How Sips of Sunshine Got Its Name
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How did Sips of Sunshine get its name? I've told a few friends this story and every time I tell it, they say the same thing: "You need to do a blog post about this!" Ugh. Here's why I hesitate: the story of how Sips of Sunshine got its name is kind of weird. Kind of woo woo. Even for me. And I'm woo woo. But this is a year of openness in ways I haven't opened up before. It's a year of getting uncomfortable and pushing into new spaces of vulnerability. So here we go. This is how Sips of Sunshine got its name. Read to the end for the plot twist.
I hired a life coach in the fall of 2016 and we were magical together. She pushed me and I did the work. And sometimes two people are simply magical and we were. Long before Sips of Sunshine even existed, she and I did what's called a "future self" exercise. In this exercise, I was taken through a meditative process where I beamed up into the universe then came back down to Earth about 5 years from today and met my future self at age 45. I got to see her, talk to her, was invited into her home. Told you. Woo woo.
Bear with me.
When I beamed back down to earth, I was standing at the foot of a driveway. I walked up to her house and knocked. The house was beautiful, but not audacious, and surrounded by big trees. It felt like Seattle or Connecticut or somewhere with rain and seasons and fresh air. She answered the door and had her brown hair pulled into a ponytail (I immediately stopped torturing my hair with highlights and blonde ambitions that weren't meant to be). She was wearing fitted jeans and a t-shirt (I reminded myself about my gym membership). She was smiling and comfortable and welcoming. She invited me in.
We poured a cup of coffee and sat on the couch. The living room opened to the kitchen which had a big center island and and it was really warm and inviting. The kind of home where you host friends for Super Bowl parties and game nights. I got to ask her questions. Things like: what do you regret the most about the past 5 years? What are you most proud of? What does your life look like today? It didn't feel forced and it didn't feel weird. It was peaceful and comfortable and almost felt like I was watching a movie. But it also felt really real and like I'd been there before. I knew that house. I knew that kitchen. I knew those two Goldendoodles (Poppy and Rose) playing in the yard. We talked for a while and I learned about her life.
The exercise didn't last too long - maybe 20 minutes. Before I had to leave her, I had one last question: "What do people call you? What's your nickname?"
Now: let me interject here. I've NEVER had a nickname in my life. I tried to call myself Vitamin A for a while in my 20's and I learned two things: 1) you can't give yourself a nickname and 2) people will laugh at you for giving yourself a nickname. So the concept of nicknames is foreign to me and I don't think of myself has having one.
No hesitation. "Sunshine," she said with a big smile. "People call me Sunshine."
We said goodbye and when I opened my eyes I was sitting on my couch in my West Village studio apartment. I bought a bracelet with "sunshine" stamped on it and wore it every day as a reminder that everything I do today is leading me to this future that I really love and am excited about. I love my life now as well, but how fun is it to love the present and love the future simultaneously? Spoiler alert: it's really really fun.
A few months later, I decided to start this blog and it needed a name. I didn't even have to think about it. Of course it would be called Sunshine.
Plot twist: I got a tattoo when I was 19. I put zero thought into it. I was driving past the tattoo place with a friend, she said "wanna get tattoos?" I whipped that car into a u-turn and said yes. If you have a tattoo, you'll understand this, but over the years I've become "blind" to the tattoo. It's on my right hip. I'm usually reminded of it when I'm in a bikini and my friends say "I always forget you have a tattoo!" Fast forward 21 years, it was a few months after launching Sips of Sunshine, I was getting dressed in front of the mirror one morning and noticed my tattoo for the first time in a long time. The tattoo? It's a picture of a sunshine. She's always been with me and part of me. I just finally asked her to tell me her name.
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