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If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me why I don’t write a blog- I would have at least $100.

The reality is that I have never started a blog because every time I sat down to start to write one I kept thinking that there is no way I could encompass everything that has happened so far. I also wasn’t sure what voice I wanted to write from- me as Founder of Silver Lining? Me as entrepreneur? Me as philanthropist? Me as a woman in the big city? Then, I realized I needed to write as just me- all of those things and none of those things. And I just had to start now.

SO- finally- I am just starting as me, today.

Today, I am sitting on a beautiful deck in Maui, looking out at the most amazing view of the jungle and the ocean and am so thankful that I have a life where this is possible. I woke up at 6:30AM Maui time, sat in bed (because that is, ironically, the only place I can get internet access!), answered emails for a couple of hours, got up, ate breakfast with one of my closest friends and am now sitting here on the deck looking at one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen.

All I see when I look around me is endless possibility. Without consciously doing it- I am living a life fueled by my belief in endless possibility. The beauty of endless possibility is that you can’t plan it, you can’t predict it and you can’t decide what it will be. You cannot control it. If someone had asked me 10 years ago where I would be now- I never could have predicted this. The number of times an unexpected curveball hit that I had to react to or a huge opportunity opened up in front of me that I decided to pursue or something I thought was a sure thing had to come to an end are countless. Yet, in the midst of all of it- I have found my closest friends, I have discovered the most about myself and I have been a part of the most amazing experiences.

I recently decided to take one week off a month for 6 months. Last month I went to AZ to visit my dear friend Kate Moller for a week. This month I am in Maui with another dear friend Danielle Vieth. Next month I visit my kids in Uganda. Jan, Feb and Mar are in the works. Some people have heard about this decision and think that I must be so successful that I can just start taking exotic vacations monthly. The reality is that I have had an extremely hard 6 months and in order to prevent burn out or an entire messy break down, I have decided to proactively take care of myself so that I can be the best version of myself when I am present in business and my personal life. Identifying what I needed to take care of myself was a quick, unplanned reality. It was not in my plans to take 25% of my time away. I did not have it budgeted. I did not feel like I could afford to take the time away from Silver Lining in the midst of our SLAPcenter.com launch. I did not feel like it was reasonable to give myself this much time for me.

And then I stopped myself and just asked myself- why not? Why not take time for myself? Why not spend 25% of my time becoming the best version of me so that I could spend 75% of my time operating at 100%? Why not explore how I could make this self recuperation mission affordable and doable? All of a sudden, my vision of exploring the world changed. I have friends in amazing places- people I would love nothing more than to spend time with. Why do I need to go to a resort or on some expensive retreat when I can be with people I love and stay with them? Then, I thought what if I just worked a couple hours a day to keep things together, but completely removed the pressures of meetings, a schedule and obligation? Why not do a bit of work each day to keep things moving- but still enjoy time in a beautiful place? All of a sudden my weird template that a vacation meant phone off and work meant working all the time started to fade.

Then, crazy little things started to happen. I got a call from the Oprah Winfrey Network asking me to come do a guest appearance on a tv show they are filming. The travel budget to get to the filming location ended up covering most of my flight from NYC to filming to Maui to back to NYC. Now I had my flight covered- and got to film for OWN on my way to Maui! Endless possibilities.

This lifestyle of proactively pursuing endless possibility has allowed me to take what has been a horrible 6 months and turn it into an opportunity to spend time with my closest friends, to explore the world and to think differently about how I manage my team so that I can have the freedom to go away when I want or need to.

I look around the world so often and see so many people who are living a life that they feel like they should- or that they feel is their only option. I hear people constantly asking what if and pointing out all the reasons they cannot pursue their passions or create the life they want. I simply ask back “Why Not”? Why not make it happen? Why not create it? My life is far from glamorous. It is not perfect. It is packed with mistakes, huge lessons I have learnt and have yet to learn and lots of war wounds. BUT- what it is, is full of experiences and people and learnings and color. I pray that I never lose any of those things for the perceived comfort of a predictable plan.

When I think about what I hope people will get out of reading this new blog of mine- I hope it is a constant and challenging message that there is endless possibility for everyone and that it only requires you deciding to proactively pursue it. This journey led by endless possibility is open for everyone.