I didn’t expect to feel this way, sitting in LAX waiting to board a flight home to New Orleans for the first time since October 20, 2020. I really didn’t know what to expect, tbh.
I knew the day would come when I’d make a trip back, but I had no idea what to expect with how it’d land, given our rich history. The last time I stepped foot in the sunny City of Angels, I was embarking on a move I didn’t see coming, navigating early pandemic days and unsure what may lie ahead for anything and everything, including my now-past marriage.
Perhaps 5 years was enough time for it all to feel fresh, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised to observe my thoughts and feels for the past 3 days as I revisited the place that held so many seasons of me.
I will forever hold in my heart so many snapshots of LA, both good and bad. I still get chills when I think about the very first time I drove in and saw the lights of the city, rolling in from I-10, hot off a 3-day voyage from New Orleans with my teeny Fiat packed to the brim with the things that then felt so important 💁🏼♀️
All by myself, thrilled and terrified, it took my breath away.
I’d never faced challenges on the level that would unfold over the following weeks, and yet I’d never felt so alive.
Nothing was easy for me in LA, but I felt like the luckiest little small-town girl in the world. I’d done something that felt so big. It felt like I was choosing for myself. Betting on myself, and proving a lot of things that I couldn’t even articulate.
A journey of discovering my deep grit began, and this is one of the best parts of this past weekend: the remembering of who I am and how far I’ve come.
I’ve been giggling about all the tough times I faced in those first couple of months, and also remembering the wonder and absolute magic that I was in at the same time. Wildest of times.
For the first time, I felt the depth of something I was so passionate about not working out— the “dream job” fell apart rapidly. I felt true struggle for probably the first time in my life. I was far away from home and might as well have been in a foreign country.
I made it work, until I was brave enough that it wasn’t.
So soon I packed up my few belongings and cried all the way back to New Orleans, still trusting it was the right move at the time. Turns out, I did know all along, despite a marathon season of faith and trusting and managing expectations of others while making my loved ones have whiplash 😬
Imagine their surprise when 2 years later I announced that I was moving BACK to LA for another dream job that I’d dug my heels in and fought for. This time, I had a plan. It was going to be fabulous.
And it was. I had transferred with a job I adored. Found a dreamy teeny apartment in the hills with a patio and a view. I had a couple of friends, and felt truly fearless. Just a couple weeks after moving back, I met my now-ex. It seemed like a dream come true.
I spent the better part of my 30s in this city, and let me tell you— that gal was tenacious. The doors I opened for myself and the dreams I followed that all led me to right here, right now. I wouldn’t be who I am today without the immersion to the world of wellness, style, rock and roll, luxury, dysfunction, and struggle.
Before beginning to build my business in 2018 and then the pandemic in 2020, I was quite the social butterfly, both corporately and recreationally. I could barely keep up with all the spots we passed that jogged a memory as we be-bopped around the city, grabbing adaptogen coffee, Erewhon (obviously 5 times), shopping, wandering, Sugarfish (2x duh lol) and generally taking it all in.
I faced an immense amount of health challenges while living in LA and simultaneously had all the resources one could imagine at my fingertips. I learned SO many things the hard way, and much of this unfolding led me down the windy road of developing The Designer Genes Co. — a path I would’ve never seen coming in a million years, but yet now can’t imagine anything more aligned.
The Weirdest Part
What felt palpable upon reentry was actually the reminder of all of the magic that I met here, within myself and in the wild, strange world around me. So many superpowers that I seem to have shelved in the past couple of years. Especially after spending 2 days networking with other female founders, with my business bestie roomie by my side, I’m realizing that there’s been a major shift in my life in the social department since I’m not out and about for a living anymore.
Remembering the world here that existed before social media as we know it today, ironically in a space where so much detail and energy goes into keeping up appearances (hilarious to see that the pink wall was still rocking a line) while holding deep gratitude for the business and digital community that it’s given me over the years as it was deeply seeded here in Hollywood.
At 44, I’m beyond grateful that I’m no longer in the season of struggling to figure out who I am and what I want— believe me, the bricks of that foundation have been lain by hand. But again and again I have been reminded this weekend of the richness of building community, even though it looks a lot different than it did 10 years ago, or even 5.
What a gift to be able to have spaces like this to bring us together over shared thoughts and feels, which feels especially precious in the age of Instagram-turned-business.
I’m taking back with me a refreshed motivation to share more. To start more. To show up and support. To commit to more build + life balance: the current challenge at hand is finding the space to be creative, to connect, and continue to grow while also building furiously for the bigger and better vision that’s bursting to come to life here.
Will you meet me there— here? In this community?
Inside LYFE Lab, the subscriber community here on Substack, I’m hosting monthly lives for just exactly that: to get to know one another, share goals and connection, real women with real struggles and stories and belief for better. I’d love to hear from you— what season are you in, wellness or otherwise? How can I be of support?
My biggest goal is to create a space for women in wellness who don’t feel pressured for perfectionism, never feel “behind” or unready, but rather, get to feel empowered and curious about how to become the very strongest versions of themselves. If there’s an ounce of inspo for you, I’m on the right track!
What would you like to see more or less of? What do you want to know about me and my work? What I’m doing now, my founders journey, and/or how it all plays out? I’m all ears and open heart, so meet me inside the chat and join me for a live chat soon. Good things are coming 💗
Love,
Lindsey Strong