How Jolene Marie Came to Be...

This is me at age 4, when I first realized the power of reinvention.

re-in-vent:

1. To make over completely

2. To bring back into existence or use.

One day, back when I was a wee kid, I came home from preschool and announced that I was no longer Jessica. My new name would be Jolene Marie. 

This name has stuck with me throughout the years, much to my chagrin at times, but now with the wisdom of three decades I find the notion endearing. Here I was at age four exercising my human ability to recreate myself.

The magic of this life is that we always have the ability to change. Even if something can't physically be changed there is still the power to control how we think or react to the issue.

The past two years were especially hard ones for me and my family. We experienced job loss, financial ruin, illness, ended and strained relationships, nearly losing our home and definitely losing our sense of stability. The stress of all this put me into a very negative frame of mind. I lost my self worth. I gained weight. I forgot how to give and receive love. A horrible, snowballing combination that led to more and more suffering.

Somewhere in the past few months, like a bear coming out of hibernation, I started to wake up and realize that this way of living was no good. 

One morning I woke up with an idea for a children's book about the creation of Jolene Marie, which got me writing and thinking about design again. Which led to the day I decided it was time get a website and got my our graphic design business off the ground. And right before Christmas I vowed to give up sugar and carbs and dust off the old elliptical; already down 15 pounds! 

Jolene Marie is my attempt to reclaim some of my childhood innocence and remind myself and others that it's never to late to create a better situation for yourself. It is a place to talk about anything that helps us be happier and healthier, feel prettier and stronger, and be better parents, lovers and friends.