Bonjour, je m’appelle Jen, enchanté!
I’ve been studying French using Duolingo – I might as well use it.
For all intents and purposes, I’m an Arizonan. I’ve lived here most of my life but I still don’t feel rooted. That may be because most of my extended family and dearest friends live out of state and therefore, my heart is always longing for people in different places. However, Arizona is home because this is where my beautiful family resides.
Speaking of those loves, I have a truly wonderful husband, whose support for me seems to have no bounds. We have two boys who are sixteen months apart, which is a blessing and a curse. They are best friends but also brothers so our household oscillates between a love fest and a WWE match. There is no in between. And because I haven’t been naturally blessed with enough testosterone in my life, we have a dog named Jackson (Jax for short.)
As I stated, we live in Arizona, which I have a love-hate relationship with. On the pros side, it’s affordable to live here, the climate (while a bit toasty) lack disastrous behaviors, and we’re a short drive to a large airport. On the downside, Arizona lacks a sense of identity, we’re way too far from the ocean, and most of the year it’s too hot to enjoy being outside.
I landed in Arizona due to a decision by my parents and landed in the Phoenix-area due to a decision about college. I’m a proud Arizona State Sun Devil and earned two degrees that are utterly useless unless you need a bomb trivia partner. Not much on the career pathway for history and political science majors… add the salt of a religious studies minor and you can imagine how much my brain wants to explode when people get into political debates.
So instead of becoming a teacher or a lawyer, I pursued a career in administration, working my way up the corporate ladder and honing my skills in operations and project management, until I decided it was soul-crushing to give all your best energy to people who couldn’t care less about you. As a result, I started my business Jenerosity Partners to take all that powerful operations knowledge and make it accessible for female entrepreneurs chasing their own dreams. And despite what silly quotes will tell you, I deeply love what I do and I have worked everyday since that discovery. Maybe even harder because it matters more to me now.
In between wifing, mothering, and business owning, I find time to drive myself crazy with self improvement. I wish I was exaggerating but my daily habits tracker includes things like “read to page goal”, “write content”, “practice French”, “meditate”, “exercise”, “cook dinner”, “no spending on frivolities.” Most days, I succeed at 75% of those on the list, which I think is something to be celebrated. And in between all of that, I try to be a good friend and family member. Forget being a good member of the community. I’ll get there someday but today? Today is not that day.
A few rapid fire things about me…
- I am phenomenally bad at setting boundaries kindly. I can easily say ‘no’ but not without a twinge of bitchiness. I’m working on it.
- I interrupt people a lot because I’m always seeking a way to connect with them on a deeper level. I hate shallow relationships so I’m always looking for an opening. But it’s rude… and again, I’m working on it.
- I’m an open book, but I dole out trust slowing. I don’t have many secrets, so people mistake my candor as trust. They are not the same.
- I miss the days of simple blogging. Write good content and hope people connect with it. The extremes that bloggers have to go to be “successful” these days is demoralizing.
- I don’t believe you have to be good at your hobbies – just enjoy them. If you enjoy crafting but it looks like a kindergartener did it, who cares?! If you love to swim but you look like a dolphin having a seizure, go for it (safely!) Life is meant to be enjoyed – not perfected.
And I’ll leave you with this last tidbit. At the core of everything, life should be lived with overflowing joy and generosity. I have yet to understand how you survive without one or the other.
Until next time.
Jen