On moving (to NC)
When I first started writing this blog over a month ago, we hadn’t yet publicly announced that we were moving. But life has been moving at a million miles a minute lately and I never got around to finishing it before we let the cat out of the bag. So now I’m finishing this blog as more of a look into our decision to move rather than an announcement.
Jonathan and I started the process of selling our ownership in CrossFit OYL last Fall. He has always wanted the opportunity to see his mom on a more regular basis and to be able to be more of a support to her. And as we approached the birth of Leo, the Lord started stirring our hearts toward something new for our family. We spent eight years pouring our blood, sweat, and tears into the gym, and are so proud of what we helped to build. The community and life changes that we have seen at Crossfit OYL (aka OYL Fitness, aka CrossFit Eta) over the years have been nothing short of amazing and it’s been an honor to be a part of that. But last Fall, Jonathan and I both sensed our time at the gym was coming to a close, and the possibility of moving came along with that.
Our decision to move was an ever-changing process. First we considered North Carolina. Then we considered Scottsdale, Arizona. Then we considered somewhere in Colorado. Then we thought we might just stay in Texas. But then we had one day of 80 degrees in February and North Carolina came back up and just never went away. (Not gonna lie, the Texas heat definitely played a big part in our decision to leave).
It was almost two months ago that we officially decided we are moving to Asheville. It’s a beautiful town in the mountains of North Carolina. A few things we are looking forward to: Being closer to Jonathan’s family. Experiencing all four seasons. Exploring hiking trails everywhere. Reconnecting with friends from college who live there. Spending more time outside with our kids. But mostly, a chance to build the life we want for our family without restraint. It’s a fresh start, a clean slate, a new beginning - of sorts.
Our life here in Texas has been wonderful. We’re not leaving because we want to run from something. But rather we want to run to something. And that something is the opportunity to make intentional decisions about every area of our lives. You see, Jonathan and I’s relationship started as a long distance one, but as soon as he graduated college he moved to Texas - to be closer to me and to start the gym. As a result, so much of our relationship and life together was “predetermined” - either by accepting what already existed in my life or by accepting the challenges and “requirements” (you could replace that with hustle and grind…) that come along with starting a small business. And although much of what we accepted as a part of our life was great, we also rarely asked ourselves what it was that we wanted or made the necessary changes to get there. In retrospect, we can see that we neglected important things like time with family, investing in our church, and building a community for ourselves apart from the gym. We also failed to set healthy work/life boundaries at times and realized we needed to re-prioritize certain things in our lives. It’s so easy to just continue living life as we always have - even in the areas that we want something different. We’ve realized - through our years of helping people make positive life changes at the gym - that environment is huge in helping to create those changes. It’s not impossible to change in the same environment, but it sure is a lot easier when you can get yourself into a new one.
Another piece of the puzzle for me is that I’ve never really left home. Even in college, I was just 45 minutes from home and came home just about every weekend. This move is an opportunity for me to discover new things about myself by getting into a new environment. It’s been a huge blessing to be close to my family for all these years. But this is an opportunity to rely on Jonathan and bond our family in a new way. And it’s an opportunity for me to choose to have courage, put myself out there, and grow in the process. In some ways, we are intentionally choosing to put ourselves in “sink or swim” situations, so that we will be forced to grow and make those things that we are desiring - like a community of our own - a priority.
The biggest reason for moving - and perhaps I should have listed this first - is that we feel like the Lord is leading us there. As we contemplated selling the gym and moving, we felt like the Lord was leading us toward something new. We’ve sensed since the beginning that He has plans for our family, but to be honest, we aren’t exactly sure what those plans are. We have felt that we are supposed to take steps of faith and His plans will be revealed along the way. We know He is faithful and are expectant that whatever is ahead of us is even greater than what is behind.
Most people want to know what Jonathan will be doing for work… About a year and a half ago he started doing remote sales for a company called Big Little Gyms. They offer tools, training, and mentorship to help gym owners around the world grow their businesses. CrossFit OYL joined BLG at the beginning of 2022 and we saw massive growth in our business as a result. Jonathan started doing sales for them on the side and has been slowly increasing his work with them to the point where we are now - which is him working for them full-time. It’s been amazing to see how God began preparing us for this season and providing for it well in advance. And it’s no irony that Jonathan’s eight years of sales experience at the gym helped to prepare him for God’s next opportunity.
As I sit here, (finally) wrapping this blog up (weeks after beginning it), we are 16 days out from moving. We started having our “goodbye” (I prefer to call them “see you later”) dinners a few weeks ago and each time we leave, it just confirms our desire to prioritize time with friends and family in this next season ahead of us. The best word we have to describe how we feel is “glad”. Glad is feeling grateful and sad at the same time. We are grateful for all of the people we have had the honor of doing life with in our time in Texas. And we are sad to be leaving so many people we love. We are grateful for all of our years at the gym. And we are sad to not be able to be a part of the next chapter. We are grateful for all of the ways we’ve grown - in the struggles and the successes - and for who we have become. We are sad for the missed opportunities to connect more as a family and with others.
They say hindsight is 20/20. In a lot of ways it is true. But our hope is that our hindsight can give us foresight for this next season. Sometimes it takes something drastic for us to see things clearly. I’d say selling a business, having a second kid, and moving halfway across the country is pretty drastic. But we are heading into this new season with a new vision of what is important to us. We don’t know everything that the Lord has waiting for us in Asheville, but we are being bold in asking for specific things that we want and need. We are glad - grateful for all the Lord has done in, for, and through us, and sad to be leaving the people we love. We are stepping into this next season with expectant hearts, knowing that He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask think.
