Last week, I was incredibly honored to receive the Realtor of the Year award from our Realtor Association. It was one of those moments that catches you by surprise but what has stayed with me most wasn't receiving the award, it was one sentence in the introduction.

"Tara served as the 2023 Board President and led during one of the most challenging times our association has faced."

That sentence made me reflect, to put it bluntly... It was a hard freaking year!

The culture sucked, it was a little hostile, and there was a lot of conflict. Honestly I had no idea what I was walking into. We navigated a leadership transition, planned one of the biggest conventions our association had hosted, and so on. Some days I honestly wondered what I had signed up for.

It was also the year I discovered you can get shingles in your 30s. Yes, like don’t leave your couch for days with zinging pain running through your body. Apparently stress has a sense of humor and shingles doesn’t discriminate on age. To this day, every once in a while I feel where they were and think, "Yep... board year." 😂

And yet... if you asked me today whether I'd do it again, my answer would still be yes. Because I truly believe we're often placed where we're needed most, not where things are easiest.

That year stretched me. It challenged me. It taught me more about leadership than any smooth season ever could, leading people you chose and leading people you don’t choose, who are volunteers, are two very different things. More importantly, it introduced me to relationships I'll always be grateful for, people I probably never would have known had I not stepped into that role.

By the end of my term, we had hired new leadership, successfully hosted the convention, and the culture & energy had already begun to shift. We had made it through.

As I passed the presidency to my friend Kate, I remember telling her, "2024 is going to be our easy year."

Well life had other plans. Within six months, Kate was diagnosed with breast cancer, and I lost my 26-year-old brother, Tanner, in a motorcycle accident.

I remember calling her and saying, "WTF... this was supposed to be our easy year."

That conversation has stayed with me because it reminded me of something I think we all eventually learn.

We're always hoping life gets easier but maybe that's the wrong goal.

Maybe life isn't about avoiding hard seasons.

Maybe it's about becoming the kind of person who can walk through them.

Hard seasons have taught me that our beliefs matter more than our circumstances and having a clear understanding of our values, how we handle things, and how we show up is so important to endure these seasons in life. You discover what you truly stand for when life stops going according to plan.

Will you choose hope, grit, grace?

Will you stay true to your values?

Will you keep showing up when it's easier to quit?

Will you ask for help instead of trying to carry everything yourself?

Will you continue looking for solutions instead of staying stuck in the problem?

Those are the moments that shape us.

I've also learned that we were never meant to do life alone. Lean on your people when you're struggling. Be the person who asks, "How can I help?" and don't be afraid to answer that question when someone asks you.

We can't control what happens to us.

We can only control how we respond.

Looking back, I'm grateful for the award but I'm even more grateful for what those years asked of me.

They taught me resilience, humility, perspective, faith, & compassion.

Awards recognize what you've accomplished.

Hard seasons reveal who you've become.

And in the end, I think that's what really matters.

Life will challenge every one of us. 

The question isn't whether hard seasons will come.

The question is...

Who will you become because of them?

Onward & Upward,

Your Friend,

Tara