I think it’s important for all of us to celebrate our accomplishments!

Thus, this is not meant to be a “horn tooting” note. It’s meant to be an acknowledgement of all that I’ve done so far, a look-back.

I came from privilege, absolutely. A white, upper middle class, Jewish family in a fancy Los Angeles neighborhood. But as many before and after, my family was over-the-top dysfunctional. I won’t list all the trauma because that’s not what’s important. Suffice it to say, that if my parents did what they did to me today, I’d have been removed from the home by authorities. But I wasn’t removed and I survived.

My coping mechanism was to become a drug addict for 20 years.

Sixteen and a half years ago I got clean and sober.

It took twenty-two years of therapy, and a lot of self-work for me to see the abusive, toxic family dynamic and remove myself from it.

Because I was the family scapegoat I had to earn most everything on my own. All of the adversity and trauma I endured made me the person I am today and I’m grateful for it. I don’t hate my family, I love them. I’ve forgiven them.

Even the years where I suffered monetarily and had nothing to eat but rice, made me a better person. This was the impetus for pulling myself up and out.

—I started my first entrepreneurial business when I was 18. I was a mask-maker, selling my handmade wares in New Orleans!

—I worked two full-time jobs for forty years. But as soon as I accomplished one thing and started making a good living, I lost interest and moved to something else; always starting at the bottom once again.

—I’ve had six careers, plus countless “jobs” in between. I’ve been an ESL teacher, this was my first career when I was in my 20’s. Then I was a television producer, director, writer and actor for fifteen years. This transitioned into becoming a real estate appraiser (how? I have no idea!), which I hated.

—So I went back to school and got my Master’s Degree in my 40’s and became an acupuncturist and an herbalist. Ten years into that career I began writing and indie publishing novels. I wrote 30 and published 20. This turned into 80 hour work-weeks…

—In my 40’s I became a trapeze artist and spent all my free time in circus school. I still miss those days!

And then Covid hit and everything stopped. I had been running on fumes; a go-go-go, workaholic for over forty years, in the blink of an eye.

So I got rid of everything I owned and moved into a van (solo) where I traveled the US for a year. And then, in 2022, I moved to Portugal, sight unseen, also solo.

Looking back I can honestly say that while I did a lot (and of course what I’ve written here is just a small part of what I accomplished), moving to Portugal is, by far, the best thing I’ve ever done.

Starting over is my middle name. It’s not, but it should be!

And now I’m your cheerleader!! You can do this too!!