— HIGBY DESIGN

This year marks the start of a new journey for me that I want to share; a journey to foster wholeheartedness in me, at home, and through my passion for interior design. I am launching this blog, Wholehearted at Home, for busy mamas, raising kids, who want to create a home that fosters the relationships most important in their lives, and do it with a little style along the way. I want to create a community of women looking to create connection, inspire their families and to live authentically. I will share a little of my personal journey along the way too in hopes to connect with you on yours – to share in the craziness that comes with following your passion and raising a family, all while doing it in a way that keeps you connected to those you love most.

But first, a little about me so you can get an idea where this is all coming from…I am a mom of four sweet and crazy kids and married for nineteen years to a fun-loving, over-the-top-with-energy kind of guy. I spent almost twenty years in marketing and product development working for apparel and footwear brands. I loved my work, but I really struggled to balance it all. I felt overwhelmed, I often felt disconnected from work when I was with my kids and disconnected from my kids when I was at work. I found it really difficult to move back and forth between the two and I always felt torn and guilty. I traveled a lot, and as my career took off and my husband’s career did too, the struggle became that much more difficult. I felt so divided. I knew something had to give.

After our fourth child, we moved from Boston to Scottsdale for a great opportunity for my husband and I took a part-time remote role with the company I was with at the time. I was really ready to step back and thought this would be perfect. I struggled with that too – half in, half out – it just didn’t work well for me. I just kept pushing through thinking it would resolve itself over time, but it didn’t. I loved being at home with the kids though and for the first time since we started our family, I had the time to invest in building our community. That was really rewarding, but I still felt divided. I really missed being creative and having a passion that challenged me.

I decided then that I would go to design school and become an interior designer. I had always loved interior design, and followed interior trends and architecture as part of my work, so switching careers felt like a natural progression. Fast forward to today (I am skipping over the chaos I created in our family by going back to school, but that’s another blog post) and I am an entrepreneur running my own interior design studio. I launched Higby Design three years ago and finally feel like I am doing something that brings me joy and doing it in a way that doesn’t leave me divided. It took taking a step back to find what I wanted, and I am so lucky to have had that opportunity. Throughout this journey I have learned so much about myself - what makes me happy, how to love those around me better, how to be more of who I am, how to live it out.

Recently, I found this quote from Brené Brown (my favorite author, more on that next week), which totally captures my thinking. She said, “Once you have kids, it’s not time to set your life aside and figure out how to get them on the right track. It’s time to live your life in a way that we want our children to. So for me, ironically, I became more passionate about my work and less guilty about it. I want my children to do work they love and I want them to grow up seeing me doing work I love. I want them to, in some way, contribute to the big wholehearted journey that we’re making as a collective”. Let me be clear, this blog is not about working or not working (cause let’s face it, we’re all working whether or not we go into an office), it’s about living our life in a way we want our children to…it’s about living wholeheartedly.

I hope this idea of leading with wholeheartedness resonates and inspires you. Maybe you are stuck where I was, or you are further along in the journey but want to share it with others. Maybe, you look at interior design the way I do and you’re looking for some inspiration. I am excited and nervous about this journey (I just shared it with you so now it’s out there) but my passion outweighs my fear and maybe by putting it out there I can inspire one or two others to join me in this adventure.

Tune in next week when I dive into my design philosophy and what it means to be Wholehearted at Home. Plus, I will share my weekly wholehearted challenge!

Leave me a comment below, would love to hear your thoughts! If you’re feeling it, join my email list and be the first to get updates and design tips on bringing wholeheartedness into your home.