my ass off to obtain licensure in my field.
After years of gradually building my skills, experience, and resume, I found myself making a respectable
living as a mental health professional in private practice.
And then: I quit.
To teach yoga
Wait…yoga?
A self-employed gig with few benefits of substance… and innumerable benefits of soul.
Yep.
But not before a helluva lot of fretting (about how to support myself), worry (about what other people
would think), and guilt (over changing to one career after years spent building another).
Why?
Because I knew in my heart that it was the work I needed to be doing.
Because I felt the most like myself when I was teaching yoga than when I was doing anything else.
Because I had something special to offer, and knew my community needed it.
What was the advice that finally tipped the scales?
It came from my Mom. It was during a conversation in which I was relaying said fretting, worry, and
guilt.
At some point, I paused to take a breath, and she said the words that would change my life:
“Baby, you’ve got to let that go.”
Silence.
What? It’s that simple?
Maybe.
If the thing that’s keeping you from moving forward headlong into the career/relationship/life of your
dreams is worrying about what other people are going to think about it, the best advice I can give you is
exactly what my Mama said to me:
Baby, you’ve got to let that go.
