Manifest Your Dreams To Life
A (Very) Short Story About Unruly Women + the Importance of Reflection, Celebration + Gratitude
This morning I came across a few journal entries that were great reminders of how easy it can be to forget how hard it was to get to where you are now.
In March 2020, I was journaling about my dream to empower women through educational and mindful retreats outdoors. This was from the depths of my deepest self, yanked into illumination from beneath my physical therapy career, my education, and all of the “shoulds” that kept me in this pattern of burnout.
Flash forward to July 2020, the day before my 28th birthday. As I sat in the back of my car at a trailhead in Oregon, ready for bed and nestled into my sleeping bag with Griz beside me, I pulled out my journal to write. And this morning, this part stood out to me from this journal entry :
“The older I get, the better I feel about age, I love the idea of 30. Maybe I’ll be a guide for womxn adventures in the wilderness by then! Manifesting now!”
✨ I had no idea how I could possibly do it, how it would work out, where I would live - or even where to begin. It wasn’t something I was planning on doing anytime soon, but life began to unfold in ways I couldn’t have predicted.
And… well… 4 years later, here we are. SO much has happened since then - stories for another time.
The next morning, my friend and I woke up early and climbed out of our vehicles to hike out before it got too hot. We were here to backpack to Three Finger Jack near Sisters, Oregon - it was Clare’s first time and for me, it was a life altering experience.
Our packs were heavy, at one point I had to carry Griz (with my pack on) because the dirt got too hot for his paws in the early afternoon sun, I got some pretty nasty wounds from being cheese grated along the rock face when I scramble/slid down a rock that I didn’t think through clearly . . but we had fun and no-one died! We set up our tents in the shade of some beautiful pines next to a small creek made from the snow melt, it even had a little waterfall.
I learned it was easier to hang a bear bag with two people, and that mountain streams don’t have blood sucking leeches. I learned, not only was I capable of guiding someone backpacking but that it lit me up inside. I felt alive and like this is what I was meant to do. (And it sure helped that I had a friend who believed in me enough that she trusted me to take her out!! Thank you Clare!)
(I still have scars from that trip, but they are such great memories too! 🫠😆)
✨ 4 years ago Unruly Women was a distant dream. Now, I have a growing business, I’m a Wilderness First Responder, I’ve guided 12 backpacking retreats, mountain biking retreats, led workshops, co-hosted trail maintenance weekends, have coached over 140 hours of mountain biking and am a published writer.
This upcoming season I’ll be hosting a mountain bike race for the Loppet Foundation, leading workshops with SRAM, volunteer weekends with the SHTA, and I have other small projects in the works as well.
I am still figuring it all out. There have been numerous obstacles, surprises I couldn’t see coming, set backs, imposter syndrome (although it’s improving) and many times I have had to pivot to keep moving forward. There will be people that don’t understand you or what you’re trying to do. There will be people that try to put their name on your work and call it their own. There will be people that think you’re wasting your time.
But, the most important thing is that I’ve never lost my “why” behind it all. And as long as you have your ‘why’ then you won’t lose sight of your dreams either - and you’ll keep trying to make it come to life.
Writing an intention, a dream, plants a seed. It may not necessarily turn into what you initially hoped, or lead you where you expected. But, I do believe that it has the ability to affect our habits, our lifestyles, and ultimately our lives.
Dig deep. Dream big. Write them out. Set the Intentions. Manifest.
And the next time you’re getting swept along the current of your busy life, be sure to remember what it took to get you to where you are now - to where you’re going. Because I’d imagine not long ago, you were dreaming for what you have right now. Celebrate and find gratitude in your journey - - even the hard parts.
It can be easy to forget the seemingly endless hours, numerous roadblocks and times we’ve had to pivot and keep going. We forget, not because what we went through was forgettable or because it was easier than initially thought. But, because as we overcome obstacles we didn’t think we could, new ones arise and need our attention.
Take the time to reflect on the work you put in, the lessons you’ve learned along the way and show yourself some gratitude for continuing on even when it got tough and you couldn’t see how any of it would possibly work out.
There will always be work to do. Behind every achievement or goal, seems to be hiding a new obstacle or goal. So, take the time. Celebrate your wins - - even the small ones . . . whatever it is, take the time to celebrate and find gratitude for even the toughest moments (that’s generally where the best wisdom comes from).
This is a great reminder that media just shows snippets of life, often the wins, and rarely the messy, emotional, devastating parts - and never the days imposter syndrome thrived (and almost won) or it all felt too much for you to handle.
So many things get missed because it’s impossible for social media or blog posts to encapsulate it all. I only captured a moment of my own experience here.
There is so much life, so much l i v i n g that happens outside of these screens, don’t let what you see on social media make you question your enoughness.
✨ March is an incredible time for manifesting. For dreams to surface, new ways of thinking to emerge. Listen to your intuition, pay attention to your dreams, write them out. You have no idea how you could be manifesting change, and turning your dreams into reality - - even if you can’t possibly even begin to see how it could ever work out, how you could get there.
🌙 There are so many moving pieces going on at the moment and I appreciate your patience as I’m slowly rolling out these retreats and events for 2024.
***Disclaimer: I write from my own personal experience and my writings are to be interpreted as such. I cannot speak for those who encounter inequity and inequality for their identities that are not my own, but , I will amplify their voices to be heard and help to raise awareness and fight for equal human rights. I encourage you to use your own critical thinking when making decisions and major life choices. As always, you are your own person, capable of making your own decisions regardless of external influences - take no shit but do no harm. ***
