Hello from Portland, Oregon!

I’m spending the weekend here for World Domination Summit (WDS), an event I’ve been reading about with envy online for the past four years and one I’ve personally been looking forward to since I registered in September with my friend and accountability partner, Sara Frandina.

Since I’ll be meeting so many new people at WDS over the next few days, I thought it would be useful and fun to outline all the things I might tell someone about myself if I were meeting them for the very first time.

So, let’s pretend like we’re meeting for the first time today…hey, who knows, maybe you’re new to my blog and we actually are!

If we were meeting for the first time…I’d tell you that my name is Jessica, but everyone calls me Jess, and you can too! I feel oddly formal when someone calls me Jessica…or like I’m about to get in trouble (but in that case, I’d hear my mom saying, “JESSICA LYNN…”) My entire family calls me Jessie, but they are pretty much the only people who call me that. So, hello! I’m Jess.

If we were meeting for the first time…I might struggle answering the question “what do you do?”simply.  I do a lot of things. By day, I work in public relations (and I love it), but my career doesn’t define me. I’m most excited about my passions—my side hustle running the Get Gutsy blog/community, working with freelance clients, practicing and teaching yoga.

If we were meeting for the first time…I’d tell you that I’m from Philly. It’s easier than explaining that I’m from a tiny suburb right outside of Philadelphia that no one has ever heard of. Plus, I identify with being from Philadelphia, even though I definitely appreciate my cute, suburban town, too.

If we were meeting for the first time…I’d tell you that I recently completed yoga teacher training and am so excited about sharing my love for yoga with the world. It changed my life (in fact, I’ve learned 100+ lessons from it) and I feel so strongly about introducing others to this powerful practice that can change someone’s entire life for the better. If you told me that you love yoga too, I could probably talk to you all day long.

If we were meeting for the first time…I’d tell you that I’m an early bird. I wake up most mornings between 4:30 and 5 a.m. to work out and get my most important work for myself and my blog complete before heading off to my day job. It wasn’t always this way, but since I made the switch to early mornings a few years ago, I’ve been so much happier and more productive; plus, I sleep great every night since I’m usually so tired from the day!

If we were meeting for the first time…I might tell you about how growing up I dreamed of being a teacher. I had a makeshift classroom in my childhood playroom, complete with a blackboard, attendance book, desks for my “students” and all the fixings of a great, fake classroom. I didn’t end up becoming a teacher in the traditional sense—however, I now am a yoga teacher and I also teach people about living a gutsier life through this very blog and my course, 30 Days of Gutsy.

If we were meeting for the first time…and you asked me about the scariest thing I’ve ever done, I’d tell you hands-down, trapeze lessons. It was such an exhilarating and wonderful experience…but one that I never want to have again. I learned some awesome life lessons from that experience, but believe me, I think I’ll stick to the ground from here on out.

If we were meeting for the first time…I’d tell you that I’m feeling a serious itch for travel and adventure. Traveling as I am right now always reminds me of how amazing it is to step outside your comfort zone, see new places and meet unique people. I’d tell you that I traveled to Europe in college and left my heart behind in Rome. It has been six years since those eight weeks abroad and I yearn to go back every, single day. One day, I know I will. For now, I’ll settle for exploring awesome new cities in my own great country.

If we were meeting for the first time…I’d tell you that I’m really pumped for the future right now. Lots of good things are happening. I feel steady and happy and while I definitely don’t have all the answers, I feel like I’m heading in the right direction. I am excited about all the possibilities this amazing world has to offer.

What would you tell me about yourself if we were meeting for the first time? I’d love to know!

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