Now Or Never - Secret Stash

Story

As the years have marched by, I have noticed something; I don’t have the same energy or capacity for discomfort I once had.  This may seem an obvious statement, and we all know that age will catch every one of us some day, but there is a realization hidden in this truth. We have a only a brief window of our lives to make some of our decisions, decisions that will not get easier to make as our window gets smaller and smaller and eventually closes shut.  The statement “Now or Never” is an opportunity to avoid regret.  Maybe you have been thinking about changing careers, starting a business, starting a family, moving to a new city, or even a new country.  Maybe you are on the fence about it.  I mean it’s a big change and a lot to take on.  Big change is really, really scary, but almost always change brings on a wonderful new chapters in our lives.

In 2008 the US economy burst.  By 2009 I was in a pretty bad way because I had lost my job and there weren’t any local prospects in Virginia for continuing my career in fashion.  I was on unemployment for many months when I realized I may have to move to either Los Angeles or New York City in order to find work.  How was I going to pull that off?  I had no job, no real savings, not much in the way of resources of any kind and a move to an expensive city where I didn’t know hardly anyone seemed like a pipe dream, and I wasn’t in my early 20s anymore, I had already planted some roots where I was.  Well, I had to make a decision.  I could either ride out the last few months of my unemployment and maybe take a job I didn’t want, or I could risk it all and make the move.  Gosh it was daunting to contemplate, but I knew what I had to do if I didn’t want to wash up into a lackluster career and get stuck in an even harder situation to escape months or years later.  So I decided, I was going to move all the way across the country to Los Angeles and make a go of it.

My fiance at the time was willing to make the move with me, and luckily she was working for a national company that was able to make a transfer for her, albeit with a moderate reduction in title and pay.  So we sold every belonging we had except what we could shoehorn into our 2 small cars and we set off for the sunshine state, anxious that we had just given up the only semblance of security we really had.  I had no job lined up, we had no apartment secured, just the temporary use of an efficiency my one California friend was able to put us up in for a couple weeks and maybe $2000 to our names.

Well we made it to Los Angeles in about a week, and I immediately got to work on trying to establish a foothold.  I scrambled to find a landlord that would take a chance on an unemployed out-of-towner, and I started hitting the pavement hard looking for a job.  Things ended up working out well.  I secured an apartment in about 2 weeks and landed a job within a month, after being unemployed for 9 months.  I found my bearings and over the next couple of years we had built a pretty nice life for ourselves out here.  We’ve now lived here for around 11 years, we’ve built careers, purchased a house, made lots of new friends and life has been pretty good.  I often think back to 2008-2009 and wonder what my life might be like if we hadn’t had the courage to take the leap.  Would I be happy?  Would I feel fulfilled?  I’m not so sure I would be.

This strap is a mantra.  As you wear it read it and repeat it to yourself over and over.  Our hope is that this mantra can help you work up the courage to take the leap you have been hesitant to take…you can do it, and you’ll be surprised at how that leap will change your life for the better.

Artist

Sweyda