Almost two years ago I reached a milestone - a viral post.

200 comments.
999 likes.
786 shares.

But it isn't for the reason you think.

Nor is it a reason for which you would ever want to have a viral post.

This was the post announcing that our new home had been invaded just 3 days after moving in.

A man busted down our door at 1 am, bounded up the stairs and into our bedroom waving a gun.

My husband didn't hesitate - he grabbed his gun, which he had just unpacked that afternoon, and fired.

He didn't even realize that he'd been shot until after he had chased that guy and his companion out of the house with bullets.

We waited 20 minutes for the cops to come.  The ambulance took him away to get checked.  I was left to sit in the car in the cold weather as my son slept in his carseat while I waited for the cops to interview me and process the crime scene.

I remember the night with stark clarity even though I didn't sleep a wink.  I also remember how I felt when I realized that a hail of bullets was standing between me and my son and making sure he was safe.

Thankfully, he slept through the invasion.  My husband wasn't seriously hurt.  And all four men involved were caught within 24 hours thanks to the excellent work by the PA State Police.

Why am I telling you this?  

Because THIS CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE.  I'm living proof of that.  I'm white and I live in about as nice of a neighborhood as you can get in rural America.  

And because I want you to be prepared.  Preparation is what saved our lives that night.  (Because, no, they weren't just going to say "Oops, wrong people.  Sorry." and walk away.)

Whether or not you choose to have a firearm in your home is your business.  I'm not advocating either way.  But what I am advocating for is preparedness.

Sit down with your family tonight and make an emergency plan.  Figure out how you would handle a home invasion, fire or other disaster. 

Because it could literally save your life.

Do you have an emergency plan in place?
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When you work in corporate, creating work-life boundaries is a must. You don't take your work home with you, nor do you take your home life to work. You share what you choose to share when you need to share it and you can't always react to situations the way you normally would in a home setting because, well, you can get FIRED (which is not a good thing). You may share more of yourself with your close co-workers, but the line is drawn in different places in the sand based on who the person is and what role he or she plays in your "work life".

A close female co-worker, was one of the first people to find out I was pregnant. However, a discussion about cord blood storage with my male boss and a male co-worker, both whose wives had recently had babies, was beyond uncomfortable because what was "chump change" to them was a fortune for me on my not-too-great salary.

While I was pretty guilty of bringing work home with me (stress, anger, frustration, etc.), I very rarely brought my home life to work - unless I had to. Like when I had to announce my dad's cancer diagnosis or my pregnancy in order to get my FMLA leave. And, I rarely ever swore at work, nor did I talk back without first considering the consequences to my job if I did.

Transitioning from this corporate mindset has without a doubt been the most difficult thing for me during this journey into entrepreneurship. Those boundaries I built in the name of professionalism became walls that now box me in as an entrepreneur.

As a result, I always overthink every communication I make in my brave new world. I hold a lot back in an effort to be "professional". What I've realized is that doing so has been causing me to be at a disadvantage in connecting authentically and creating new, healthy boundaries for MY business.

Do you face this situation as you work to build your business? How do you share more of yourself? If you haven't been, what's one thing you can do today to chip away at that wall?
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I have a confession:  I hate The Wizard of Oz.  With a passion.
I don't even know why.  It just doesn't resonate with me.
So that was why I hesitated to go see Wicked when it was on tour a few years ago.
But my friends asked me and I'd never been to the theater (unless you count high school musicals), so I agreed.
And you know what...
I LOVED IT.
Everything about the story in Wicked captivated me.
It made me see The Wizard of Oz in a whole new light.
Turned the whole plot upside down for me.
(I still hate it, but I appreciate it in a different way now.)
Elphaba tried so hard to fit in even though she was different.
It was only when she embraced that what made her different made her uniquely special that she began to fly.
She wasn't "wicked", she was just sick of playing by the rules of someone else's game.
When you try to conform to what society expects of you, you lose yourself in the process.
You're uncomfortable in your skin, green or not.
Why wear boring conservative pantsuits when you can rock a v-neck tee, skinny leg dress pants and a Chico's jacket and be taken just as seriously?
Why continue to do what you've always done even when it no longer resonates with you when you can take those skills and apply them in a way that brings you joy?
Why hide out by the food table at that networking event when you really want to be mingling?
We all deserve a chance to fly.  Even if we're afraid of being up so high.  
Flying into the unknown is scary, but it can offer us a freedom we've never dreamed existed.
So go.  And don't let anyone bring you down.