Celebrate 10 Years of Choosing Yourself
Day of Hope #121 - Friday January 13, 2023
Goal: Celebrate ten years of choosing myself while building the vision for Hopes Highways
Quote: “Do something today that your future self will thank you for.” – Unknown
Ten years
It’s almost hard to believe as I write those words.
On January 13, 2013, I took my very first Day of Hope. I had no idea then that one intentional day for myself would become something I would continue every single month for the next decade, or that someday I would begin building an entire business around the idea of helping others reclaim their own forgotten hope.
And here I am.
This Day of Hope also found me beginning another new chapter: settling into my new townhouse in Garden City, Idaho. Yes, you read that right. A new townhouse!
My, my, my...so much has happened.
I had spent the last few weeks getting settled and creating a home that felt like mine. One of my favorite spaces was my newly decorated office. I filled it with meaningful things I had collected along the way. Pieces that reminded me of where I had been, what I was building, and where I wanted to go next. It felt less like an office and more like the headquarters for my future.
I had also completed my goals for 2023 and mapped out where I wanted to be over the next five years. Then, because apparently writing down a giant list of dreams wasn’t enough for me, I broke those goals into actual steps and started putting them on my calendar.
Dreams are wonderful. Dreams with deadlines? Even better.
The day before my official Day of Hope, January 12th, I started the celebration with some much-needed self-care. Someone had given me a gift certificate for a 90-minute massage as a housewarming gift, and I happily put it to use.
I also bought myself a dozen roses. Why wait for someone else to buy you flowers?
Afterward, I enjoyed lunch and spent much of the afternoon journaling. That evening was wonderfully simple: popcorn for dinner, the movie About Fate, a long bath, and an early bedtime.
It was the perfect beginning to my anniversary celebration.
Celebrate Ten Years
On January 13th, I spent most of the day working on my website and my new business, Hopes Highways.
There was something incredibly meaningful about spending the tenth anniversary of my first Day of Hope building a business around the very idea that had changed my own life.
Ten years earlier, I was simply trying to find myself again. Now I wanted to help other people do the same.
I journaled about the journey and thought about how much had changed since that first Day of Hope. I finished decorating my office and spent time simply enjoying the space I had created.
But underneath all of those activities was something much bigger.
A Full-Circle Moment
My very first Day of Hope had been about identifying and eliminating one of the biggest stressors in my life at the time: a relationship that was no longer right for me.
Now, ten years later, relationships were once again part of my journey, but I was different. I had grown.
This time, I wasn’t making a decision simply to walk away. I still believed in the relationship and wanted to give it room to grow. But I also understood something I hadn't fully understood ten years earlier:
Loving someone does not require losing yourself.
I could believe in a relationship while still believing in myself. I could love someone while maintaining boundaries.
And I could care deeply about another person without allowing the relationship to break me down, shrink my dreams, or hold me back from becoming the woman I knew I was meant to be.
That realization felt like one of the greatest markers of how much I had changed over the past decade.
My first Day of Hope was about finding enough courage to choose myself. Ten years later, choosing myself wasn't something I had to fight so hard to do anymore. It had become part of who I was.
And perhaps that is the greatest gift these 121 Days of Hope have given me. They didn’t magically create a perfect life.
They helped me create a stronger me.
As I sat in my new office surrounded by my goals, my plans, my website ideas, and the beginning pieces of Hopes Highways, I felt incredibly excited about what was ahead.
There was still so much I didn't know. But I knew this: The woman who started this journey ten years ago would be incredibly proud of the woman sitting in this office today.
And we're just getting started.
Bonus: The Hopes Highways Photo Shoot
As a bonus item this month, I spent time preparing for an upcoming photo shoot for my new Hopes Highways website. I got my nails done and I had several possible outfits, and because I couldn't decide which ones looked best, I did what any reasonable person would do, I tried them all on and took pictures.
There may have been a small fashion show happening in my new townhouse... With an audience of exactly one. Me. It was actually a lot of fun trying on the different outfits and thinking about how I wanted to present myself and Hopes Highways to the world.
Then came the actual photo shoot, and it was amazing! We got some great shots that I could use throughout my website and business. Seeing those photos made everything feel a little more real.
For years, A Day of Hope had been something personal that I did for myself every month. Now I was taking professional photos for a website and business built around that very idea.
Another little piece of the dream was becoming real.
My Lesson of Hope: Never underestimate what can happen when you consistently choose yourself. Ten years ago, I took one day because I desperately needed hope. Month by month, that one day helped me rebuild my life, strengthen my boundaries, discover my purpose, and eventually create a dream bigger than myself. You don't have to transform your entire life today. Start with one day. Then keep going.
