Time to be brave.

For some reason I had the feeling that this post would just slip out of my fingers. Instead, since our Bali vacation, I've been thinking back and forth about how to start. In my last issue of Sarah's Journal, I already hinted that I wanted to deal with a certain topic during our vacation. But I haven't said anything more about it yet. On the one hand, that was because certain things had to be sorted out first, and on the other hand, I think that the fact that held me back was that I didn't know how honest I wanted to be about this topic. But let's start from the beginning.

You should know that I am a security person through and through. I trust my gut feeling a lot most of the time and am a person who can make decisions straight away, but I also have a great need for basic security. I think that is simply due to the fact that we have had a number of experiences in our family that have led to this situation for me. Accordingly, the decision I made was a somewhat lengthy process and several factors played a role.

When my parental leave ended last year and I went back to work, I put myself under a lot of stress to do everything right. I really wanted to prove that the seven months I was on parental leave hadn't had a big impact on my job. As you can probably imagine, I was just swimming and just trying to put out the little fires that arose every day. Always only half-heartedly involved and never 100% committed to anything. I got into a state where I was already looking forward to the next weekend on Mondays and could hardly wait for the holidays. A situation that I never wanted to be in. It was always very important to me to have a job that I really enjoyed (almost) every day. And that was exactly the case for years, but something had changed.
In December 2016, the first blog post from Wohnglück Hamburg went online, marking the start of my passion project. Since then, I have been working on Wohnglück in every free minute alongside my full-time job as a sales representative for the Danish label mbyM. Over the years, an interior blog and Instagram account became an online shop with its own small label. The Wohnglück design label is now history, but the online shop has grown steadily. With a very clear vision, I built Wohnglück, first on my own and then with Felix at my side, and Wohnglück Hamburg became Studio Wohnglück. Always everything in parallel and in every free minute that was available to us.

You're probably wondering why the hell I put myself through so much stress. The answer is simple: I'm passionate about it. I love it. It's my passion and the happiness of living with my first baby.

Then Zoe was born in November 2022 and everything changed. Priorities shifted and I had to find my way in this new situation. What was important to me? How could I divide my time to do everything right? But above all, how did I want to divide my time? All questions that were in the back of my mind, but I pushed them aside for the time being and went back to my job. As I said, I probably just wanted to prove to myself that I could still manage everything with a baby.

But well, I don't think I need to tell you that this was not possible in the long term. And so there were moments when I became more and more irritable because of my job at mbyM. The number of trivialities that made me extremely angry was piling up. One day there was a key moment that made me know that things couldn't go on like this. I got a call that a new table was to be delivered to the mbyM showroom in Hamburg. A table made of travertine and weighing an impressive 100 kg. The catch with the call: I was told that the delivery would only be made to the curb. A fact that completely overwhelmed me at that moment and I found myself at home in a state where I kept telling Felix that I had no idea how I was going to get this sorted. I laugh about it now, but at that moment it was the last straw and I felt like I had to climb Mount Everest. Things could not go on like this and it was clear to Felix and me that I had to make a decision about how I wanted to continue with my work.
Luckily, our Bali vacation was just around the corner. Two weeks of just being away and getting away from everyday life. Letting my thoughts wander and thinking about what I actually wanted to do. In Bali, we visited friends who were traveling around the world at the time. Friends who I have known for half my life and, above all, friends who have been with me on my journey to happiness from the very beginning. These very friends founded their own company years ago and could remember all too well the thoughts that were swirling around in my head at the time.

"Sarah, do you believe in happiness in your new home?" They asked me this question on day two. Such a simple question, but one that took me a long time to answer and that I had to listen deep within myself. You probably know this all too well: How often are you asked how you are and in most cases you answer "good" without that perhaps coming anywhere close to your actual state of mind. But when I was able to answer the question with a clear "yes" in that moment, I knew that my decision had been made.

That evening was followed by two days in which I carried around an incredible anger. I don't know why. But after that anger disappeared, I felt an enormous sense of relief and it felt like a knot had been untied. Maybe I had to travel halfway around the world to make the decision, no plan. I think I at least had to get out of our everyday life to get some distance and be able to look at it more clearly.

It was one thing to make the decision in Bali, but a completely different thing to follow through with it. This is where the security aspect comes into play again, and apart from that, it's no longer just about me, but about us as a family. Luckily, Felix supported me 100% the whole time. Above all, he was the one who said directly at the key moment that things couldn't go on like this. And so I had discussions and followed through with my decision. It never felt wrong and my excitement about what's to come is indescribable. Now I just have to clench my butt cheeks and do both jobs at the same time, but from autumn onwards I'll say:

Bye mbyM, hey Studio Wohnglück!

Full focus on my heart project with tons of ideas in my head that I am already developing in parallel and I am very much looking forward to being able to tell you more about it soon.

All love,

Sarah

I know, I should probably show you some bargains from the sale. But I'll be honest: I'm too excited about the cozy fall knitwear to want to show you any midsummer styles here. Maybe you feel the same?

1. Favorite fabric trousers finally in black I 2. Classic I 3. You can never have enough grey knitted sweaters I 4. Cool scarf I 5. Casual jeans I 6. Silver mini earrings I 7. I think it's kind of cool

I'm often asked where I get my inspiration from. Mostly from Pinterest or occasionally from Instagram. And since you seem to be really keen on them, here are my favorites from last week.

I’ll close with my favorite songs that I’m currently listening to on repeat:

Artemas - I like the way you kiss me

Eagle - Eye Cherry - Save tonight

Rüfüs Du Sol - Innerbloom

Teddy Swims - Lose Control