A few weeks ago I officially announced that YALDAH will not be printed anymore, and will be sent digitally to our subscribers. This wasn’t a decision that we’d been planning and analyzing for months or years. This was simply me looking at the YALDAH bank account and realizing, “gulp…we don’t have enough money to print the next issue. Gosh, we barely have enough money to pay the bills we already owe.”

I thought about lending some of my own money to pay for printing the next issue, but I realized that was only a short-term solution. I also remembered that I had already invested thousands of dollars of our savings into expanding YALDAH, and had lost all that money. In just four years YALDAH had eaten up the $100,000 grant for Wells Fargo. I needed a long term solution.

So then the thought crossed my mind. “Is this the end? Should I just shut down YALDAH and move onto something new?”

That didn’t even seem possible to me. For the past nine years, for all my teenage years, my identity has been bound up with YALDAH. When I meet someone new they ask me, “Oh, you’re the one who does YALDAH?” Hours of each day are spent developing marketing campaigns, using things like heras fence banners and more.

Who would I be without YALDAH?

So I decided to continue publishing YALDAH digitally, and to not give up on the mission of inspiring and empowering Jewish girls. Of course, it was still a hard decision. I started YALDAH as a print magazine because I knew that the experience of curling up on the coach with a magazine (especially on Shabbos) is fundamentally different from reading a PDF on the computer. But, I’ve resolved to look at this as an opportunity for growth. This is a new stage for YALDAH, and I’m going to step back and see where it takes me.

I always talk about how important it is to have goals you’re working towards. Dreams only happen when you break them down into specific goals, and work with determination to get there. But what if our goals start to confine us? What if we’re so busy focusing on where we want to get to, that we don’t see other opportunities?

Here’s one example. I never planned on being a graphic designer. It was never a goal of mine, and I never thought I’d enjoy it. I did dream of being a writer and a teacher, like my mother. But, when I was thrown into the role of graphic designer when I started YALDAH, I realized that it was something I enjoyed and had talent for. I built up my skills and my portfolio, and now spend a good chunk of my day doing graphic design. And I love it.

So, remember to make your goals, and plan for the future, but don’t be scared to change them. Although my goal was to have a successful print magazine, I’m going to move forward with this new goal and hope that this will only bring new opportunities and success.

What do you think? Have you had goals or dreams that changed over time?