Today was a beautiful autumn day. We've had a bunch of beautiful days in a row.. It's been a glorious November so far. I took a walk around the pond at work today, and recounted a story with a colleague. It made me laugh so I though I'd share it here today.
The summer after my freshman year in college I got on an international flight for the first time. My ticket took me to Rota, Spain, where I would spend the summer living and working on the Spanish-American Naval base as a summer camp counselor for Camp Adventure. It was transformative in the way that only international travels, cultural immersion and daily walks to the beach can produce. I returned from a summer of adventure more confident. It was a great expansionary period of my life. But this story is not about that journey, but coming home.
I returned to school shortly after sorority recruitment. The Delta lived right behind my sorority house on a giant hill. They hosted some legendary parties over the years, and this one was equipped with a slip and slide. I joined some friends and headed up the hill. I remember the feeling of sun on. my face, friends and acquaintances and a party where no one had enjoyed enough liquid courage to get the slip and slide going.
But I felt brave. And confident. Someone has to be first. So I gathered my courage, leaned into my new found independence, stripped down to my swimsuit and went for it. I went first. I felt bold and fun and adventurous until I got back up the hill. But no one else had joined me. Crickets. That warm feeling of embarrassment coursed through my veins for a moment. When it passed I realized an important life lesson. I had come back changed. More aware and happy with the person I was, filled to the brim with hope, ideas and new found courage. I had gone into the #wilderness, as Brene Brown calls it.
It it is hard to be brave. It is hard to be courageous to show up and share stories, photos, videos of the things that convey the meaning of my life. To ask the hard questions infront of a group of coworkers. Taking the photo that tells the story unfolding infant of me. It is in pursuit of my must. So I'll keep going for it, braving the slip and slide, and accepting that for a while, while some might think I'm lost, I have found my courage and my compass.
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