A passion for dancing up a storm.

What came next was meeting some of the most inspiring and outstanding people I’ll probably ever come across in this lifetime. Oh, we hired hundreds of new, fabulous lululemon faces, and we launched exciting attraction programs too... the work was about as challenging, fast paced, and action packed as anyone could hope for! But an itching desire to strike out, take risks and have a grand adventure always slumbered within me, and I knew deep in my heart of hearts that there was something more, waiting for me, somewhere across the Atlantic.

The people resource team.

As a hopeless romantic I had spent my entire life wishing, dreaming and hoping that someday I’d live in Europe. However, I never really took any steps to make these visions a reality. It wasn’t until I learned and understood the skills of goal setting, received some incredible coaching and encouragement from Susanne Conrad, and created a vision board with my People Resources team, that it finally sunk in that I needed to DO IT NOW.

So I did.

Ashley achieving her goal to live in Europe 2 years earlier!

Fast forward to present day, March 2010, and I have leapt over the pond and landed myself smack dab in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. By some force of fate, luck or magic, I have managed to stay a part of the lululemon recruitment team and continue to work remotely; providing creative project management for our key 2010 initiatives. Technology really is an incredible thing, when someone can log in to say hello to their favourite coworkers each morning via Skype, and at the same time, live out their wildest traveling dreams.

Ashley living in Scotland.

So far, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Chamonix (France) have been the hosts of my traveling office. In early March, I’ll be working from Spain, and I have an ambitious list of places that I plan to spread some lululemon love in the months to come!

A new life with a new view.

If you have big, wild, crazy dreams I recommend that you don’t delay.

Make a decision. Take a leap. Do it now.

A vision board makes your goals and dreams reality.

You only have one life to live, and trust me, it can be pretty darn spectacular.

Above: Elyse and her run club!

Life can be most enjoyed when you live your life with passion. As former United States Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice said, "The most important thing you can do in life is to find a passion. When you find your passion, you'll realize that you didn't find it - it found you."

I was fortunate enough to find my passion as a quiet fourteen-year old in Northern New Jersey. From the very first moment that I stepped foot on the track, I was hooked on running and quickly became immersed in the culture. In college, I ran competitively as well, but I also found myself involved in many activities outside of running, mainly politics. I had this idea that running was just for fun and that I needed to focus on ways that I could build a career. I didn't see a way for me to find a career within the running industry.

After college, I became a political appointee with the U.S. government, and was still running and training hard, but I was very equally balanced between work, running, and my social life. Shortly after the 2007 Marine Corp Marathon, I had a running injury that sidelined me for about two months. As soon as I learned that I had to take some time off from running, I immediately panicked, but I also realized that the reason why I was so upset, was because the sport of running is my biggest passion in life.

Fast forward almost two years later, and I have built my life around running, and found a way to make a career out of the sport of running. Nearly 99% of what I do for fun and for my career revolves around running. As an educator at lululemon, my focus is running, whether it is organizing our run club, or talking to guests about my favorite run products. Now, I coach elementary school students and adults. I am able to share my passion for the sport as President of the Washington Run Club. And I am also studying for my personal training certificate, so I can further my knowledge on working with athletes.

As I write this, I also am icing my foot, as I have a stress fracture in my right metatarsal. Unlike during my injury after my '07 marathon, my life and career are now built around running. So, even though I have to take a short break from running and hit the bike and pool, I still feel very much in the game and involved in the run community, because I know that the athletes I coach need me, that the run club still needs to be organized, and that my friends and training partners will appreciate me just as much cheering from the sidelines. This injury is certainly the least devastating as of yet, because even though I would rather be running with my athletes and friends, I know that everything in my life is about running. I am my passion. And I made the decision to build my life that way.

Making a passion into your whole life is not for everyone. My challenge to all of our lululemon blog readers is to think about what you are truly passionate about and cultivate it. You will be happier and more fulfilled.