Life Feels Good Right Now

I’m overflowing with gratitude as I hang up the phone with my sister. Our conversation brought a smile to my face when she said, "life feels good right now," because I couldn't agree more. Her statement brings me so much joy because we have had our fair share of times when life has sucked. I have seen her in the hospital, she has seen me in the hospital, I have seen her get her heart ripped out, and she's picked me up off the floor when love didn't work out as I'd hoped.

A memory I often think of with her is when we went ice climbing in the box canyon of Ouray, Colorado, guided by the best, San Juan Mountain Guides. She said, "I'll do it if you go first." So, as our guide, Andrew, lowered me over the edge of the ice wall, I realized that I was in a harness, clipped to ropes, tied around a tree. I silently said a prayer that all of these mechanisms were solid. Being lowered over the edge of a 200-foot ice cliff was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. Climbing out of there with two pickaxes and a river below me is something I will do again. There is no better feeling than coming out on top of the things that scare you. Sarah and I are constantly doing things that scare us; the odds have been in our favor so far. I love experiences like these because they expand you and strengthen your confidence, setting you up for bigger successes in the future.

She is the reason I approach love and cooking with reckless abandon, as advised by Life's Little Instruction Book.  Her support and respect mean everything to me, and I am happy we are both relishing in the present moment. Even so, I am always doing everything in my power to prepare myself for the next obstacle; there will always be one.  

If you are presently at a low point in life, a book I think of often and find inspiring is Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins. The audiobook plays out like a podcast and I found it super fun to listen to while working out. When I am presented with tough situations in life, I find myself channeling Goggins’s energy.

Yours on 2.22.22,

Courtney