Some lessons learned... (and a new dress!)

I was looking for some quotes about not being afraid to live, take risks and be and have as full a life as is possible. This really has defined the last 5 years of my life... even after losing weight, I hid. I feel like a butterfly compared to myself 10 years ago. I do things that make me cry, that make me scream, that make me laugh. I put my heart on the line. I have a lot to lose, and that makes it all so precious.

Have courage and a little willingness to venture and be defeated. Robert Frost

Do not be too timid and squeamish... All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better. Ralph Waldo Emerson

AND, something I came across that spoke to me VERY personally, since they use a mountain metaphor:

No one lives on the top of the mountain. It’s fine to go there occasionally —for inspiration, for new perspectives. But you have to come down. Life is lived in the valleys. That’s where the farms and gardens and orchards are, and where the plowing and the work is done. That’s where you apply the visions you may have glimpsed from the peaks. Arthur Gordon

I felt like he was speaking directly to me! This is something Chris and I often speak about. We WISH we could climb mountains every day, do something beautiful and daring every day, but that is not the core of life. The reality of life is at home, with my family and friends, creating relationships, working, building, making something stable and lovely.

But we never forget the fears and the joys and the struggles and the victories we have had in the mountains. They have sustained us and made us better people in our day-to-day :) I am less anxious, more hopeful, more joyful, more patient, and stronger than I was before. The lessons in the mountains have been undeniably important and I am glad to make use of them... to be here in "the valleys" and still so much a part of the mountaintops :)

Here is a picture of me in my new Victoria Secret dress, size SMALL, mmmm! I love it, it is so perfect for summer and I feel amazing in it!

(excuse the dirty mirror and weird background... but do take note of the super cute cat on the chair behind me... it's Walter!)