2019: The Year of Travel, Growth, and Feeling Really Confident in Hats

Looks like you got my holiday card this year. Congratulations and you're welcome! I have no doubt that my photoshopped face(s) will haunt your dreams in 2020.

So, 2019, amirite? If I had to sum up the past 12 months in one word, then there would be no point in writing this post.

This year was about tackling new challenges and taking new risks:

In January, after a lot of careful consideration, I left my job and work family of six years and went to work for myself which was probably the hardest, scariest, most bittersweet, most thrilling, and most heart-wrenching thing I've ever done. If I'm being perfectly honest, I was a bit depressed for the first couple of months in the year from having so much change all at once and going from a very social work environment to talking to myself in my home office -- I'm just not as entertaining a coworker as I once thought, I guess. Luckily, I was able to secure my first few clients of the year right away and I got to work learning how to run a freelance business on my own. It was a rollercoaster of emotions!

At the end of last year, I formally established my business, All In Strategy, which focuses on helping early stage start-ups with various aspects of their company operations. The majority of my clients in 2019 were looking for expertise in Customer Experience and People Operations specifically, both of which I've had a lot of experience in over the last ten years between my time at Gilt Groupe and Harry's. I've been privileged to meet and work with a lot of lovely founders and teams as they've brought their brands to life.

I broke my lease at the end of January and in February moved into a beautiful, newly renovated apartment in Central Harlem with an awesome landlord. Can you believe?! If you weren't privy to the drama from my previous apartment, I congratulate all two of you for not having to hear me rant about the issues living there.*

I was a contestant on NPR's Ask Me Another in February! I lost in the first round -- they specifically instruct you to cool it on the beer beforehand, but, you know, I was at a bar and about to be on public radio... what can I say? My reflexes were just a little too slow. I'll remember that lesson for the next time I'm on the radio.

Spring came and went, as did the flu, and business was doing well -- I'd booked six clients so far for various projects. In May, I accepted a last minute invitation to join a week-long hike through the Salkantay Pass in Peru leading to Machu Picchu with some former co-workers. Peru had never been on my bucket list, but I am so glad that I decided to join these four badass ladies. We went through roughly three climates (temperate, highlands, and tropical), ascended 8,000 feet in elevation in a single day, saw llamas, drank pisco sours (that was actually after we finished hiking), among many other things. This was one of the best, most physically demanding trips I have ever taken, made even more special by the women (and questionable hiking guide, Ronaldo) who were at my side. I will never forget this trip for as long as I live. (You can scroll through the pictures on the right!)

As for another milestone in May: it was announced that Harry's will be bought by Edgewell in early 2020. I could not be more proud of Jeff, Andy, and the entire Harry's team that built the company and brand over the last 6 or 7 years. We built something special with wonderful people, and I certainly had the time of my life doing it.

Megan graduated from high school in June! Uncles, aunties and grandpas descended upon the New York tribe to celebrate her (which she loved). She's now attending Stanford and is thoroughly enjoying being away from us. Honestly, I can't say I blame her, but I can say that I miss her.

At the end of June, Tyler finally got his turn to go on an Auntie trip to Hawaii. He learned how to surf, took a ride on Uncle Kevin's boat around Kaneohe Bay, snorkeled, went to the driving range and shocked us with his golfing skills, went to the shooting range with Uncle Kevin (much to his Auntie's chagrin), visited his Great Auntie Pam on Maui and found secret local-only waterfalls, but mostly he fell asleep nearly every time we were in the car (and I took pictures every time). It was awesome spending time together and visiting Uncle Kevin.

I'm now accepting applications for anyone who would like to be my niece or nephew so that I can do it all over again.

In August, the illustrious travel trio that went to Arizona in 2018 held a second hootenanny in Mexico -- the first stop was Mexico City, then to San Cristobal in Chipas, with a last stop in Palenque. This was my first time in Mexico and I absolutely loved it. We learned about the culture, met lovely people, made tortillas, drank pox (pronounced "PO-sh"), swam under waterfalls, napped in hammocks, took harrowing van rides, and woke up to the sound of exploding rockets every morning at 4.30am for no apparent reason. No, seriously, we asked everyone why there were exploding rockets going off every morning at 4.30am and NO ONE could tell us why. In any case, these guys are always amazing travel partners and I'm looking forward to our next hootenanny.

At the end of September, I took a trip out to London to meet with some potential clients for my business... but mostly to visit with some good friends in one of my favorite cities in the world. And since I was in the neighborhood, I decided to fly over to Stockholm to visit one of my best friends and explore the city with Mandy and her family, including her bouncing baby boy, for the weekend. The rest of the year was filled with more work and some quick (and fun!) jaunts to the Hamptons, Minneapolis, Washington State, and LA to visit with family and friends.

Aside from work and travel, I took a few improv classes to dust off the ol' performance cobwebs and, since my flexible schedule allows for it, I've gotten just as friendly with the staff at my gym and yoga studio as I have with the bartenders at my local bar, which is to say I'm at all three of those places quite often. They practically shout "Norm!" when I walk through the door, which is weird since that's not my name. I also went on no fewer than eleventy-billion first dates and, sadly, few second and third dates. But you know how the old saying goes: dating sucks.

2019 was also about celebrating with friends as they reached major milestones: engagements, marriages, new dogs (or fur babies as my mom would have said), pregnancies, and adorable (human) babies. I've so enjoyed watching my dear friends experience these incredible moments, and consider myself lucky to be there to support and witness them. I can't wait to get their holiday portraits in the mail showcasing these milestones, though, honestly, I don't think anyone will top mine**. Sorry / not sorry.

I also have friends who have gone or are continuing to go through difficulties this year, which can make this time of year especially rough. For those of you going through a tough time out there in the world, know that I'm thinking about you and I'm here for you.

You might be wondering what I've learned this past year. Or maybe you're not, but I'll tell you anyway. I learned to share my unabashed opinion and take risks. To become comfortable with being uncomfortable. To trust myself and give less of a shit about what people think (though, let's be honest, I still give a little bit of a shit -- that's in my DNA, just like my brown hair, rosy cheeks, and compulsive need to re-read an email after I've sent it). But the most important lesson this year: I learned that I am more than what I do for a living. And I don't think I would have learned all that in the last 12 months had I not gone through a couple of rough years before that, as 2017 and 2018 weren't exactly walks in the park for me. Life's weird like that.

So, 2020: a new year and a new decade. Honestly, I have no idea what to expect in the next 3 months, let alone the next year or 10 years. I suspect that I'll push myself in a number of ways, but only if I'm having fun while doing it. In previous years I was all about constant improvement and reaching goals and new milestones no matter what toll it took, as if it was all a race to some arbitrary finish line but I was the only one racing (and in my case probably also getting hit by a car***). After this year, though, I just want to enjoy life and savor the friends and family I've been privileged to surround myself with. More travel, some work (probably?), new friends, old friends, definitely more therapy; I don't know, maybe I'll get wild and try a new hat.

Congratulations on making it this far! I hope that we see or talk to each other soon, and I hope you enjoyed reading about my life in 2019. I'm really proud of what I've done, how far I've come, and the happiness I've found within myself, and I'm humbled that many of y'all were by my side. A huge thank you from me, as I certainly couldn't have done it without the support of my friends and family.

Now I hope you go back to doing... whatever you were doing? Is The Masked Singer still a thing? Where do The Housewives live now? Can someone help me understand TikTok? What is a Friend?

Wishing you and yours a very merry holiday and a new year and decade filled with good vibes and good friends.

KR

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*In August 2017, about 3 months after I moved in, there was a fire in the apartment next door to mine, which resulted in the FDNY breaking into my apartment and busting my bedroom window. My building's management didn't fix it for four months, leaving me without a window well into the cold months. Then last year, after taking a month off in Australia last year, I came back in October 2018 to -- surprise! -- a roach infestation! After a couple of months of exterminators and shouting matches with my building management, I realized I couldn't deal with it anymore and stayed for six weeks over the holidays with some dear friends down the road until I could find another apartment which, luckily, I did!

**Correct, no one will top mine. Who says that just because I'm single and without children that I can't celebrate my own milestones at the end of the year with a family portrait of me, myself, and I?

***In August 2011 I got hit by a car when crossing my street and had my foot run-over. I was due to run the New York City Marathon that November with my brothers, which I ultimately did but very slowly.

#life #travel #2019