I don’t care how slow you go and how long it takes…but you must keep moving forward. I mean, look at your alternatives, stay where you are (you aren’t a tree, you need to move in one direction or another), go backwards (what good does that do) OR move forward. Let’s deep dive into this…

I had this huge epiphany on Sunday morning that I’d like to unbox for you. I went down in the garage and told my boyfriend I was going on a walk and he started to describe this hike up behind where we live and told me how cool it was. My first thought…uhhh, just saw a bear yesterday and second thought…I have never been on a hike by myself. I was putting my shoes on (still debating, as my walk through the neighborhood still sounded just fine) and he was literally drawing me a map. Well, game on…let’s do this.

The trail up the mountain behind us is literally a few houses up the road. We have this big beautiful playground in our backyard. I headed out with my map (I felt like Dora the Explorer), the beginning of the trail was familiar, as we’d walked it many times before. I would stop every so often and make a 360 (you know…bears) and make sure I was still going in the right direction. Then one 360 hit me…I kept looking back and almost tripped on a rock going forward. Hmmm…

I was surrounded by complete silence and an incredible amount of natural beauty and I was getting in my own way of enjoying it. My mind was going one million miles an hour, thinking about everything under the sun. I kept scanning the area for wild animals and was missing what was RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. My first lesson – we need to get out of our own heads and enjoy the present.

I stopped when this dawned on me and started taking photos and made a video to commemorate the overwhelm of emotion I was feeling. I started relaxing and sinking into my experience. I felt brave for being out there by myself (even though I knew my boyfriend was meeting me halfway). The similarities between being out in nature and life were so loud to me:

• Clear your mind and sink into your present experience
• If you don’t stop and look around in life, you might miss something
• Take a chance and do something that scares you a little – be brave
• Don’t let what is behind you ruin what is in front of you (read that one again)
• The climb is always worth it (this view was beautiful). Put in the work to get to the top (your goal)

There is so much fear around moving forward and releasing the past. There is so much unknown in what is ahead. Moving on, moving ahead…moving forward is scary. BUT, it is also exhilarating, unknown, beautiful, full of more lessons and paved with opportunity. It all depends in how you look at it. Are you going to tip toe through life, or forge a path of unknown? Take all the good stuff from your past with you – the beautiful memories, the lessons and remembering where you came from and how far you’ve come. The rest of it, that no longer serves you, leave it back there. No need to bring it forward with you. Honor your past and the bravery it has taken for you to be where you are today and use that as fuel for your future. One foot in front of the other – keep moving forward.

My final lesson I want to share with you…as I said in the beginning, I literally almost face planted because I was walking looking behind me. Get out of your own dang way and stop looking over your shoulder. Trust yourself, your instincts, your gut and MOVE FORWARD. Stop making excuses and go after the life you want. I’ve been living this and it’s frightening to make big bold steps…but I can tell you this, being brave feels really frickin’ good. Moving forward through anything is just plain brave.

Go buy yourself some flowers and as always, thank you for being on this journey with me – together we can make a difference in our own lives and in the lives of others. Cheers!