​Dear Friends,

I was walking in the park last week, the day of that ice storm....where it looked like our city was covered in snow, but it was really covered in pretty nasty ice pellets.  I hadn’t been able to get outside much last week, and the roads were super clear, and I really wanted to go on a walk, so out I went.

I meandered down a path I’ve walked plenty of times before.  There are spots where you have to pay attention even in normal circumstances, but there are plenty of places where you can just walk, and see the sights around you and listen to the life in the woods without paying too close attention to your feet.

Last week was not one of those days.  I had to walk painfully slow on that trail, and I had to be mindful every single step of the way.  I was required to pay attention to every single footstep on that trail that particular day, as the trail was so incredibly slippery.  It took so much more mental energy to walk that path then it normally does, as I was constantly required to be mindful. 

As I walked, I was noticing how that trail was mirroring life.  There are times when we hardly need to pay attention to the path around us, it’s so clear and sure and known.  The path we’re on feels easy.  And there are times when we have to be constantly mindful of where we’re going, of where our foot is stepping.  We have to be mindful every step of the way.

May we, this week, find a little more mindfulness even if we’re in a spot in life where we don’t need to pay too close attention...and may we find a little more sure-footedness if our path is a little slippery at this moment in time.

I hope you have a fabulous week dear friends, I am so grateful for you!

Love
Krista
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Dear Friends,

Before I write this post, I want to caveat that I deeply believe that loving ourselves exactly where we are is one of the the most important gifts we can give ourselves and those around us.  I have been so grateful for the body positivity movement that has been taking hold in many of our lives, and it is my hope and wish that this movement continue to take hold in more of our lives.  It is my hope that we can really love who we are in all phases of life.   As many of you have heard me say so many times, I believe in the power of being grateful for our strong and capable bodies right now, at this moment.  I don’t think loving ourselves exactly where we are means we can never change...but I believe it does mean that we are fully worthy, complete, enough...exactly where we are right now.

When I was on my solo backpacking trip in November, I came upon this stream.  It was a comparatively small stream feeding into the larger, faster moving creek.  When looking at the creek you couldn’t even notice a difference between the creek before that stream and after.  But even though you couldn’t notice the difference, it was there, that creek was bigger and fuller from that little stream.

This past summer I looked at some aspects of my life where I’ve been trying to go it alone for years and years, one of them being my pretty constantly fluctuating weight.  This summer I was finally able to internalize that, while I’ve had some success on my own, I need the support, encouragement and accountability of a community to surround me.  I need community, I need folks who are on the same journey I’m on to walk with me and be my cheerleader and I theirs.  I need that stream, feeding into me in my journey...and furthermore, in some ways the more important realization, I am always going to need that stream, feeding into me in my journey...that need for support and community will never go away.

That realization of need was, in some ways, discouraging to me.  In this particular area of my life I have all the knowledge and information, there was and still is part of me that deeply believes I should be able to succeed on my own, without anyone else.  But that realization of truth was simultaneously empowering for me.  I am human.  I need support and encouragement, I need accountability, I need a community.  There is something so vulnerable about recognizing my need for others, but that recognition is also so empowering.  It’s been amazing to see the difference in this particular journey since I allowed myself to see my need for accountability and community and decided to really live into that need instead of trying to continue on my own.

We are not meant to go it alone dear friends, we need community.  And we shouldn’t feel shame or discouragement for reaching out for the community and accountability we need.  We are deeply human, each and every one of us.  

I hope, this week, you are able to live a little more into the community you need at this moment in your life, and you are able to be fed by those around you.  I know it looks different and might feel different right now, and your needs are certainly your own and will look different from your neighbors needs...but I sincerely hope you can find the community that fills and nourishes you this week, just like that little stream.

Have a wonderful week dear friends, I am so very grateful for you!

Love
Krista

Dear Friends,

It has been a hard year dear friends.  The weight of this year has been heavy on us all, some undoubtedly more than others, but all have borne the weight of this past year.  It is a time that leaves no one unchanged, some are stronger for it, others are not, but everyone has been affected by this time.

I was walking with a dear friend the other day, and as we walked, we came across this absolutely beautiful, snow surrounded daffodil.  My dear friend stopped and pointed it out, this daffodil, in the hardest of circumstances, making its way through the hard, unwelcoming soil, bursting its way through to the sunlight even when surrounded by ice and snow.  Anticipation of beauty, of newness and change, of joy around the corner...the anticipation that things will get better, that life will feel easier, that joy is just around the corner.

As I write this, I’m struggling.  Anticipation of newness and of change is not the thing that is bringing me joy right now, and I think that’s ok.  I can recognize the beauty in that daffodil, in the anticipation of change...I can recognize that change will come, that the daffodil will burst through that hard earth and nothing will stop that from happening, and I can recognize that change is necessary and good and important.  I can hold all those things as truth and I can also sit in the validity of my own feelings.  I can hold both those truths simultaneously.

Dear friends, can we allow ourselves to feel our own feelings a little more this week, and sit in whatever those are?  Can we give ourselves permission to hold multiple truths simultaneously?  Can we hold joy, anticipation, beauty and...fear...maybe all at once.

I hope you have a wonderful week dear friends, I am so very grateful for you.

Love
Krista

*Photo by Kristi

Dear Friends,

This past weekend we had our first substantial snow in the past couple of seasons in DC, and so I was out doing one of my favorite things in the world...cross country skiing.  I grew up cross country skiing.  It was a totally free activity, just find a snow covered road or park and have at it.  My family’s gear was cobbled together from years of searching through the Goodwill.  My feet would freeze every time we went out in my old leather boots and I can’t say it was the most pleasant experience when I was a child….and yet here we are, as we often find ourselves, grown-up Krista loves it, absolutely, 100% loves it.  Now, grown-up Krista can also afford better gear and warm ski boots, turns out, that makes a difference.  

So, I was in the park on Sunday, enjoying the snow and a beautiful solo ski afternoon....and as I was skiing along, I was thinking about transformation.  The park is always beautiful, but blanketed by a layer of snow just made it stunning.  That simple storm entirely transformed the park into something completely different...it was still the same park that I loved, I was going down the same paths I’ve walked down so many times, but simultaneously it was also something new and magical.

I was thinking as I skied...sometimes transformation is a long process.  Sometimes it is years and years of work.  Sometimes it takes showing up day after day and year after year for the transformation to occur.  And sometimes transformation is almost in an instant, there are times when life transformation occurs practically overnight.  

May we celebrate the transformation in our lives, may we celebrate the transformation we have worked for day after day, year after year...and equally, like that snow-covered park, the transformation that happens in an instant.

Have a transformative week my dear friends.

Love
Krista
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