Done.

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You should begin it serenely and too high of spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Happy October, friends! I return from my blogging hiatus to a new month, a new season, and a new job. 

The transitional time from one job to my current job has taken a lot of head space for me. I’ve not written much. I’ve not been able to see friends much. I’ve not been able to have every day adventures. I tend to focus on my “failures” and think that I should have been able to do more. I wonder how many people I let down because I wasn’t able to do much during the last month. I tend to forget that being in a new place, does not mean that I am failing. I am learning a new pattern. I am learning a new way of balancing life. I am always learning.

What we’re able to do and not do in a day does not matter by the end of the day. Once the day is done the most we can do is forgive ourselves, extend that forgiveness to others, and move on. Tomorrow is another opportunity. Especially when you’re in a transitional space, give yourself the grace you need to re-learn life. It will not help to dwell on how life used to be, or how easy your old routine was for you. Finish the day and be done. Be ready to celebrate tomorrow with a free mind, ready for the new adventures at hand!

I also have a new give away that will be coming at the end of the month. TripRider has offered to give away free app codes to all you Apple users to help plan your new adventures. There will be some physical travel journals included in the give away. I will post details on how to enter next week. The giveaway for the app is available to everyone. The journal giveaway is limited to the US for now for shipping reasons.

I hope that you are able to give yourself grace in all areas of your life. I hope you know that yesterday’s mistakes can be made into lessons, and that you can let go of any regret. I hope you know that transitioning into a new season isn’t failing, it is learning – and learning is always an adventure.

Beach.

 

“for whatever we lose (like a you or a me), it’s always our self we find in the sea.”- E.E. Cummings

After a long month, a few days relaxing on the beach was just what my wandering heart needed! I have some very exciting blog give aways coming up soon – make sure to keep an eye out!

I hope you enjoy the pictures below. I hope you have a moment to listen to what your heart needs.  I hope you have a good weekend.

 

  

 

My strategy for not being a badly sunburned  Irish lady by the end of the day. What can I say?  It worked!

Wild.

The Peace of Wild Things – Wendell Berry

 “When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time, I rest in the grace of the world, and I am free.”

This quote, to me, speaks of adventure in daily life. What are your go-to adventure quotes? Feel free to share in the comments below! Another short blog this week, but you will be rewarded next week with pictures from my road trip.

I hope you are able to find the peace of wild things and stumble into adventure in your daily life. I hope you are able to be inspired by the words of others – the words that let us know we are not alone. I hope you have a good week.

 

 

 

A quick thanks to TripRider for sharing my blog – honored to have any fellow “TripRiders” as readers :)

Plan.

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.” – Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

 Life has been busy for me. While the past month has seemingly flown by, the days have slowly been dragged. Earlier this year I made a promise that  I would go to the beach this year. I have spent much time on the beautiful rocky beaches of the west coast but it has been years since I’ve seen the white sand of Florida. I asked friends to join. I played around with the idea of different cities and different activities. Until now it has been so far in the future that I hadn’t really started planning. But now, friends, I leave in twelve days (and counting). I am excited.

I believe that adventure can be found in every day life – I also believe that adventure will be found on fun road trips and laid back vacations – if you’re looking for it or not. I once was on a trip and I missed the exit and happened to freak out a bit. My fellow adventurer said, “Well the worst thing that happens is we turn around.” That attitude was the adventure.

Here are just three of my favorite adventure planning tips and apps!

1. Find fun along the way
   It is so easy to save all of your planning for your destination, but you are missing half the fun! Find photo-ops and cool museums to visit along the way! There is a great app to help you find whatever little adventures  you may be interested in while en route to your destination – Roadtrippers. This app helps you do a detailed search for what may interest you along your way, and it’s free!
2. Organize, organize, organize, share
   There is an amazing app, TripRider, that helps you organize, plan, budget, document, and share your adventures. You are able to do so much with this app! It allows you to store your maps, in case you run out of cell service. It came in very handy a few years ago when I was without service for about 2 days in Montana! You can also upload your tickets, hotel reservations, budget, packing list. You are also able to store photos and thoughts from the trip and share it to social media straight from the app. If you need it on a trip, this app has it. It’s $4.99 but it has been worth every penny for me!
3. Don’t be afraid to be off plan
   Yes, you have planned for fun at your destination. You have planned for fun along the way. What happens if your plans fall through or something else comes up? Choosing to accept changes that come is a bit part of the adventure. One of my favorite road trip memories is stopping at the Jello Museum just because we saw a billboard! No agenda, just a decision to accept that opportunity. Of course, we would have never been able to take that opportunity if we hadn’t made a plan take that trip in the first place. There is a balance in planning for adventure. You have to be able to plan for the best but also be flexible for whatever happens.

I hope you know that if you take a wrong turn, you can simply turn around.I hope you are able enjoy your life while it is happening. I hope you know how to plan for adventure and how to let go so adventure can  find you.

Tomorrow.

“The Bravest thing I ever did was continue my life whne I wanted to die.” – Juliette Lewis

   To Write Love on Her Arms

World Suicide Prevention Day is September 10th. I am proud to support a wonderful organization that is working to be beacon of hope to people in dark places.

I hope that you know that you are valued. I hope you know that daring to stay alive, is adventurous and brave. I hope that you are able to find help, if you need.

 

To find out more information or find out how you can help, visit their website.

Space.

“At the end of the day, tell yourself gently: ‘I love you, you did the best you could today, and even if you didn’t accomplished all you had planned, I love you anyway.’” – François

 In community, I value honesty and space. I expect my close friends to be honest with me about their feelings and I expect them to know they have the space to feel what they are feeling without me barging into that space. They have space to fully form their opinions before sharing them. They have space to decide boundaries that may mean they never share some things with me. They have space to grieve, or cry, or gush over a date – there is space for whatever they need. Those expectations are extended from them to me as well.

There is safety in that honesty and in that space because it means that we mutually value each other as people. You don’t have to “be the funny one” around me. You don’t have to be anything but yourself with the space and boundaries you desire. Those principles are so important to me and I won’t sacrifice them.  That honesty and space is easy and necessary for me in community. It is hard for me to allow that space and honesty for myself.

I hold myself to high standards. I have things  I want to accomplish and I work very hard to do that. It’s easy for me to look at all of the things I didn’t do and be discouraged instead of looking at all of things I was able to accomplish. It’s easy for me to forget that I am more than what I do. Who I am as a person is more important than if my to-do list gets done. Who I am is more than how I strive to appear. I am trying to allow the space for myself to say it’s okay to grieve, to fail, to laugh. Whatever it is I am feeling – it’s okay to have that space. It’s okay to say at the end of the day, “I LOVE YOU, YOU DID THE BEST YOU COULD TODAY, AND EVEN IF YOU DIDN’T ACCOMPLISHED ALL YOU HAD PLANNED, I LOVE YOU ANYWAY.”

I hope that you are able to find that honesty and space in your own life. I hope know that you are more than the things that you do – you are valuable because you are you. I hope you know that being honest is one of the most adventurous things you can do.

Curious.

“Curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney

 I went kayaking yesterday. I’m paying for it pretty badly today with a blistering sunburn, but I think it was worth it still. When I kayak, I’m always reminded of the song “Just around the Riverbend” from Disney’s Pocahontas. There’s always the turns in the river and you don’t know what’s next – maybe it’s a rapid, maybe it’s calm water, maybe it opens up to a few new ways to travel the river. Whatever it may be it is exciting to find out what is there.

Life, however, is different for me when I come to my “river bends.” Anytime I can’t see what’s around the corner I tend to turn to worry instead of curiosity. Somehow I think that if I find  every possible way it could go wrong I will be prepared. Wouldn’t it be so much better to go into the turn with open curiosity, ready to see where I am lead? Ready to see what adventure lies ahead? I am trying, this week, to turn my kayaking adventure principles into real life adventure principles.

When I’m on the boat, I’m not afraid of drowning – I have a life jacket near by, I am a strong swimmer. I know that if I fall, I can get back up.

When I’m on the boat, I am in the moment – I’m not worried about the deadlines I may miss or if I got everything in order for the big meeting on Monday. I know that where I am deserves my full attention.

When I’m on the boat, I am curious – I’m not afraid of what’s ahead, or nervous of what will happen if I take a side channel. I know that everything will work out, usually better than I imagined.

It’s okay to fail and fall, just as long as you get back up. It’s okay to be fully focused on right now, worrying won’t stop or prepare you for bad things. It’s okay to be curious and surprised by life’s adventures – they are everywhere.

I hope you have time to do something that reminds you of the little adventure inside everyday. I hope you are able to live in the moment and not fear the river bends of life. I hope you know that curiosity leads to new paths – and that’s a good thing.

 

“Have patience with all things…” – St. Francis de Sales

 

Hi, lovely readers.

 

It’s a crazy week for me, but I will leave you with this quote.

 

“Have patience with all things, but first with yourself. Never confuse your mistakes with your value as a human being. You are a perfectly valuable, creative, worthwhile person simply because you exist. And no amount of triumphs and tribulations can ever change that. Unconditional self-acceptance is the core of a peaceful mind.” – St. Francis de Sales

I hope you know how wonderful you are – not because of things of you do, but because of who you are. I hope you are surrounded by community that cares for you. I hope you know that loving and accepting yourself is an adventurous thing to do…and it’s always worth it.

Alive.

“In the cross-eyed frenzy of our daily doings, it is easy to forget that we are not tireless machines. Every so often we must take a pause to breathe, rest, reflect, and restore ourselves to our natural settings.” – Aimee Myers Dolich

I was hanging out with a few friends this week and two simple questions were asked: 1) Where do you feel most yourself? 2) What makes you feel most alive? Everyone took a few moments of silence to think about these questions. If the question had been “Where do you work?” or “What do you do for a living?” I’m sure the answer would have come to us easily. “I’m an administrative assistant.” “I’m a teacher.” “I’m a musician.” These are easy and often asked questions. But 1) Where do you feel most yourself? 2) What makes you feel most alive? those questions take time. I think that even though those questions are not asked often, they are the better questions.

We are more than what we do. I am very good at administrative work, but being in an office environment is not where I feel most myself, and it is certainly not where  I feel most alive. I feel most myself when I am with a group of people who feel free to be their true selves – any group of people where we can forget “social status” and not be afraid to be awkward or to accidentally say things that aren’t well thought out. If there is a safe place where I can be open and honest and passionate about the things I care for, that is a place I feel most like myself. I feel most alive when I am doing something that requires my focus to be on things greater than myself, but at the same time something that feeds my soul and makes me more of who I want to be. Traveling, hiking, kayaking, rock climbing, going to museums – things like that make me feel alive and free. Those are the things that bring adventure into ordinary days.Those are the things that allow us to pause to breathe, rest, reflect, and restore ourselves to our natural settings.

Those two questions made me think about myself and it made wonder why I don’t do more of what makes me feel like me and what makes me feel most alive. It made me wonder why I commonly ask people about their jobs, and not about their passions. Maybe for some people, they are one and the same. Maybe for others, they are different. Most importantly for all, are those passions something that you make time in your life to do?

I hope that you are able to answer those questions. I hope you brave enough to ask the more difficult questions both to yourself and to others. I hope that you are able to add some adventure to your life today and do what makes you feel most alive.

 

Simple.

“The real things haven’t changed. it is still best to be honest and truthful;to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder

I’ve been reading several books about  shame and vulnerability recently (jealous?). One of these books by Dr. Brené Brown mentions that a common fear is missing out on the extraordinary. I constantly fear this. I am not only afraid that  I won’t live extraordinarily but I am sometimes ashamed to live a simple life.

I often forget that adventure is found in small, everyday  ways. I forget that living simply  can be, and often is, more enjoyable than living extravagantly.

Thanks to the encouragement of my health coach I have been writing down my favorite part of each day. I noticed that these were not extraordinary things. They were simple, beautiful moments that I would normally take for granted.

Lunch with a friend

Beautiful hike

Took time to watch the sunset

I encourage you to find simple ways to live adventurous. Go on a hike or take time to enjoy your morning cup of coffee. We allow adventure in our lives we when take time to be present in life. It is easy to rush through the day. It is easy to live off a to-do list, waiting for the extraordinary moments. It takes courage to be present for the simple adventures of our day. It takes thoughtfulness to appreciate our lives in their simplicity.

I hope you are able to take time to appreciate your life. I hope you are able to find the adventure in the everyday. I hope you know that life is not mostly composed extraordinary moments, but beautiful (and sometimes tedious) small moments. I hope you know that simple is okay.