My “new life” as an interior designer

Almost 4 years ago, I changed my entire career path from teaching elementary school for nearly 17 years to opening my own interior design business.

What kind of person throws almost 2 decades of experience and security out the window for something so uncertain? Someone who is in a much-needed state for a change. I had become completely complacent in my professional life and craved to step out of my comfort zone and into something deeper.

Over the years, I had casually (but happily) helped friends and relatives pick and choose the perfect paint samples, furniture, and decorative pieces to create the perfect space within their homes. With time, I found it was something I wanted much more than to be just a hobby, this was my “true calling” finally speaking up.

However, quitting my job to choose change over everything I knew took an enormous amount of faith, courage, support, and audacity. But once I finally listened to my inner voice to take the leap, it felt as though my soul had been set free.

A quote I love, and always fall back to thinking about during this major transition in my life, is by the life coach Cara Alwill Leyba, which says, “You can’t change your life by doing the same things every day.”

This was my truth. I wasn’t happy doing the same thing I had done every day for years anymore and was ready to change my life.

Change is something that happens to everyone, whether you seek it, choose it, welcome it, love it or hate it, it’s inevitable. For me, I’ve learned to welcome it with open arms – I believe it keeps me motivated personally and professionally, adding a true sense of adventure to life.

In my job now, clients constantly seek to change how they feel and see their home, whether it’s building a new house from the ground up or creating a new look or feel to their current one. This is one of the things I love most about my career. Giving clients the opportunity to beautifully embrace change, realizing with my help their home can be a place of peace and true comfort. An interior designer can breathe your dream space into existence, making your house a home and a place where you feel happy and content.

I relate to this, as it was impossible for me to “live” when my path was calling me in a completely different direction. This new life as an interior designer has been liberating, rewarding and also very challenging. I love sharing this inner creative side I’ve always had with clients and their homes, it gives me life and new meaning – much like the results of a client’s home after I’ve designed with them. When I am given the opportunity to understand and highlight a client’s unique lifestyle, my world becomes their own as we work together to bring their ideal space to life. It makes the hesitancy and uneasiness of change evolve to the sensation of meeting a new friend you wish you’d have met years ago.

If you aren’t ready to make the leap of great change in your own home or the thought seems overwhelming, start by making small, simple changes here and there within a single room. By doing this, you pick up on a different and refreshing perspective around how you really feel within your home, and this, in turn, can trickle into your everyday life. In my next post, I’ll share how a little change can make a great impact and how to thoughtfully implement them. Take time to listen to your inner voice and the possibility your house is craving a great change of its own.

Until next time, Choose Joy.