One year of starting over

One year ago today, I was broken up with over the phone. We had recently moved to Switzerland together and I was back in the US for a three-day business trip, heading to New York City that day. I had a flight back to Switzerland, which I ultimately decided not to take. I stayed in New York because most of my friends are here and my work is largely here. I cried and I was miserable and then I started looking for apartments. 10 days after the breakup, I moved in. After two years of living with someone, I was living alone again and I wanted to document starting over, so I made a plan to post on social media and the first video went very viral. One month in, I was just surviving, but my videos were reaching people. 14 management teams reached out and I signed with two managers. Two months in, I was buying furniture, making this place a home and starting to work with brands. Four months in, I started traveling again. I went to Copenhagen and Amsterdam with my mom, my first time back in Europe since leaving Switzerland and I turned 30. I traveled solo to my 50th country. Then, over the last six months, the life I had been documenting started moving faster and faster. I can't believe it's me doing these things. A couple street interviews, a handful of photo shoots, dozens of brand campaigns and hundreds of PR boxes. I started running again. I ran two half marathons. Through social media, I was connected with Nike and Puma and New Balance. Last week, I ran the Chicago marathon with Nike. I relaunched my travel company. I took groups to Norway where we hiked above the Arctic Circle, sailed around Greenland tracking polar bears. I took a group into the Moroccan desert. Delta brought my mom and me to Italy for a week and then I got to bring my grandmother to Italy too. While it's still hard even a year later, I knew not getting on that flight a year ago would change my entire life. I just couldn't have imagined how beautiful and how uniquely mine that life I could create in New York City.