I’m back. No, really, I am.

Wow, friends. Seven years. That’s how long it’s been since I resurrected my blog, wrote my last post, and swore I was committed to writing and bringing it back to life.

I was, as you can see, wrong and grossly underestimated my free time in that season of my life and the years immediately following it.

But life isn’t what it was anymore. Actually, it’s quite different.

Earlier this year I took a step back from the role I was in for nearly nine years to pursue a new chapter in life: opening up my own business with my husband Gabe.

Lovingly named after our family dog Lacy (yes, we have a dog now!), Rad Dog Media is a small but mighty creative agency focused on social media management, writing services, post-production, and consulting. We dreamed about this for a really long time. But for an even longer time, I was afraid of change, of leaving the job I knew and the title I had. Honestly speaking here, I felt like I had nothing to offer the world outside of the job I was doing at the time.

But at the beginning of last year, I knew I was ready for something else, anything else, that didn’t consume my life. You see, I was in a role that I loved, leading an incredible group of women, but I was working 24/7, 365 days a year. No holiday was sacred, not even Christmas.

There’s something to be said about having a servant’s heart, and for a long time I didn’t mind having to work on holidays, but knowing that I was turning 30 last year led me to asking some big life questions.

What did I want my 30’s to look like?

Did I want the next decade of my life to be led by work?

What about a family? What would that look like if I continued in this role?

And what about my health? How much did my own health matter in the great span of things?

Did I mind the anxiety or lack of sleep and stress that had become a norm?

You know, just your average questions that you ask yourself when deciding what you want your tomorrow to look like.

I’ll spare you all the details that ultimately led to the decision, but I do want to share one sentence from my journal entry, written the moment I knew it was time to take the leap of faith into the unknown:

“I am worthy of encouragement and respect, and I deserve a lot more than I’ve allowed myself to have in my current work environment.”

So, I’m back. Really back this time and, honestly, I’m really grateful for where the Lord has placed me. For the doors He held open for nearly 9 years in my old role and for the wider doors He’s walking me through in this new season of life.

I’m excited to write, to create, and to lead a business. I’m also excited about leading a life with intentional boundaries, focused on a work-life balance that encourages rest and fuels creativity to pursue the things I’m passionate about: my relationship with Christ, my marriage and family, my hometown, and my business.

Some say third time’s a charm, I’m gonna say third time’s a laugh and fourth time’s the goal.

Welcome back, friends.