What you’ve landed on is a work in progress. Much like my life has been the last 4 years since my divorce. Please be patient.
This has been my place of business, a refuge, a soapbox and a creative dumping ground for the last 7+ years. It began as a central hub for my parents to see pictures of my daughter and a place to put my pictures while I learned photography. It morphed into a website for my photography business, then an information hub for the photography community. When I left my husband, it became a therapeutic place for me to jot down my thoughts, and finally a documentation of my journey into my new life – complete with dating experiences, life as a single mom and searching for my mission in life.
And here we are. Looking back, I realize that my life and experience has been readying me for this time and place. It had to take me through the darkest depths and force me to crawl, claw and fight my way back. For the last 4 years I searched for meaning, for my mission, my passion. Oh did I search. I quit my steady, stable education job with full benefits to a job that paid less, but allowed me to do what I loved – and that was to write. And then I made a bigger leap last year to become freelance – not stable, nor steady, but gave me time to continue to homeschool my daughter, to help build a business in the fitness industry, and to figure out what to do with my life. For the last 14 months, I’ve worked part time, blew through my savings and wandered some more, still searching for my calling…my mission. I am about to turn 38; I was getting worried. My mom’s fortune telling person said I would have everything figured out and my career on the right track at age 38…well, time was ticking…
Funny enough, it finally made itself clear recently and in an unexpected way. One of the things I did in my search was listen to podcasts. I stumbled upon a writer’s resource while I was looking for resources for my writing staff and he happened to be a guest on a podcast I was listening to and had just released a book on discovering what you were meant to do. 2/3rds of the way through the book and still nothing – so I put it away. But one thought really stuck with me, and that is, every experience and skill I’ve picked up in life has been preparing me for my calling.
Well, that list is as long as it is random – from teaching to parenting to homeschooling, to grading writing tests, to photography, to leading groups, and more, it truly has all come together for what I feel has finally come to light. And all because someone told me I couldn’t do it, and I wanted to prove that person wrong. After 4+ years of not knowing what the heck I was supposed to do, turns out I was dancing around it the entire time, and actually unofficially doing it.
I’ve always known that I wanted to help people. Since I was a child, I’ve always helped people. But help them do what? Years of helping people homeschool was not my calling. Years of grading papers was NOT my calling. Taking wedding photos or family portraits was NOT my calling. Editing people’s articles was NOT my calling. But all of those skills will be used wisely in my calling, and that is…
To help women create a life they love after divorce
About three years ago, I realized that many of my friends were beginning to go through divorces. Having been the first, naturally, they turned to me for advice. I suggested to a group of girls that we get together once a month and do a support group type get together. It never came into fruition, but over online messages, I encouraged, counseled and listened to numerous women in the midst of finding their life after divorce.
4 years later, I’ve created a life I love. I have not only found love, but I’ve found health and happiness. My life isn’t perfect, but it’s amazing.
In the next few months, I will be branding and working on directing and developing this site to be a place of education and support for those who need it. Feel free to read through some of the old posts and follow my journey to this point. Thanks in advance for your support and your love. I’m excited about the next chapter of my life!
If you have any questions or need someone to talk to, please leave a comment below or email me at info@hanssie.com