They say life isn’t about the things that happen to you, but about the decisions you make. There’s a ton of coverage about the best decisions people have made, but not nearly enough conversation about the tough decisions.  We asked folks we admire to tell us about the most difficult decision they’ve ever had to make and have shared some of those responses below.

McKenzie Bigliazzi | Colorado Elopement Photographer & Educator

The most difficult decision I’ve ever had to make was deciding that some relationships don’t deserve my energy. I realized that some people in my life were not contributing to my success and deciding to create boundaries for myself is crucial to where I was headed. This is still a tough decision to make when I need to make it. Read more>>

Justine Niehaus | Lettering Artist

The most difficult decision I’ve ever had to make was deciding to become a stay at home mom. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education and was working as a teacher when I became pregnant with my daughter in 2011. Shortly after she was born, we packed up our life and moved to Denver for my husband’s job. I was met with the difficult decision of whether to continue my teaching career or stay at home with our daughter. I was so conflicted that I kept delaying my decision, telling myself I was “taking my time” to contemplate all the options. The truth is, I knew I wanted to stay home. However, there is so much pressure put on women to “do it all”: stay on a career path and work 40+ hours a week and then somehow go home, cook dinner and be a super mom. Read more>>

Peggy Houchin | Jewelry Designer & Artist

There are more than one but when I decided to leave my full-time job at Hewlett Packard (HP) after I had been there for 26 years, it was a very difficult decision. I was getting more and more restless with my job and wanting to pursue my jewelry design career and it was a huge leap for me to leave a high paying job with all the great benefits to start my own business and begin a career as a jewelry designer/artist. Read more>>