With that in mind, let's start from the beginning, shall we?
In October of 2009 I started dating Matt. We fell fast and we fell hard. We spent every possible minute we could with each other. So naturally, we depended on each other for almost everything. At the time we were both college athletes, trying to prove ourselves and constantly seeking more playing time. I remember feeling like I was constantly falling short. One day Matt said to me, "Kierra, there is beauty in effort." From then on, that was something we would say to each other when the other was struggling. We have found this little quote of ours to be fitting for almost every facet of our lives.
Christmas Day 2009, I drove over to Matt's parents' house to spend Christmas morning with them. Matt gave me a Boise State jersey with my soon-to-be new last name on it. I gave Matt a hard copy of one of his favorite books and a tile plaque that said, "There is Beauty in Effort." Something for us to display in our new home... we knew we were going to get married, but we hadn't made it official yet. Little did I know, Matt had a plan in place and proposed later that day... Read our love story here...
As we grew closer, fell deeper in love and decided to get married. He promised me effort. To always try. To always give his best. And on the day we got married, we promised that to each other. To always communicate, to always give our best effort to our marriage, our lives, and our children.
Then life happened. We spent years finishing degrees, buying a home, starting a business, building careers, starting a family... life got hard. In hopes of building a better life for each other, our marriage was set on the back burner it seemed. When I was pregnant with Kess, Matt worked more than he has ever worked. He was pulling outrageous hours just to get a tiny bit ahead before Kess arrived. I was scrambling to be prepared for our little girl, wrapping up my clients before I started maternity leave, taking birthing classes - you name it, we were drowning in it. We were both exhausted. There was some distance between us and we both felt it. I began to worry about what this meant for our new little family and if it would ever be better.
On our 4th wedding anniversary, I came home from running errands to a beautiful bouquet of flowers on our doorstep. I got teary-eyed as I read the card. "There is beauty in effort. Happy Anniversary. I love you!" What an amazing reminder to put my marriage above all else. We both had struggled, we both had been working so hard to make our lives better, which is noble and all, but not enough when your marriage is taking 2nd place.
As I toyed with starting this blog, I was struggling to find passion, happiness and love. I loved my marriage, my husband and my daughter, but I needed a little something for me. I talked with Matt about starting a creative outlet, and as the blog came about I struggled to pick a name. I thought about how much effort this was going to take and how difficult it was to put myself out there and to step out of my comfort zone. Matt kindly reminded me, "There is beauty in effort..." And there it was. Beautiful Effort was born in February of 2015.
Thank you all for joining me on this journey, I have found a peacefulness in my life that I was looking for. I have found more joy in my life by just putting in a little bit more effort. I truly believe there is beauty in effort. We may not always succeed, come out on top, or win in this life, but that isn't the purpose of this life. We must try, we must put forth effort and we will truly live.
If you are new to reading Beautiful Effort, you can start from the beginning... The Purpose Behind the Words
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