2023 Life Update

3 months later...

Wow, what a whirlwind of a year! Life has been going a way that I would've never expected! I'm going to take you through each month in a nutshell and tell you what I learned. Let's start with January...

January

Welcome to my life in January. If you don't know, ever since November I have been living in the city and around that time also, I got a personal training job right around the corner from my house. It was so convenient because I could just walk. I was unsure if I was going to be able to afford rent, but I took a step in faith and moved out and The Lord provided financially in every way. I also took a step in signing up for my first marathon, at the end of April, with only 3 months of consisitent running under my belt...I know, CRAZY.

From here on out, I never thought my life would turn into what it did...

In the beginning of January, I found out that my job was not what I thought it was. I absolutely loved everything about it; coworker and boss, but I ended up resigning for legal reasons. That was a whole process in itself just finding out what was happening. With a lot of people backing me up, I ended up resigning very out of the blue with no next step, just plainly walking into the unknown.

The unknown is a very hard spot for me, but in this instance, I had a ton of peace about my decision. That is how I knew it was the right one. During this time, I learned that the things that are typically too good to be true, are normally too good to be true. Not all the time, but you just have to be cautious and careful; especially in today's world. A little bit more in depth, another lesson is that moving forward with jobs, I should always be looking for paperwork to fill out within the first few days... I won't go much more into it, but I highly suggest that you be aware of this too. You never know what you're getting yourself into or even the kind of person you're working for.

February

Moving into February, not much happened. Training was going really good. Was starting to run probably 5-10 miles per week. I went right into trying to find a new job position at another gym, but unfortunately was unsuccessful. Still had an immense sense of peace and my relationship with God was thriving. I'm positive that the peace was from God. (Philippians 4:6-7). During this time, I was also going to random places in the city and asking if they were hiring. My income had not cut out completely, but it had cut back immensely. I also started spending WAY too much money on shopping. Not the wisest idea. I just didn't know it was going to take me so long to find another job.

Towards the end of February, I found a gym that was looking really good! It was a faith based personal training focused gym that also had obstacle courses. I shadowed there a couple of times but then got sick. High fever, chills and heat flashes, headache, stomach issues, etc. so I did not show up to shadow. There must've been a miscommunication that I needed to show up to shadow over that week and I was not aware of that. During this month, I learned that it is way harder to find a job than I thought it would be and that I should not take for granted all of the previous jobs that I have had. Also, that the Lord had blessed me with amazing jobs down all sorts of avenues. Now let's head into March...

March

This was the hardest and wildest ride yet. Let me preface by saying that for the past 4 months, I have not been in the best headspace since moving out. Being totally transparent, I felt very unwanted and didn't feel like I connected well with my roommates. When they would have friends over, most times, I was asked if I had plans that night or basically confined to my room. With that being said, I started to go out for the day and only came back for dinner or just to sleep. I would do my still do my dishes, clean the house, laundry, etc. but I just barely ever spoke to my roommates. I just did not want to move back in with my mom so I was going to try to stick it out. This is a difficult thing to share, but on March 7, I was told to move out. With no warning or mention of it ahead of time. Just purely out of the blue. I was so confused, but the Lord wasn't. He knew that was going to happen and he wasn't surprised one bit. I felt in my spirit that something was off and I was right. So within the next 2 days, I was all moved out.

My next step was dog sitting. I was kind of living out of my car at this point. Half of my things were in my car and half at a friends. I had gotten on this platform called Rover and had got this gig that I was super excited for! Oh man, was I not prepared for what I would go through within the next 4 days. Torment and spiritual warfare. Let me just say that the previous weeks I have asked the Lord to see/feel the spiritual realm more and boy oh boy, I sure did. I met the girl before I accepted and she was super nice! The dog was a little off, but I didn't think anything of it.

If you know me, you know that I am not into the New Age practices. As I was living in this space, I was noticing that was what was going on there. Crystals, tarot cards, books, etc. It was all right in plain sight. The first night I was unable to sleep because of the spiritual warfare that I was facing. That was one of the scariest nights of my life. After that it started to get better. I started to pray for the girl; that angels would surround me and give me peace. I started putting 2 and 2 together that I was immersed into the spiritual realm so I just prayed. I can't even tell you how much, but when I was in there, I was praying. Nothing against the girl, but the practices that took place was just hitting me really hard. So again, I would start going out for the day, mainly to Door Dash, but I would be there to take care of the dog and sleep. During this time, I was reminded of how powerful the Lord is but also that the spiritual realm is 100% REAL.

At this point, so much was going on in my life that I did not have any motivation to train for this race so I took a break. Longer than expected.

After the 4 days of dog sitting, I actually dog sat for a friend for 2 nights so it was a breath of fresh air. When I was finished with that, I stayed a night at another friends. I was couch hopping. Never thought I would be homeless, but I am very blessed with the community that was & is around me that was willing to help me in any way they could.

I was avoiding going back to my mom's because it has not always been smooth sailing. I mean no one is perfect, but speaking for myself, I held her to a high standard. Now, writing this on May 16, I am realizing that I am wrong in that and just as I am both broken and imperfect, she is also and I need to have more grace. But anyways, that has hindered our relationship for a lot of years, so I wasn't looking forward to it, but the Lord had and still has a plan. About 2 weeks after I had been "kicked out", I told her. I was always afraid I wasn't ever going to reach her standard growing up, so I didn't want to disppoint her with this, but after talking with my brothers, I took advice to talk to her and move back in. Beginning of April, I took another step of faith and did just that. Still no full time job at this point either, but I knew my mom would welcome me back with open arms.

April

The month of the marathon. I realized it's crunch time now. The marathon was in about 3 weeks away and I thought, "I have got to get a move on". If you know me, you know that I lowkey THRIVE off of "crunch time". This was also the month that I ran 18 miles. That was the farthest I ever ran before the marathon. I did not train very much and that is one of the things that I regret but also learned not to do lol.

Also the month of new experiences. I had many side hustles so the income was coming in. Brand deals started to pick up, I was dog sitting, babysitting, I even did construction for a few days, I was a second shooter for a wedding, etc. Lot's of random side hustles, but I'm so thankful for the Lords provision in that.

April 30th...race day aka the hardest day of my life. It was rainy and miserable. All I gotta say is the smile was fake...JK I was cheesing so hard because the torment was FINALLY over! Read on to find out more...

To start out, I maybe stretched for 2 minutes, my friends were just so excited. I started out at a 10-11 minute pace and thought that was really good, but then a couple miles in I pushed it at a 9 min pace for a few miles and was WIPED by mile 6.

Mile 6 was a big mile for me. I thought about the fact that I have 20 miles left and wanted to die, I was cramping everywhere except my legs, and I got the worst period cramps of my entire life on this mile. Keep in mind, those lasted the whole duration of the race. Mile 8 it got so bad that I had to walk. Walking was my biggest fear during this race so I actually started crying from the pain but also the fact that I couldn't push through the pain. I walked way more than I wanted to during this race. Mile 12 there was a spectator spot but it was a drop out spot too. I went up to my friends and said, "Please pray for me, this is the hardest run of my life." Then I kept running. Mile 13 I thought about the fact that I have a whole half marathon to get through and again, started crying. Mile 15-21 was a blur. Consisted of praying, crying, walking and repeat. Mile 21 I started to get blisters. Mile 23 I met a friend and we actually ran with each other until the end! We started going through puddles that were over our ankles and honestly, that was the highlight of the whole run! I don't know how I would've done it without her! Ended up finishing in under 4 hours which was my goal. My more specific goal was 4:41:00 and I finished in 4:42:00. The whole ride back I was in so much pain mainly from my menstrual cramps. That pain was so significant that it just blocked all the others out. Except my booty started really cramping on mile 23. That was my experience though! I learned that marathon depression is a thing. Just thinking about a PR (personal record) is addicting. Although, the next one I do, hopefully in November, I definitely need to train more.

MAY

Wow, we finally made it to May. Wasn't sure if we were ever going to get here. Still doing brand deals, babysitting, photography, and I helped to teardown a wedding for my cousin's wife who is a florist. Hit her up @meadowbrookfloral!

I have also been posting more on my Amazon Storefront! Link is amazon.com/shop/destinykauffman if you want to check it out!

And that concludes the past 5 months...one word to sum it up would be WILD. I know that God is good and that he knows my decisions before I even make them so nothing is a surprise to Him! (Psalm 139) That alone gives me so much peace and hope!

If you read this whole thing, hopefully you have a bit more understanding of why I wasn't posting weekly. Hope you all have a great week! Again, so sorry for the delay but I'll try to get another blog post up for you in under 3 months ;)

Thank you for all the support <3

Love,

Destiny