Lessons from my mom 7 years from her passing

9/17/24

Yesterday was the 7 year anniversary of my mom's passing. She taught me so much--both intentionally and unintentionally about life, persistence, optimism, and love. Given it's LinkedIn, I thought I'd honor her by sharing some musings about how her 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 impacted me.

𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: my mom, whether she felt the fear and did it anyway or was truly so bold, consistently invested in her own development. She persisted through lean financial times, or when she could have easily justified ‘not having the time’ given her two young kids, single-parenthood, and business to run.It never seemed to come from a place of desperation, imposter syndrome or ‘not enough’ —nothing was ‘on pause’ while she was learning. She understood learning was part of the work. As I make space for continual learning, I hear my mom's voice in my head, validating and encouraging.

𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: My mom was fierce in her commitment to letting her work evolve to fit her interests and life. She operated from a place of genuine personal curiosity. She walked away from a lucrative, self-made marketing career to teach birthing classes and build a holistic healthcare business in the '90s—there was no blueprint for the modalities she combined or the practice she ultimately created.As I work to unwind my own stories around work, duty, scarcity, and purpose, I often wonder 'how she did it.' Looking at her path reminds me it's possible to find alignment, and it's natural for that alignment to continually evolve.

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: my mom didn’t let me forget that she’d also been a waitress, a nanny, an Au Pair, a struggling artist. She had respect for everyone’s work, everyone’s role. She reminded me and showed me through her actions —the time she took to listen, the kindness she showed strangers, her consistent generosity with anyone working a service-based job—that we are an ecosystem, and that variation and interdependence is healthy.

𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬: I gave my mom constant crap about the things she chose NOT to prioritize. I hated the piles of papers that stacked up on the kitchen table and often got on her case about making more local friends (she was active in many nationwide groups and communities). Looking back, I see she knew she couldn't do it all and chose intentionally. As I struggle to balance my own work, marriage, friendships, extracurriculars, and spirituality, I find myself deeply respecting her choices. She put first things first, even if that meant a constant low-level nagging from her naive daughter.

It’s hard to wrangle what feels profound and amorphous into a succinct and definitive synopsis, but I tried!

Is there anyone who’s no longer with us physically who continues to influence how you see work and show-up for it?