The Great Unlearning

Growing up as a competitive athlete, I was raised around the words, “Pressure makes diamonds.” 

Between early exposure to the hustle and bustle of Washington D.C.’s corporate air and competing as an NCAA collegiate athlete, I was predisposed to value high-achievement and competition for the sake of excellence. This was the place I operated from, along with a mentality I never quite felt alive under. 

Slowly but surely, the identity I had built around achievement and accolades began to gently unravel during my postgraduate life. I moved to the mountains of Utah to escape the expectations I had placed on myself to chase and exceed perfection. And when I started to grow away from that mindset, and shed the tendencies of glorifying pressure and stress, I felt a deep sense of relief. I was on a new path toward freedom.

Motherhood has also played a major role in my liberation from false measures of success. It has re-shaped my understanding of what “thriving” looks like, and it has challenged me further into introspection and empathy as I stumble along through the rollercoaster of toddler life. Somewhere along the journey between mountains and motherhood, I began to wonder if I could ever feel this same type of freedom and joy in my vocation. I had never known, or even dared to dream about, the possibility of fulfilling work that wasn’t measured by a scoreboard or performance stats.

That was, until I met Casey Nifong. 

When we sat down for the first time, I was immediately struck by how easy the conversations were (especially after 2 years of pandemic life, and growing significantly more awkward due to the quarantine era ha-ha). But when I heard this warrior woman speak of the business she had built from the ground up, there was no sense of ego or authority. Instead her tone was one of humility and deep sincerity. I listened as she communicated her excitement about the relationships that had formed along the way, the joy that had been found in the work, and the incredible women she got to partner alongside everyday. I had never quite heard success measured this way before.

Because of Casey and the rest of the team here at Mountain Laurel Digital, my former belief that “pressure is the only way to make diamonds” has been flipped on its head and taken for a ride. This team teaches me that beautiful things can grow from empowerment — that diamonds can form by support and teamwork, and that empathy is a key component to sustainable quality.

I have come to realize that the final condition of a diamond is heavily credited to the environment in which it’s placed. To create something worth marveling at takes an environment suitable for thriving. What Casey has built here at MLD is just that: a place for us to succeed and achieve, not because we have to or are expected to, but because we are equipped to. There’s acceptance and excitement on our team, and they have welcomed me and my family into that spirit as well. It has taken a great unlearning of my past wiring to break forth into this type of new-found freedom, but I’m thankful for the graciousness I’ve experienced through every step of that process.

Thank you, Casey and team, for making me better and showing me a different way to see success. I am proud to know you incredible women, and my days are better because of you!