"I was learning the game as I played it. Building the plane as I flew it" (Blue Star Bound, p. 69).

When I started a language school in Costa Rica, I had no business experience or degree. I was living in a new city in a foreign country without a single friend close by. I was a fish out of water. It was deeply uncomfortable, but I gave it my all. 

My efforts paid off, and my little school took flight. I learned many valuable lessons in the twelve years that I ran it - or it ran me.  It was such a significant period in my life that I wrote a memoir about it: Blue Star Bound.

They say that nothing worth achieving is easy, or something along those lines.

For the last four years, I was out of my comfort zone again, this time back in California in my hometown after selling my school. That's the thing about life: you never stop facing curvy, steep roads with painful learning curves. You might coast for a while, but another test inevitably pops up.

I got a job teaching high school English and Drama at my alma mater. Neither of those subjects were my strong suits, and I had to adjust to working with U.S. teenagers. Needless to say, they were a different breed than Costa Rican teens.

After a year of frustration there, I got my dream job at another High School, teaching Spanish and English as a Second Language. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I even wanted to teach anymore, even though that had been my profession since 1999. But I was excited to teach subjects in which I actually had experience and education.

The last three years in that position have involved long work hours, sleepless nights and frequent failures in the classroom. They challenged me to keep smiling and trying, even when I felt like quitting or wringing someone's neck.

My happy ending came this past week when I started my fourth year at the same high school. I approached the first week with "it's done" energy. This is what my friend and coach, Nicole Valentine, calls it (Instagram: @nicolevalentinecoaching)

The "it's done" energy affirms the following:

I've got this. This isn't my first rodeo: I am an experienced teacher who loves her job. 

I am confident in my now tried-and-true lesson plans. I don't need to reinvent the wheel or create extra work for myself.

I will reap the benefits of the respect that I have built among the students. I won't tolerate anything less.

I am determined to carry this energy into the entire school year and tell my workaholic self to calm down. 

This will be a year of harvest, not of growth and hustle. I will have sustainable, enjoyable and comfortable success. I will have more time for the other things that matter in my life because I've built the plane, I've mastered the game. 

And that feels amazing.