchise renewal), I am required to return although it doesn't take much begging. Charlotte was HOME for me for 14 years. I moved here when I was 18 years old for college and met Ted three months later. Fun fact: Ted and I have been together since the day we met on November 15th, 2003.  I almost transferred to Virginia Tech for an Interior Design degree and completed all my paperwork to study abroad in Ireland for a semester but declined both opportunities at the final hour. Had I said “yes," my life would look very different today. I'm thankful. (Plus, it turns out I suck at picking paint colors.)

 HERE is where my Burn Boot Camp journey began in 2015. Here is where I became an adult, worked in Corporate America, got married, had babies, made the best of friends, and really started to peel back the layers of curiosity. My memories here are bittersweet. I spent a good chunk of my life here yearning for more understanding. As a college student, I stuck out loud and (not so) proud. My Yankee accent set me apart and I bent over backward to look and sound like everyone else. I regret that. I felt a void within me that lacked wisdom and identity. I lived most of my time here in Ted's shadow helping him build his business and craving my own sense of purpose and impact, although I loved the sense of freedom in owning a small business. I felt disconnected from the mission, and this surfaced the need for something more meaningful in my life. After losing my second-trimester pregnancy, I experienced the deepest and most raw sadness; it opened my eyes to the importance of community, empathy, and inclusion. I turned to fitness for medication and doubled down on my health, emotionally, mentally, and physically. When my mother-in-law took her last breath in our home, I was reminded how fragile life was. That, we get one chance to experience joy and create a life by design.

These were the building blocks to how I wanted to live my life.  

Burn Boot Camp gave me a path to all of these things. When faced with the decision “stay where you are” or “JUMP,” I knew I needed to jump. The possibility of staying the same scared me more than moving to St. Louis and risking losing it all. My life here in the Queen City was complicated and misunderstood - mostly by me. I chained myself with my own limiting beliefs and grief that consumed me whole. I was ready to break free with new direction and purpose, and a path for genuine happiness.

Returning home reminds me of all these things. At times, it's been emotionally draining to tap back into these pieces of my past, but they've all led me to where I am today. And…where I am today is good stuff.