A Day in The Life
Someone asked me recently, what is life like as a Certified EAL Facilitator?
What does a typical day look like?
I honestly struggled to define a “typical day”! As I tried to answer, I started to reflect on just how remarkably different my life is today than just 5 years ago. And it’s in that contrast that it all became more clear.
In 2012 we had recently purchased our farm, built our facility and welcomed our horses home. As if that wasn’t enough, I left my role as VP of Merchant Marketing for American Express and ventured into the world of EAL. It was a big year to say the least and created a lifestyle change that I could never have imagined!
As a marketing executive at Amex, I would commute to the city, spend my days in meetings, leading my team and developing marketing strategies to drive people to use their Amex card. I did this day in and day out in some capacity for 9 years. That was a typical day.
Fast forward to today, I’m running my own EAL business. On any given day you might find me in the barn working my horses, in the arena working with clients, out at networking events or in my office planning a session, working on business development, or doing the ever popular admin tasks. In and around that I will tour my property, feed the chickens, play with my dogs or meet a friend for lunch. And like any career, some days are better than others and I might be spending my day balancing my finances, filling a job position, fixing fences, cleaning stalls or walking out a sick horse and waiting for the vet. There simply is no typical day. And while my routine is anything but routine, there are a few key constants that stand true each and every single day:
- I wake up every single day excited about what’s ahead! I may not know for sure, it may not be what I had originally planned, but it is always invigorating and still on my terms.
- I feel empowered! Meetings don’t run my day anymore, I get to CHOOSE. As busy as any given day is, there is a boat load of FREEDOM in that!
- I get to change lives. Whether it’s a corporate team member, a person overcoming a fear or a new certification student who is just venturing into this amazing career themselves. My horses, my programs and I are making a difference.
- And ultimately…the reason most of us consider a career in EAL…I am surrounded by my horses. Not a day goes by I don’t get to interact, teach and learn with my horses. Now that may be because I’m fixing a fence or the waterer is on the fritz, but any time spent with horses is time well spent in my book!
So I guess you could say I have a not so typical, typical day. And I personally wouldn’t have it any other way.
Tracey
