Dear 2020…

You have been the most challenging year of my life. When the economy shut down and all events cancelled we had to furlough all of our hourly team members. My heart was literally ripped out of my chest as I cried during every meeting delivering the unbelievable news. It was traumatic. Then we had to lay off a couple members of our team, and finally some people voluntarily left. My heart continued to hurt. We have worked tirelessly for the past 11 years to build a strong foundation to weather a storm but this was the unimaginable. To watch our sales decrease by 75% due to restrictions on gatherings has been devastating.

I believe life is always happening “for” us and not “to” us. In many ways 2020 has been a cleansing I never knew I needed. It has given me space to identify relationships that are no longer serving me. It has shown me that we have a small but mighty team at Footers and our perseverance will make us even more successful in the future. It has caused us to grind down our team to the true core so we can add a fresh coat of polish and rebuild intentionally. It has shown me that family is my number one priority in life and I will go to great lengths to create security and safety. When the world is falling apart my family is my rock; this includes my Footers family.

2020 has shown me there is goodness in most people. It has shown me the incredible people that have self-initiative and are willing to dig in and do anything it takes to thrive on the other side of this. It has shown me people making time to serve their community in any way necessary. It has shown me the people that are innovating to stay in the game and evolve to the demands of a pandemic. It has shown me people that have taken care of their teams and leaned into love and heart leadership.

I discovered my true heart in 2020. I always believed I was a heart led leader but this year that was tested time and time again. I am proud of myself for the way I chose to show up during the hardest days of my life.