Town & Country magazine’s February issue featured a profile of seven “Wonder Women”. Considering how much I love success stories and horoscopes (yes, this is the issue with the 2009 outlook), I was looking forward to some serious inspiration. The stories of Michelle Obama, Tina Fey, Suze Orman and Diane Von Furstenberg did not disappoint – but the story of Ariane de Bonvoison’s struggle to align her outer and inner lives really spoke to me. It was more like divine intervention than inspiration.
Ariane has made some big leaps – she’s left executive positions at Sony and Time Warner, ended a relationship with one of People magazine’s “America’s Top 50 Bachelors”, taken two years off from the corporate world and created a business that makes a difference in people’s lives.
These decisions, life experiences led her to create First 30 Days– a company that helps people through the initial stage of more than 60 life changes.
Ariane realized that if the one constant in life is change, why is it that change is still so hard for us? She says we’re really much better at it than we think.
“We have a change muscle that just needs to be worked. People are obsessed with their job resume, but assess your change resume – who you are today is a combination of all the changes you’ve had to face in your life and the ones you’ve initiated. You’ve already made dozens of changes, you just haven’t acknowledged yourself for that.”
I love that Ariane was considered one of the seven Wonder Women. Her willingness to face uncertainty and ability to shift our perspective regarding change is so necessary. Now more than ever, we need role models who’ve stepped outside their comfort zone, taken the different path and are providing tools to help us live more authentically.
Read Ariane’s T&C article, watch her discuss Making Big Leaps on “BusinessWeek.com and visit her web site at www.first30days.com.
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