Celebrating 20 Years in Business

Erin

11 minutes ago

3 min read

Eye-level view of a serene landscape with a calm lake and surrounding trees

Celebrating 20 Years in Business

“We are not here to fit in, be well balanced, or provide exempla for others. We are here to be eccentric, different, perhaps strange, perhaps merely to add our small piece, our little clunky, chunky selves to the great mosaic of being. As the gods intended, we are here to become more and more ourselves” - Jim Hollis

I recently realized that I have been a member of NAPO for 20 years! 2006- remember way back then? George Bush was president, Netflix was still sending out CDs, and iPhones were still a year away. It feels like a different lifetime.

Back then, I was working as a graphic designer in the marketing department of Old Navy in San Francisco (one of the most fun jobs I have ever had), and I was in my 30s. I remember riding the bus to work one day, reading Real Simple magazine (remember magazines?), and it mentioned the National Association of Professional Organizers. "What?! You can organize people as a job?" It seemed too good to be true. I went to a local NAPO meeting, joined, and got my first organizing client a few months later. I worked as a designer for a few more years and officially launched Pick It Up in 2010. Now my work has shifted yet again to coaching, workshops, and even an 8-week program. Who could have foreseen it? Not me.

When I read the above Jim Hollis quote recently in Brené Brown's book Dare to Lead, it struck a chord with me. I love the idea that with time we don't necessarily become more refined, successful, or admired, but instead that with time we become more ourselves. I especially love the wild embrace of the weirdest version of ourselves.

Aging is strange; now in my 50s, I realize, as a recent Instagram post put it, I am "the youngest of the old people," which feels true. To my teenager, I am definitely old; to my octogenarian parents, I'm youthful. So who knows. I feel grateful to have a job that pushes me to grow and evolve into that truer (stranger?) version of myself each day.

Thank you to every Pick It Up client I have worked with over these 20 years! It has been a privilege being invited into your homes and lives.

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