Is the transformation complete?

When the concept for My Round Two started I remember chatting with my sister about it. I told her I wanted to share how post loss in “My Round Two” that things happened differently. I wanted to share how my round two family experience was different, my round two relationships (spouse and friends) totally different, my round two with a baby completely different.

I also talk a lot about how my approach to fitness post loss has changed. I’m softer and gentler with myself while at the same time pursuing my goals with a determination that I was not capable of before life as a widow.

But this week, the focus of my round two has been on my career. It had to change because my outlook on life was so vastly different that staying where I was simply became unacceptable. And this week I have had this overwhelming emotional climax because my career transition feels complete.

Classroom to Classroom

On Tuesday I started my day at 5:30am at the Lively Athletic Centre. An amazing new facility 5 minutes from my home, where I am proud to be employed as a personal trainer and fitness class instructor. I then left the gym to head to the University where I’ve been working for the last 9 years as a marketing professor. An extremely under valued one.

I made the decision to change careers not because of my lack of love for my job as a professor. I’m an amazing professor, my students love me and my dedication to their development has kept me engaged for nearly a decade. The administrative side of academia, however, became so incredibly toxic and detrimental to my own mental health that change became essential.

It’s not that I will never teach again. In fact, I fully intend to. I simply will not be employed full time in an environment that is damaging to my inner peace. Life’s too short for that.

So I’ve taken a pay cut of roughly 70% and jumped into a career where my colleagues and I build each other up. Where instead of students learning marketing I have clients who leave puddles of sweat on the gym floor.

Maybe some will call this change irresponsible. But my tribe, the ones that matter most to me, they say I have big #widowballs. And they call me #braveAF.

So is my transformation complete? Is the story of My Round Two complete? Not by a long shot.