The Day it Began

I didn’t wake up that day knowing everything was about to change. There was no dramatic announcement. No perfectly timed moment where clarity arrived neatly wrapped with a bow. What there was - was disappointment, heartbreak, and the realization that the life I thought I was building wasn’t actually mine anymore.

“I was blindsided — not just because of Paris, but because the ‘forever’ I believed in wasn’t actually mine anymore.”

Paris had been part of the dream. Our dream. A future trip we talked about, imagined, planned for “someday.” And then, I learned he had gone. Without me.

I was blindsided. Not just because of Paris - but because it confirmed what I didn’t want to admit. We were trying to rebuild - but he had found someone else, and the “forever” I believed in wasn’t actually mine anymore.

That moment didn’t just hurt - it shattered the future I thought I was building. But it also made something undeniable clear: I had been waiting. Waiting for the relationship to settle. Waiting for certainty. Waiting for someone else’s choices to align with my own.

“I had been waiting — for certainty, for alignment, for someone else’s choices.”

Standing in a stormy ferry terminal not long after, bags at my feet, wind whipping all around me, I remember thinking: If this is where I am now… what happens if I stop waiting?

“I had been waiting — for certainty, for alignment, for someone else’s choices.”

That was the quiet beginning of Jackie Doing Jackie.
A decision.
A decision to stop putting my life on hold while someone else figured theirs out. A decision to do things because I wanted them - not because they fit into a shared future that might never arrive.

I didn’t know what came next. But I knew I wasn’t going backwards.

Jackie Doing Jackie wasn’t about finding confidence. It was about finally seeing things clearly - and letting that be enough to move forward. One small step at a time. A new life in new shoes!

About Jackie

Jackie is the voice behind Jackie Doing Jackie — Life in New Shoes. After realizing the life she thought she was building wasn’t actually hers anymore, she began choosing herself — one honest step at a time.

This blog is about reinvention, solo travel, trusting yourself again, and building a life that feels true — no matter what chapter you’re in.