My light bulb moments

I think most people have moments in their life where, like a light bulb, you suddenly see the light. Something wakes you up, snaps you out of whatever you were in.

I've had two light bulb moments that I can recall right now. I'm sure there've been more, but these two stick out, especially the first one.

When I was in college for Floriculture Merchandising, I knew I never wanted to run my own flower shop like my courses were preparing me for. But I did want to run my own business. I'd always had the plan to run a business that only specialized in wedding design. I wasn't real fond of the rest of the stuff that came along with being a floral designer: funerals, everyday birthdays and such. So after a few years working in a  flower shop as a designer, I did it. I went out on my own and I had built quite a reputation with solid referrals. It worked well for a while...until my daughter got older and I wasn't able to do the work during the day like I'd planned all along. And I started writing fiction...seriously with the intent of being published. My light bulb moment came one night around 10 pm when I was working in my design room with several hours of work yet to do. I was completely exhausted. And then my light bulb illuminated. Other nights I sat at my computer writing til 1-2 a.m. and had to force myself into bed cause I knew my daughter would be up in only 6-7 hours.

I realized I did not love my work anymore. And I needed to do something about it.

Light bulb moment number two came when my son was an infant. I apologize now if this is all too much information. I had breastfed my daughter exclusively to 6 months, then started supplementing with formula. At nine months, she gave it up completely. But there had never been a shortage of breast milk. My son, on the other hand, maybe he just ate too much, or maybe my body had changed, but the supply just was not there. I kept trying though, as excruciatingly painful as it was. Around his two month bday, my light bulb went off. My son was crying and I picked him up...but to hold him against my chest to comfort him, it hurt sooooooooooooooooo bad. I had to hand him off to my husband. That was it.....I stopped nursing him. It was just not worth it to keep doing it when I was in so much pain I couldn't even hold my baby. (And FYI, I did try to keep pumping but the supply had just diminished too much.)

So....have you had any light bulb moments??? What did you do about them?? Were you happier after??