My business is all about making space … space in your home … space on your calendar … space in your life. I help people like you create space for new things … things that are more fun. Things that are more in sync with your life today. Things that are more nourishing for your soul.

Sometimes creating that space can feel great in and of itself — take the great textbook purge of 2006. It felt great in the moment … very freeing. Sometimes, though, creating space can leave you feeling … well … empty.

Yesterday I created a bit of space in my business life. I decided to leave a business networking group that I joined when simplify 101 was in its infancy, as was I as a business owner. From a business perspective, the space was needed and the decision was the right one. The new space will give me the opportunity to focus my marketing time and efforts in ways that bring me the clients I’m best meant to serve. It was and is the right decision.

From a personal perspective, however, creating this space left me feeling unexpectedly … empty.

As I made the announcement about my decision to move on … I got choked up. Yes, I can be an emotional girl … perhaps this is why the corporate gig wasn’t the BEST choice for me. 😉 I’m perfectly OK with the fact that I got emotional, it’s part of what makes me *me* and I’m good with that. It’s just that it caught me off guard. Completely. I had no idea I would feel what I felt, that creating the space would leave me feeling so empty. But it did.

When I think about it, it makes sense. When I decided to start simplify 101 the one thing that almost made me NOT do it was people — or lack there of. When you start a business fully intending to be the sole employee at the onset you have to expect to spend a lot of your time alone. I knew I’d miss having coworkers. I’d miss the comfort of seeing the same people on a regular basis and just having these people be a routine part of my life. My business networking group filled that void and really made it possible to embrace the thought of going it alone for a while.

It’s an interesting thing though … I have met so many great people since starting simplify 101 … people that in a million years I wouldn’t have met had I chosen a different path. I have never really been alone in this venture. Not even slightly. I have new friends … friends via blogs and emails and telephone and organizing conventions and business networking functions. These friendships, perhaps because they’re rooted in a deep common interest and passion, go much deeper than practically all the relationships I made while in the corporate world. (There is one exception:  my husband. I met him at my first corporate job.)

So what I realize is this … I will keep the friendships and business relationships I created in my networking group … the ones that matter to me and to them. The emptiness I felt yesterday is passing … and it’s truly an exciting thing. What opportunity did I just create space for? Who and what will come into my life and fill that space? I can’t wait to see.

What do you want to create space for in your life? You may be afraid of the pain or emptiness that space may create at the onset. That’s OK. And it’s perfectly normal.  Remember, to create something new in your life … you must be willing to let go of something old … an old belief, and old item, an old way of doing things. The list could go on and on. One way or another, though, if you want something new, you must create space for it.