About MArSha ABbott
Wife. Mother. Writer. Advocate.
My Story
If you decide to walk on this journey with me, then I think it’s important for you to know how it all got started. As we take this path together, I also ask for you to keep an open mind. Think about your life, where it is today, and where you would like it to be in the future. And while I don’t know what this journey will hold for either of us, what I do know is that it feels right. And I can only hope that we can learn together about how to truly be our best selves.
My name is Marsha Abbott. I grew up in the small town of Springbrook, Iowa in a loving, Catholic family where I was the middle child. However, I never felt like a typical “middle child”, who is often known for feeling left out or striving for their parents’ attention. My parents were great! In fact, I would argue, one of the best! They raised my wonderful older sister, fun loving younger brother, and me as Christians, teaching us to try our best to do what is right. But obviously, mistakes were made along the way (both parents and children alike) and disagreements happened often, as they do in most families. My role quickly became the “peace maker” in our family. I wanted everyone to always be happy and to always get along. Reflecting back on my childhood, I can now clearly see that this is where my desire to inspire others really first came to life. I had this strong desire in our family at such a young age and for as long as I can remember.
Then I started my career after college in the financial services industry. I have a successful career that I am fortunate enough to say I love and enjoy! Through leadership opportunities in the organization and also through community settings, it all really started to ignite that fire of inspiring others. It seems, over the past 5 years, to have really come to life, but I still wasn’t sure what my long-term dreams were with this new found passion.
And then two years ago, we moved to Dubuque, Iowa which was just a short 30 miles from our last home. Who would have guessed that such a small change would ultimately lead me to the eye-opening experience I needed around this passion?
With the move, I decided to join a new Church. And by “new” I mean a new denomination. One completely different than the one I was raised in. I was so fortunate to have found the Hope Evangelical Free Church, and this church really spoke to my heart in a way that is hard to describe.
One day, a year later, I was listening to Pastor Matt talk about the gifts we are all given through God, and I was inspired. He went on to challenge all of us to think about these gifts and are we using them to the best of our ability? It was that week, as I reflected upon Pastor Matt’s words, that I started to really think about how I wanted to humbly use this gift that so many in my life have told me I have been given. It was right then and there that the birth of the “Be Your Best Self” Blog was born, but please know that while I was inspired through my faith, these are not spiritual blogs.
Everything after that just started to slowly evolve into what you see today. But there is one thing I know for certain…I would not have been able to even start on this journey without my amazing husband, Brad, our three incredible children Lexy, Gavin & Claire (who you will get to hear all about in this journey), my incredibly talented sister who I call my “Editor & Chief”, and a very close friend of mine, who keep giving me that nudge to just “do it already.”
xoxo