The New Year and New Hope

How did we get to March so fast?

It has been a minute since I last blogged about LOLA and my life. A lot has happened. At the end of 2022, I entered a new business partnership with a Compliance Firm. It made so much sense to me because they had a team that could help LOLA grow. Together with two amazing leaders, we set off on a course to see how to scale up LOLA.

In the middle of the 2023-year LOLA held its first Workshop at Watershed Church. Using our LOLA Playbook, we weaved together case studies and professionals to create a one-day event that brought together the idea of getting prepared. It was a huge success, and we knew we were onto something.

We hit a nerve. And Caregivers now had a place to find all their answers.

By the last few months of 2022, we realized the new company's conception would not work. I think one of my best assets and instincts is that I can decide quickly when to back off on something. I leaned into my team (my personal Board of Directors) and decided to hit the stop button. While it was a painful decision, it was one that we all three decided was best for everyone.

As I entered 2024, I knew a few things,

1. Listening to my gut is almost always right.

2. Not being afraid to make a decision that would initially feel painful was not going to kill me.

3. And finally, what comes out of making hard decisions are people who want to help and see me succeed.

LOLA has grown significantly since 2017. As we enter our eighth year, we are conducting workshops. We continue to help employers and assist and guide families through the most difficult times.

Our team of professionals has grown, and we are incredibly blessed with the support we have had throughout the years.

We hope you find the four-leaf clover this month. If we can be of any assistance, please let us know.

~Esther

Grateful

Grateful.

It is an appropriate word for this time of year~

I have to admit, the past two years have been a roller coaster, and I have had a VIP pass to all of the events. When 2020 began, I had high hopes for LOLA. I was in my 4th year of a start-up business, and the year was off to a great start.

Clearly, I remember being in Laredo, Texas, and hearing the County Judge at a hospital ribbon-cutting event say, "we are shutting everything down." I drove back to San Antonio feeling like I was living in a movie, unbelievable. The ensuing days that followed were surreal, with businesses large and small feeling the effect of a pandemic. WHAT NOW?

PPP. PPE. EIDL….

Covid19 immunizations, are they to be trusted? Rushed.

I could see and feel the turmoil, but we at LOLA lived through this reality on another side. Families were separated, medical professionals were overwhelmed and, medical facilities were bursting at the seams. Families were suffering; they were unprepared and grieving without the human touch that is so essential before, during, and after a loss. Our new reality was only beginning.

I can recall walking a client through the decisions and process of her mom coming off the ventilator. We discussed plans and her sadness. Hours later, I answered her phone call only to hear the cries of a daughter wishing she had more time, wishing she could hold her mom.

2020 was brutal ~ there were so many families affected.

As we entered 2021, there was hope.

Except, my reality for the new year was not what I had hoped for and envisioned. I got painfully sick, had double pneumonia, lost 12 pounds, and felt weak—what a horrible way to begin a new year. We were at the height of a pandemic.  Families were calling, companies were calling, and I was lying on my back ~ taking calls and forwarding them to other LOLA Advocates. For almost four months, I felt helpless.

I spent the rest of 2021 crawling back up, getting back to what was necessary for company growth, and focusing on life. I allowed myself to be vulnerable, and for the first time in years, I allowed myself to eat and gain weight. I learned to ask for help from my children and yield to them.

If 2021 taught me anything, it was to learn to love myself and the world. My heart was a sponge. When the people who meant the most to me were hurting, my body took it all on. I became a human storage unit of grief. I had to make a change.

I think, as an entrepreneur, one of the most honorable things to know is when you have grown a business to its potential in your mind and turn it over to a new style of potential to develop even further.  So, in November, I took a step. I put myself back on the ledge, and with the help of great Coaches, I told myself it was time to focus on what I LOVE and get out of the way. Get a new breath of freshness into LOLA.

This new year, 2022, holds the most excitement for the company LOLA as her (Lola's) grandson, whom she loved, takes the wheel and charges forward so I can focus on growth in a new direction. The most loving thing I can do is respect what I dreamt about, grew, and made into a healthy 6-year-old – be, become, and continue to inspire myself and help others.

Cheers to 2022, to coming out of the fog, gaining clarity, and for me, holding more hands and Loving LOLA. And if the world throws us more lemons, let us make lemonade.

Esther

My dog keeps waking me up at night...

Yep, every night around 3:30 AM Charlee my beloved Chocolate Labrador jumps over me on my bed to take her outside. At first, this was sooo annoying, I kept thinking, I am losing precious sleep. But then something happened.

I walked outside with her instead of standing at the door and started looking up to the moon in its different phases and it occurred to me – I get it. I was being reminded of growing and patterns.

We all tend to look at each year and rush out the gate in January to new rules, goals, and resolutions. We are measured by our jobs in our performance by quarters and we push, push, push!

My financial advisor looks at the numbers and gives an analysis of where I am and where I need to be, to be secure. The year starts to fly by when we feel the heat on our skin and the splashing of kids jumping in pools, the smell of our neighbor’s charcoals, and the sweat rushing down the sides of our temples while outside trying to water our yellow crunchy grass.

We can’t help but feel nauseous when we start seeing the Halloween stuff go up and shortly after the Thanksgiving reminders and yes, the Christmas trees. A slow groan runs deep within my soul feeling like I am less than more as I eat a bag of almond joys and snickers.

So here I am standing outside, at 3 AM and I am staring at the moon and reminded we all need to stop the rushing, pushing, and internal measurement of “where you are supposed to be” and just be still in yourself. You are alive, you are amazing, you are doing good for yourself, and your family. You are Beautiful.

Embrace the moments, because we are not guaranteed any certain amount of them. Stop listening to anyone who wants to scare you with your future self and, be like the moon.

Know you have phases and appreciate each of them. So, thank you Charlee for not only waking me up to let you out but for making me step outside and look up at the one thing that guides us all. My moon.

Peace to all of you.