Blog

NEED A NEW PERSPECTIVE? GET HIGH!

I’ll never look at a tree the same way again. Inspired by Adventurista Alex’s story of tree climbing (posted on this website), I decided to give it a try.  At Blue Ridge Tree Climbing in Virginia, I reported for Tree Climbing 101 with Bob Wray and his three coaches:  Big Foot, Luke and Jake.   << Read More

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE LONELY

  If I had one wish for myself, it would be this:  the ability to speak and understand every language in the world.  It’s a wish I’ve had for some time.  I wasn’t altogether sure why, but now I think I know (and it’s not because I’d be able to watch foreign films without subtitles, << Read More

HOW CAN ONE WOMAN MAKE SUCH A DIFFERENCE?

Italy. Been there, done that.  But I didn’t buy the T-shirt, so I have to go back (like anyone would need an excuse). My first visit was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. At the Rockefeller’s artist retreat in Bellagio, on Lake Como in Northern Italy, I was given the most gracious introduction to the Italian way of living.  I << Read More

WHAT FREEDOM FEELS LIKE…

  Since leaving my job and former management career, I’ve received bundles of well-wishes, and the one question on top of everyone’s list is:  So what does freedom feel like? I could tell you everything freedom is free of:  rush hour traffic, alarm clocks, politics, subjugation, forced diplomacy, meetings, mountains of email…but you know that << Read More

AT THE END OF MY ROPE — Lesson #10

Three days in the slot canyons of Southern Utah would challenge and change me in many ways for which I’m grateful, though I didn’t  feel that way at the time.  The cuts, scrapes, bruises, meltdowns, and moments of extreme self-doubt were hard to endure, but they were also transformational. I also learned the value of << Read More

SOMETIMES YOU SHOULD JUST SHUT THE HELL UP — Leadership Lesson #9

  I forgot to tell you one important story from Day One of the 3-day canyoneering  course, where just about everything was new and terrifying.  At the conclusion of the very last rappel, which was probably a relatively easy 20 or 30 feet, I could see the way out of the canyon, through a tiny << Read More

IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT YOU — Leadership Lesson #8

We all have moments that are burned into our memories.  For me, one such moment is rappelling into a waterfall using just one simple knot (the Munter hitch)  I tied with my own hands.  Dying really could have been a consequence of flubbing it.  When I committed my weight to the Munter hitch and it held, << Read More