Jenny Finkel is a wise woman.

I’ve stated previously that Dean and I had planned our move to Nashville years before we actually made the leap. For so long, in fact, that it became one of those things that you couldn’t believe was actually going to happen. Like graduating high school when you were a kid. You knew that the time would come, but years of working toward it made the actual event seem kind of unreal.

About six to seven months out, we started making quiet preparations. Decluttering, meeting with a realtor, doing Nashville research, looking into possible jobs, etc. As excited as I was to be moving, I had built a very healthy fitness career in Chicago that I really enjoyed. I felt secure even in the unstable industry that it can be. I had a network, I was giving workshops, I was saving, it was good. I knew it would take time for me to build that up again anywhere I moved. Now, I’m a planner and a list maker, so even things that seem impossible to prepare for, I like to prepare for.

Jenny and I at a holiday party, looking especially wise and yogic.

I have a friend named Jenny, who is an energetic and inspiring yoga teacher. (Check out her beautiful Instagram here.) I knew that Jenny had uprooted her own life and moved from New Orleans to Chicago years ago and was killing it in Chicago. I asked her if we could meet up so that I could pick her brain and of course, she squeezed me in and we met up for coffee in between all of our classes and clients one Monday afternoon.

Jenny actually ended up being one of the first people to know that we were planning an imminent move. I kept it quite for a long while because so much depended on subjective things like finding jobs and selling our condo in a challenging market. She was excited and happy for me and also kept the confidence for the entire six months until I told her when people were informed. During our meet up, she answered all of my questions and I diligently took notes. She gave me advice on how to network and try and find places to teach and she gave me some names of teachers and yoga studios that she could personally recommend in Nashville. I was energized by the entire conversation and ready to take the world by storm. Then she added a lagniappe that I wasn’t expecting. I still remember exactly what she said and the expression on her face when she said it.

A picture I took of the skyline during one of those ‘I can’t believe I actually made it and live here’ moments. I have them pretty frequently.

“I know you’re ready to get down there and break onto the scene and start teaching but also … give yourself some time.”

I probably said something agreeable or nodded when she said that. But I remember in my head, thinking “she’s probably right, but-” with several different variations on the ‘but'.’ I thought about what she said several times over the next couple of months and each time, an automatic negation would pop out of nowhere in my head arguing why I was different than Jenny and either didn’t ‘need’ or ‘couldn’t afford the luxury’ of giving myself time.

It’s very weird to look back on the inner workings of your own mind. I knew on some level that she was right, but the level that I was comfortable operating on was not ready to accept it.

If you’ve been reading for a while, you know what happened after we moved. Fire. Grandma dying. Etc. It’s incredibly difficult to describe, but I remember my … internal monologue, for lack of a better phrase, both before the fire and now. I’m not going to go so far as to say that I’m a different person, but there has definitely been a shift. I have talked to Dean about this, and one or two other friends, and there is a part of me that wonders if the fire was the universe’s way of making me slow down and give myself some time. Because I really did have no other choice after that. (I mean, damn, Universe, I wish there had been an easier way but I get it, I guess.)

Nashville moves slower than Chicago did and it’s taken some getting used to, but I’m rolling with it. We keep having little ‘things’ pop up (and yes, I am ready for the pendulum to start swinging back the other way for a while, but) I don’t get too flustered and we deal.

I am giving myself some time. Still, almost three months in. And things are happening as they are meant to happen and I am trusting it.

Thanks, Jenny. Come visit.