I wanted to continue to talk about this topic of loving yourself and finding ways to reinvent yourself. I feel like this is a great theme for 2020, because this year is just not going how any of us anticipated. This has been so hard for so many people and has left so many of us just throwing our hands up in the air and wondering what to do next.

As you all know this last year my family has moved, I have started a new job, worked to navigate a global pandemic and then left kind of questioning myself. I am so thankful to be employed full time … so this totally ends up being more of a first world problem. So please, recognize that I understand my privilege in this regard.

With all of this change, being up rooted from our close friends and professional networks has really left me feeling like I have been drifting in regards to my career. I knew what I have wanted to do and worked so hard the past 9 years towards reaching my current position. Then now that I am here, I am starting from square one in terms of building relationships and seeing where I fit in here. That has been tough to figure out what I want to continue to move toward and where I want to see myself in the next year, next two years, next five years. I have vague ideas, but with the state of the world and things changes, I am kind of left wondering if my expectations will be reality.

I wanted to share these feelings and emotions with you, because maybe you can relate. This year has been so hard on families and on people’s careers. If you are feeling like you are just floating and not sure what is on the horizon, don’t give up paddling. Stick with small, attainable goals. I am trying to consider larger goals, but working to understand that maybe things will change. So what are your little goals for yourself? I am working towards taking a nutrition exam here in October. Then I want to look at putting together a presentation with some other amazing RDs for a conference in the spring. I am slowly working on building back up my self-confidence and pushing forward on my career path. It feels good to focus on things I can control and work towards meeting those little goals. None of these goals are huge or life changing (I have had enough of those changes for a this year), but it is forward progress and that should be celebrated!