Happy Monday morning, my friends,
I’m back from a restful and rejuvenating trip to British Columbia and the Methow Valley in North Central Washington. We had originally planned to make our way out to the Sunshine Coast north of Vancouver. Yet, when we arrived at our halfway point to spend a few days in the Okanagan (Canada’s closest thing to a desert and a lovely wine region), we saw in the forecast abundant rain and high winds for the coast. So we rerouted through Washington State.
That’s the beauty of camping. I love having the ability to adjust course along the way. It happens to us on every trip. We all know nothing ever goes as planned, and being agile is highly beneficial to make the most of the unexpected.
It also allows us to take advantage of serendipity. Like that one time we found a remote campsite in the Blue Mountains of Northwestern Oregon on a layover to Bend and the spot was so perfect we didn’t want to leave, so we canceled the rest of the trip plans and enjoyed staying put.
And being present.
And having time. (Like the white space I wrote about two weeks ago!)
Back to the Methow Valley. Have you been there? Here’s a brief travel blog for you, if I may digress for just a few moments.
GO THERE.
The Methow has been a happy place of mine for more than 20 years, dating back to when I lived in Seattle and would go there both winter and summer. Excellent nordic skiing, mountain biking, stunning scenery, and three lovely small towns with delicious food and even a perfect brewpub exactly where you’d want one: on the bank of a rushing river. I call that place my Extreme Happy Place.
Sunday morning, we woke up to the sound of rain pattering the roof of our camper. As we listened, we plotted our day. Let’s go to breakfast at the iconic Mazama Store and take an easy bike ride on the river trail. Not a soul was out riding, and it was so much fun to find the beauty in a gray and otherwise ugly day. I thought about how all that rain nourished the earth and the forest and hopefully prevented a terrible fire season like they seem to have every year of late.
We finished our ride and changed to dry clothes in the truck and drove to town to my favorite little bookstore. I filled my arms with books, and one, in particular, I want to share with you today.
Your Story is Your Power by Elle Luna and Susie Herrick
I saw it on the table and immediately thought:
“Shoot. They wrote the book I’m supposed to write.”
Then I reminded myself to come from a place of abundance, not scarcity. And I bought the book to see how they tackle the topic.
TL;DR review: It is an excellent and eye-opening read AND: I can do it differently.
Note to anyone who experiences the same feeling that someone has taken your idea or concept before you fully realized that idea or concept. They did not. You keep doing you. Do it your way AND it will be your-way-better. Abundance, not scarcity.
To satisfy your curiosity, I’ll share a snack from the book.
For those of us who grew up in the 70s, 80s, and even 90s, we grew up with the stories of Cinderella, Snow White, and Beauty and the Beast. In each story, the girl ends up getting the prince in order to have a happy ending.
Wow. I mean, in my keynotes and in my someday book, I talk about the stories we tell ourselves and how those need our time and energy before we work on the stories we tell others. But before that work takes place, we need to unravel the stories we were told when we were itty bitty little formative putty babies in our beds being fed stories on the roles of men and women and other social norms we don’t even think about because it’s just what was.
When culture’s most popular stories demote women to beautiful housekeepers, what does a young woman begin to feel society values in her?
Elle Luna and Susie Herrick, Your Story is your Power.
Hard to understand how you’ve been conditioned to operate in this world because we only know what we hear and see. Frogs see light and dark really well so they can make out a fly in the air and capture it to survive. They don’t see much more than that. So they don’t know what else is out there. Same holds true for us. The authors give a framework for turning on those lights to see what we haven’t seen before. Once you’ve been shown something in a new light, you can’t unsee it.
It changes it forever.
I’ll just leave these thoughts here.
Take care out there!
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