The unexpected gift of losing everything

It felt like a trap, turns out it was a great big opening

What Losing Everything Actually Gave Me

A few years ago, I lost my real estate investment — the thing I had counted on to secure my retirement. Then COVID hit, and within months I was down to a small Social Security check and nothing else.

That’s not a metaphor. That’s what was in the account.

I felt trapped. But here’s the thing about having your back against the wall: for me, it’s actually a good place to be. That’s when the fighter shows up.

At the time, I’d been selling a few paintings a year and slowly growing a following. It seemed obvious to me that I should go all in on art. It seemed considerably less obvious to the people who loved me.

Fine. Game on.

So I took the courses. Did the workshops. Followed every business strategy anyone handed me.

It worked, for a while.

But somewhere in there, I realized I’d traded joy for dollars. Painting — the thing I loved most in the world — had quietly turned into a transaction. And that wasn’t enough. Not even close.

So I shifted. I started mentoring other artists — helping them navigate the art world, build confidence, believe in their own work. And in those conversations, I kept hearing the same three sentences, in different voices, over and over: my dream feels impossible, nobody believes in me, who am I to do this.

Eventually I saw the actual pattern. The dream was never the problem. The belief was.

Without belief, desire fades. Without desire, nothing ever happens.

And here’s what else I noticed: most of the people I was mentoring were women. Women who had spent decades putting themselves last, convinced their own dreams didn’t matter enough to defend.

That one landed hard. Because how dare we — as a society, as individuals, as fellow dreamers — let that happen to anyone’s deepest desire.

I believe dreams are the soul’s way of connecting us to something larger than ourselves. Call it purpose, call it God, call it source, call it spirit, call it whatever you please. The name doesn’t matter. The connection does.

For the better part of a year, I kept asking myself the same question: how do I help other women believe in their dreams, in themselves, and in the value of holding both at once?

Then it hit me: I love to write, especially short and pointed rather than long-winded. I love a good story. And I love proving, over and over, that it is never too late.

So I started what would eventually become The Daily RE-Wire.

If you’re reading this, you’re already part of it. You’re not too old, you’re not too late, and your dream still matters. We’re going to prove it, together.

There’s a painting I made called Come Play With Me. It hangs in the waiting room of a women’s hospital in Louisiana, a small offering to children waiting while their mother brings new life into the world

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A tree. A swing. An invitation.

At first glance, it’s for the children — a moment of lightness while they wait. But I’ve come to think it was always for the rest of us too.

The tree stands strong and deeply rooted, the way your history and your experience are rooted in you. The swing is possibility — freedom, movement, the dream waiting for you to step onto it. And the sunset behind it all is the sunset of every doubt, every fear, every voice that ever told you you can’t.

Reclaiming a dream is serious business. That doesn’t mean it has to feel heavy, impossible, or like a struggle.

What if it felt like play instead — approached with curiosity instead of fear, wonder instead of hesitation, the same lighthearted trust you once had leaning back on a swing and letting the momentum carry you?

I don’t just write about reclaiming dreams. I’m inviting you to step into yours — with joy, with possibility, with a little bit of rebellion against the idea that it’s too late.

This is real work. It’s also play.

And like that swing in the painting, it’s just waiting for you to take the first step.

Come play with me.

Sometime ago I put together a little guide based upon my own lived experiences. Maybe it’s the next step for you at this stage in life.

Re-Claiming Dreams Roadmap is a series of prompts to help you navigate your move forward into the essence of the deams of your younger years to be lived in living color in these now strange years of retirment.

You are welcome to become a paid member which entitles you to a seat at our weekly gathering of ladies who’ve chosen to live in retirment with a new view on life.