If you are in a position to help…there is no greater way to display gratitude for that position that you’re in than to help someone else. That can be as simple as opening up a door or buying a cup of coffee for someone behind you, or volunteering at a local shelter which anyone can do in their communities. Then, yes, as you evolve in your life and get yourself in a position where you can help others in a different way or a bigger way…doesn’t mean it’s better. Sometimes money is not the answer for groups and people in need. Sometimes it’s time, it’s love, heart, ideas, thinking and expertise. You never know when your life will turn in an instant and you’ll be the person who is in need. Go do some good no matter how high or low you are on the totem pole… you never know when you’re going to need it one day.

In early 2009 my position was eliminated and found myself looking at 18 months with a non-compete that essentially prevented me from moving on to another food company. My husband (and partner in this crazy journey) challenged me to make a list of all of the things I wish I’d ever had time to do (big or small) in the years I’d been working long hours and traveling. As we reviewed my extensive wish list with everything from sky diving to cleaning out the closets, he urged me to complete them all and stated he would “join me for as many of them as he could”. This soon became what we affectionately refer to as “Wendy’s Involuntary Sabbatical World Tour”.