This email was sent to our close friends when we decided to open The Yoga Harbor on November 16, 2017.
Dearest friends,
You’ve probably noticed I’m sending this email from a new address. Well, it’s finally happened. I told Reid, “I think about opening a yoga studio every day. My health is the only reason I don’t.”
And he replied, “Just do it.”And that brings us to today, where I spent the day applying for business permits and learning accounting software. You know me well enough to know where my strength lies (hint: it’s in writing this email!); I am going to need a helluva lot of extra coaching tonight to learn what goes in the “debit” column and what goes in the “credit” column of my balance sheet. For the life of me, I can’t figure it out on my own.
Simultaneous to writing this email, I’m working on the biography of a great visionary. With the help of his widow, I’m capturing the essence of what made him tick and what has made his business a case study for the record books. In one chapter, she talks about his appearance at a pro-am golf tournament at a high end country club. As the story goes, he shanked a ball of the practice range directly into a pro golfer, then proceeded to slip in his golf shoes on the concrete, falling on his ass in front of all in attendance. Later, he played the entire round with his head held high.
To this she says, “He didn’t just live in the world he was very successful in. Loving and failing at these things kept him grounded.”
It is a lesson I need to learn a million times over. Like most people, I feel best in my comfort zone. I love to do the things I can certainly succeed at, because I have an ego, and that ego doesn’t like to lose. It certainly doesn’t like to be vulnerable, and don’t even ask me if I like to ask for help. As a businesswoman, I light up for marketing, educating, creating, and inspiring. I will have to learn to swallow the bookkeeping side. I’m certain I can do it.
Ultimately, I had to make the decision that trying and failing is better than not trying at all, and that the struggle would keep me human. I once asked the Junior Varsity soccer team I coached, “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” One of my girls wrote, “Cure cancer.” I was so proud.
This is my big, hairy, audacious goal. I am not curing cancer, but I believe I’ll be a great boss, a good corporate citizen, and improve the lives of those in my community. I believe I’ll make some magic. This is where I would lay down my cards if I knew my hand would win. And my husband, God love the risk manager that he is, has agreed to lay his cards down right next to mine.
On January 5, 2017, we will open the doors to The Yoga Harbor. It will be – it already has been – a journey full of humbling moments, many lessons, big achievements, good vibes, a few (so many) marital spats, and lots of thanking my pets for loving me no matter what.
You are on this list because you have believed I had something to offer and something to say. Thank you. Truly, from the bottom of my irregularly-beating heart, thank you for loving me no matter what.
Many good things, and lots of butt bruises, are in store!
In sincerest gratitude,
Bethany
Yoga High, Inc., NOW “The Yoga Harbor”
The Yoga Harbor