2020 was one of my favorite years, I know that’s strange to say since it was probably the worst year for most. But for me, it was filled with completing my racing career on top, marrying my best friend, and learning I was pregnant. Now that 2021 has come to an end, I must say it was the perfect year to follow up.
2021 continued growth for me and my business that was kickstarted in 2020. Looking back, I can say that my word to sum up the entire 365 days of 2021 is balance. After retiring from driving Top Alcohol Dragster and winning two World Championships, I wasn’t sure what my calendar would look like – it was the first time in my life that I wasn’t going to be tied down to a racing schedule. It was freeing yet scary at the same time.
I made commitments to a few of my racing clients to attend a handful of NHRA national events to capture pictures and videos for them to use on their social media, plus, I wanted to go to the events where my sister was making her professional debut as a sponsored driver for NTK Sensors (the sister brand of NGK Spark Plugs). We had fun coming up with creative videos for Reels and I was able to get plenty of video footage to use for race recaps of the events I didn’t attend. She went on to carry our family to our 5th World Championship, the team’s 4th in NHRA, with a nail biting winner-take-all fight to the finish in Las Vegas, the same race that I clinched my second title.
While I did attend a handful of races, my priority for 2021 was to spend time with family and doing more of the things that we love. Adam and I (with Henry in my belly) went on lots of adventures and outdoor trips including fishing in Montana, visiting the beaches in North Carolina, riding at the sand dunes in Oklahoma, trout fishing in Missouri, and more! And we are so excited to take Henry along with us on all of our adventures in 2022 and to be honest, I’m really looking forward to enjoying the Summer not being pregnant.
But 2021 wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, we lost my Uncle Joe in a tragic accident and I struggled a lot at adapting to motherhood. It was a mix of amazing and hard, and that’s okay because that’s what life is about. If you’re like me, you need to take a break every now and then from social media to get back to your roots. It’s okay if you hit a rut and need to take a step back (or to the side) to evolve and grow, in fact I encourage you to do it! I took two breaks off of social media this year; one in the Summer and one in the Winter to reevaluate my plans and action steps to get back on track towards my goals and it’s one of the best feelings in the world.
The number one question I have gotten asked since 2020 is, when am I coming back to racing?! To tell you the truth, I have missed the competition and adrenaline rush that comes with being behind the wheel, but I haven’t missed the late nights tearing apart motors, setting up the pits only to tear down days later, and traveling to and from tracks for weeks at a time without being home. Now that I’m not pregnant, I can get back in the cockpit and I plan to do some form of motorsports action when the time is right. I have no commitments and I want to take it easy and just have fun and see where the road leads to (no pun intended).
My resolutions for 2022 look like this:
- Do my very best but still go easy on myself if I don’t succeed
- Systematize my business to run on all 8 cylinders
- Participate in the 1,000 hour outside challenge with Henry
- Get back into racing!
- Continue to follow my nutrition regimen + workout plan to become stronger than I was before I got pregnant
- Try a new hobby!
- Make it to 1 year of breastfeeding Henry
- Read a business/marketing/personal development book each month
When I take a look back at what I was thinking of how I wanted my future to go once I made the decision to stop racing, I couldn’t have pictured anything better. Henry is simply the best and is a very easy baby (I know, we’re lucky!) and I didn’t have any complications with pregnancy or labor. I have high goals I want to achieve in business and in life in 2022, and I hope you do too. If you’re looking at 2022 as a fresh start, try setting the following expectations: work hard, try new things, and give it your best shot to reach the goals you set for yourself!
