One chapter ends, and another begins
I have been looking at my life like a book for some time. Not literally – more metaphorically. My childhood was more like a mini-series or a prequel to the main event. Moving from Toronto to Brazil, then to Nova Scotia is more than most people do in a lifetime. The next chapter would be about the teen and university years in Nova Scotia as I pursued my aviation goals as a pilot. After graduating from university, the next chapter began with my move to Manitoba for flight school, then to Ottawa. Ottawa would make up a chapter in itself, as a lot happened in 15 years. The Ottawa chapter would conclude with our move to Vancouver Island. And now, our newest chapter is about to begin.
Today is the last Friday I am teaching my virtual group classes until we reach the Bahamas in October. I continued offering a handful of virtual classes and one-on-one sessions for a few reasons:
- They are really fun to teach
- My clients liked my classes and one-on-ones
- It brought me joy to keep doing it
Virtual teaching is not the same as in person. Does this mean it isn’t good? Absolutely not. In fact, in my opinion, the pros outweigh the cons in some cases for some people. The same can go for virtual on-demand versus live classes. This is why I am still doing it after two years of teaching virtual!
Managing a virtual company, however, was really tough. I am a hugger, a people person, and I LOVE motivating and making people happy. Running a virtual company was the toughest part of the pandemic for me. Especially given the fact that none of us had ever done it before. We did our best given our knowledge base and experience – and I still believe that some clients forgot that the people operating the studio are human and doing our best to stay afloat.
I loved running my in-person studio. I loved teaching my in-person classes. I still love thinking back to every time I walked into the studio building thinking, “Wow. I created this”. It is an incredible feeling that I dig deep to remember when I am down in the dumps.
Although the KV Dance Studio chapter technically ended in May with the wrap-up of our Spring session and all that was involved in closing down a company, it has taken me some time to really process it all. I made the choice to hold onto the most positive memories of studio ownership and teaching dance. As for the tough times (the client abuse, manipulation, and trauma) – I have done a lot of healing from them and I reflect on them as lessons.
As I sort through the clothing to bring on the next chapter of my life, you bet I will be sporting some of my KV wear. Will I bring it all? Unfortunately, no. I am storing some of my KV wear in storage, and some will come along on this adventure. KV, just like the name, is a huge part of me that I am proud of. And the thing I find fascinating is that I am about to embark on another journey that will be equally big in a completely different field!
Am I terrified for the journey ahead? You bet. But this same month, eight years ago, I was also terrified that I would fail when I was about to open KV Dance Studio in 2014. Turns out that I didn’t fail, and if it weren’t for COVID, we would be going into our 9th season.
So today’s Blog is about one chapter ending and another one beginning. I am excited to move. I am excited to do something unknown to me. I am excited that I get to share this journey with you over many platforms. But most of all, I am excited to be able to do something in my life that encompasses all of my passions and all that I love in one place (being with Jason, all my pets, the ocean, photography, teaching, the sun, warm weather, travel, adventure, scuba!).
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