Here’s How It’s *Really* Going...

What a journey this has already been. 

New places, new faces, new experiences, beautiful views, and lots of learning. 

But, if you take a peek behind what gets posted on social media… you’ll see that it’s been hard. 

We said when we started writing this blog that we would be real and maybe even a little raw at times. 

Because really, we write this blog primarily for us, so that we can remember the highs and the lows. 

And, if you choose to read it and follow along, that’s our icing on the cake!

The truth is, we are 5 weeks in and boy, has it been an adjustment. 

We typically feel like we can adjust fairly easily to new things and we’ve always said we could live anywhere as long as we’re together, but... this one has thrown us for a loop. 

Maybe it’s because we sold our house.

Maybe it’s because we got rid of 90%+ of all that we owned.

Maybe it’s because we’ve had to say “goodbye” (or really just “see you later”) to our dear, dear circle of family, friends, and framily in Charleston.

Maybe it’s because we’re living in - and by “living in” I mean cooking, watching TV, sleeping, showering, toileting, driving, working, laundering, etc. - a smaller than 300 sq ft space. 

Maybe it’s because we’re constantly on the move. 

Maybe it’s because we’re 50 (well Stace is knocking on 50’s door) and going through menopause. 🤦‍♀️

Maybe it's because we had to "give up" our beloved fur babies, Lucy and Sammie, to their loving aunties while we're gone. See previous blog post on why. This is the first time in a verrrry long time that we've been without fur babies. 🐶

Maybe because it’s just change, and change is typically hard. 

We’ve found ourselves short with each other.

We’ve found ourselves irritated.

We’ve found ourselves having pity parties for ourselves.

We’ve found ourselves even a bit depressed. 

We know it probably sounds crazy because we’ve heard from SO many of you - “OH, that is on my bucket list!!”

And if this was a vacation, it may be on our “bucket list” too, but we’re working and fighting hard every single day to build OME Gear. 

They say it takes 30 days to make or break a habit.

We’re not sure if we’ll ever fully adjust to this nomadic life, but we do know it is what we have (get) to do for now.

At least for this next chapter in our lives...eating, breathing, and sleeping OME Gear. 

We know we have so dang much to be grateful for... and we are, so please don’t read this as if we're not. 

We're just experiencing the 5 stages of grief right now...and that is ok, at least according to WEB MD. 😁

Here's what we’ve found that helps to pull you out of a funk - to. be. grateful. 

Genuinely grateful for what you have, and taking your focus off being mad or sad about what you don’t have. 

So, here are some things we are grateful for:

We have each other. No matter how hard it gets, and even if we don’t like each other sometimes, we love each other all the time. We find that the hard times actually bring us closer and give us reason to lean in. 

We’ve already met some new lifelong friends.

We’ve been able to reconnect with old friends. (This has been a treasure!)

For the most part, we are healthy...other than that dreaded menopause which is for the stinkin’ birds! (we would prefer to use other choice words but choosing to keep it “G” rated for our younger readers). 

We are thankful for our friends, family, and framily who take time to reach out and check in. This is what keeps us going! 

We are incredibly thankful for our OME Gear team. These people are the true cream of the crop. We 100% would not be here today without their constant love and support. We look forward to Zoom calls with them! And, we just got to spend 5 super fun days with our rockstar lead sales guy, Joe, and his beautiful wife, Michelle (#mrskoepps) - laughing, planning, eating, drinking, demo'ing, and playing. 

We are over the moon grateful for our customers, who we like to think of as family. Thanks for believing in us and our product. We simply wouldn’t be where we are without you! 

And lastly, we know this is an experience of a lifetime.

So we will embrace the suck and make the best of the road we have ahead, even if it’s full of speed humps, loose gravel, broken down Jeeps, sinkholes, and detours. 

This quote has resonated with us this past week knowing how precious this opportunity really is:

“You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.” - Jane Marczewski 

So, the really good news is, because of hearts of gratitude, we’re adjusting. 

Give us a few weeks and we’ll be happy pros at this thing. 🙌

Xoxo,

Jules + Stace 💚

p.s. if you comment, (for some strange reason) this platform won’t allow us to comment back, but we LOVE hearing from you, so comment away! 🥳