Has anyone ever told you that your dreams were too big?
From the time I was a little girl, I was a dreamer. I would talk endlessly about how I was going to become a vet so I could save all the animals. My mom would say, “Do you know how smart you have to be to become a vet?”
I would speak of the animal sanctuary I saw in my dreams—the one I knew was my destiny. My mom would say, “Who is going to give you the money for that?”
She didn’t mean to tell me my dreams were too big. She wasn’t trying to say I wasn’t smart enough. But that’s exactly what I heard.
And for a long time, I let those words echo in my mind, making me question if I was capable, if I was worthy.
But looking back, I see now that those doubts became my fuel.
I set out to prove that I was smart enough. That I was capable. That I was worthy—not just of success, but of my mother’s love.
The Lessons We Don’t Expect
My mother wasn’t a bad person. In fact, she was a deeply kind woman with an intuitive connection to animals—a gift she passed down to me. But the weight of her own struggles sometimes made it hard for her to be the mother I needed.
She couldn’t always offer the words of encouragement I longed for, but she gave me something else: resilience. The fire to keep going when others doubted me. The determination to chase my dreams despite the odds.
She lived long enough to see me graduate from vet school, sitting in the audience at Lincoln Center in her wheelchair, beaming with pride.
That moment changed everything.
Because in her eyes, I finally saw it—the love I had been seeking my whole life. And for the first time, I saw her not just as my mother, but as a woman who had done the best she could with what she had.
She never needed me to prove anything. She loved me all along—she just struggled to show it.
And in that moment, I felt something unexpected: not resentment, not sadness, but gratitude.
The Gift of the Journey
Now, instead of bitterness over the childhood I longed for or resentment toward the mother I wished had been different, I felt gratitude.
Gratitude for the life and the path uniquely created for me. The path that pushed me to my potential and guided me to become the person I was meant to be—and still am becoming.
Because every struggle shaped me.
Every setback pushed me forward.
Every “no” made me fight for my “yes.”
Success isn’t about having the perfect conditions in order to succeed. It’s about taking your excuses for not succeeding—and making them your fuel.
If you’ve ever doubted yourself…
If you’ve ever been told your dreams are too big…
If you’ve ever felt like you weren’t enough…
I want you to know this: you are capable, you are worthy, and your dreams matter.
You don’t need permission to chase them. You just need the courage to take that leap of faith.
And if your dream is to build a business that changes the world of dogs, I’m here to walk that journey with you. Because turning dreams into reality was never meant to be easy—but it’s in the journey that we become who we were always meant to be.
I believe in you.
Are you ready to take the leap? I’ll hold your hand and leap with you.
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