2023: Full Launch
POV: It’s the year 2023. You pack up your car with all of your belongings, move your things into a storage unit across the country, immediately leave to travel internationally, get engaged to your best friend while abroad, marry them a month later, and in the following months work together to launch two successful businesses in the Space Coast region of Florida while taking important steps in your volleyball career. This was my year.. and man, was it a ride. I experienced insane moments of inspiration, and also self-administered pep talks… sometimes needing to muster the courage to take the next step forward.
As I look back at this year,
I can honestly say that I stepped into the void of the unknown, much like how I would imagine it would feel to go to outer space for the first time. You don’t know what’s next beyond your present moment, you don’t even really know how to imagine where you are going. But you understand the internal vision, the vision that includes how you want your lifestyle to be, the kind of people you want to be around, the level of health you want to maintain and the priorities that you want to consider while making life changing decisions.
It’s an interesting thing, deeply knowing where you want to go, without quite exactly knowing how to get there. Even the paths of other people who have what you want are different from your own. No one will find your way better than yourself. My focus for this year? Choosing to take the next best step and putting one foot in front of the other, trusting my own intuition and preparation for this moment more than looking left or right at what other people are doing.
(Hint: if you use the word “should” alot, maybe it’s time to ask yourself whose beliefs are informing your decisions…)
A series of small steps throughout the year allowed me to make progress at a rate that I had not even realized until I started working on this very blog post.
Putting in Roots: I am happy to share that I now have fully relaunched and grown my volleyball organization in the Indialantic area - youth and adults who want to advance their volleyball game, gain better health, and apply creativity to the ways we train both physically and mentally! It makes me happy and especially grateful to have such incredible clients in both California and Florida now.
Actualizing Dreams: My husband, Bruno, and I have proudly opened the doors of Vinci Jiu Jitsu, literally building the vision that he has dedicated himself to for the last 16 years of his life. There might not be anything as beautiful as getting to see a loved one build their dreams into reality, as it also catapults you into your own pursuits. I am making it my mission to work with Bruno to build a strong and welcoming women’s jiu jitsu program with a focus on self-defense, which is something I am extremely passionate about, and the reason we became friends years ago.
Building the Launch Pad: I laid the foundation for my professional volleyball career in a way that I have been wanting to for years (but did not previously have due to support and resources). Training consistently with my long time coach once again and tracking progress, having a system for building my own defensive and offensive tactics, and taking a highly individualized approach to my physical development have all ignited my creativity in this sport in a way I have never experienced before.
When you realize that you really can make a change in your life any time you decide to, and that your only limiting factor is yourself, life becomes simple. And when you realize that those changes you want to make come with an insane amount of responsibility and some growing pains, you learn real quick that you’ll need to shape yourself into the person who can shoulder those responsibilities well. There’s a certain feeling of freedom that is reserved for holding more than you previously thought you could.
So yes, 2023 was the year I spent hours honing my craft of becoming the person who can compete at the top of the AVP and internationally, who can be a resource to athletes who need a dedicated coach who can go into the unknown with them, who can support her husband’s jiu jitsu dream which has become her own, and who most importantly can stay open to the endless array of choices that life presents. This was the year I built my launch pad.
I used to think I wouldn’t be fully “ready” for launch until everything was perfect and I would have my whole life in order, poised for a smooth takeoff toward my nicely charted path to success. Instead, I will now forever be grateful for this year because it taught me that the journey really is something that you shape along the way, not something that is laid out ahead of time.
Turns out it’s actually far more fun this way!
Ready for takeoff,
Laurel Reale Borzani
If you are still reading, thank you from the bottom of my heart. It is a joy to share my thoughts through writing. I have included some photos from my year below - from competitions on the east coast to west coast of the US, from training in Brazil to coaching for USA in the World Championships in Thailand, old places and new… I definitely packed in a lot of volleyball with some incredible people! Happy Holidays!
