It’s finally here!  I am beyond excited to officially unveil everything we’ve been working on for the last few months.  It’s a new business, anew name, and a brand spankin’ new website. I hope you will look around, ask questions, and get inspired to start embracing where you are in your life right here, right now.

This is The Life Actually Company™!  So, what the heck does that even mean?  I’m so glad you asked!

The Life Actually Company™ is a lifestyle destination for women, by women, that encourages, empowers, and inspires us to feel good about ourselves on the inside and out, in this very moment.

I’ve spent the last six months shaping this vision into a reality and I certainly know it will continue to be a work in progress, which is exactly what I want!  My goal is to build a community of women who share their stories and lift each other up as we all navigate life’s ups and downs.  And since we all continue to change and evolve ourselves, that is what I want to happen with TLAC, as well.

Every woman has a unique story.  And yet many of us find ways to feel bad about that story because it doesn’t line up with what society—or ourselves!—thinks is “normal”.  But I’m going to let you in on a little secret that is truly the backbone of this company: there is no such thing as normal.

I repeat, there is no such thing as normal.

That feels pretty good to say!  And it’s the truth.  There is no one way you are supposed to live your life.  No proper sequential list of experiences and achievements you must have by any certain age.  And no reason to not celebrate who you are and what you have accomplished up to this point right now.

When I was a little girl my very strong parents raised me to understand that my brother and I had the same opportunities.  It didn’t matter that he was a boy and I was a girl.  We both could do and be whatever we wanted.  We didn’t have to get married or have a family on any schedule.  We got to call the shots in our lives, me just as much as my brother.

And I believed it.  I still do!  But here’s what my strong parents couldn’t give me: an example of how this would look.  Because while they were telling me I could do whatever I wanted I saw that they had met when they were 20 years old.  They were married at 24 and 23, and my mom was 27 when she had me.  None of this isa knock on my parents.  I’m pretty damn thankful it worked out that way because otherwise my brother and I wouldn’t be here.

But it was mentally and emotionally conflicting for me.

Yes, I could focus on my career and not worry about dating.  But what was that life supposed to look like?  I had absolutely no idea.  As a result, I struggled for many years as I watched my career flourish but found a dating life to be nearly non-existent.

That is where The Life Actually Company™ began.  For so many women in their 20s all the way up to their 40s, 50s and beyond we have been presented with visual proof of what a “normal” life looks like, and it doesn’t mirror our own. This is why sharing our stories is so important.

With a lack of variety in the types of lives we can look up to, in many ways we must take it upon ourselves to help each other see the many ways a life can look.  We must be each other’s mentors.

When I was first presented with Life Actually as a potential company name, I immediately thought of Love Actually, which happens to be one of my favorite movies.  The film opens with shots of people cheerfully greeting each other at Heathrow Airport in London.  Hugh Grant’s voiceover explains that basically, when you feel hopeless about love you just need to go to the arrivals section of an airport to see raw, unfiltered love in its purest and simplest form to realize it does exist.

He adds, “If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around.”

It was that quote that told me I had found my company’s name.  Because when we think we don’t have the life we wanted or expected, when we feel hopeless and lost, what we need is a reality check.  A metaphorical visit to the arrivals section of an airport as we remind ourselves of what is all around us, in its purest and simplest form.

And when we finally take a close look at who we are and what we have created, I’ve got a sneaky feeling we’ll find that life actually is all around.

Let’s celebrate it.

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