The Name Change

I wasn't going to become Michelle Linn-Gust-Rusk.

It would have been easy to continue have been legally Michelle Linn and professionally Michelle Linn-Gust as I had been since 1999. And Greg was quite okay with that.

However, to me, this was about not fearing letting go of the past. When I married the first time, it was before my first book was published and I was afraid that if I left Linn off, no one who knew me could find the book. And then when I divorced, I had built a career with seven books as Michelle Linn-Gust. And as I sit here writing this, I am trying to figure out exactly what it was that would happen if I dropped Gust and now I have no answer.

It's probably because I realized when I was marrying Greg six weeks ago that I needed to stop fearing letting go of the past. I am proud of all that I accomplished as Michelle Linn-Gust and just because it's causing some confusion with eight books published as Michelle Linn-Gust and one as Michelle L. Rusk, and it appears we have to create a completely new Wikipedia page, it's okay.

One of my mantras over the past few years that in passing time I feel more strongly about is not fearing anything about the past. I can let it all go because I'm really not letting go of it– the memories are mine to keep– but instead I'm saying that I don't need to hold it tight. And the more I let it go, the more I can let new opportunities come raining down on me (and I am less likely to miss catching them!).

Becoming Michelle L. Rusk is about my commitment to Greg but it's also about our future together. And the future that I'm continuing to build as I work toward achieving more of my dreams.