Decide what really matters the most to you.

Sometimes it takes a twist of fate or sudden unexpected change to challenge our beliefs about what really matters the most to us. It is easy to get caught up in the flow of life with those around you. But every once in a while drop anchor and take a good look around you. Take yourself out of the race for a day and look inward to question if you are where you really want to be. A start up company can catch on fire like dry timber and easily grow out of control. Make sure that you are a part of the journey and not just along for the ride. Stop, listen, and ask questions mostly of yourself and your family. Make sure that your dream is developing into the future that you have set yourself on.

When the exciting becomes mundane, when the thrilling becomes chilling, and the extraordinary becomes everyday you might have gotten side stepped along the way. Life is supposed to be about your individual journey and what ignites your creative drive and feeling of peacefulness. We've been given the perfect guide to make sure we don't get lost along the way. Your body will tell you all too well if you've taken a wrong turn. Listen to it and make an adjustment to get back to where you know you should be.

My senior quote in our Robert Traip Academy Yearbook was 'when life gives you lemons - make lemonade'. I had recently forgotten how that felt to create something good from turmoil. I had been preparing my whole life for lemons, one thing after another and somewhere in all the positive energy of The Little Hat Company I had forgotten how to look beyond the current situation and navigate through it and into a better place. It took a loss of someone close to remind me that it is our story we write not our neighbors', friends', family's, or anyone else's. There are very few things in life that really matter when you come right down to it. Watching my step dad fade away reminded me so deeply of this. It is just money, another opportunity is just around the corner, but the ones you love and care about only come around once on this planet. You are the only one who holds your dream inside and you are the only one who truly knows what matters most to you- keep guard and never let go. Others will share it only for a while but you will hold onto it for a lifetime.