A Two-part Adventure in Camping and Honoring Your Spirit

   I have dreams to pursue and goals to make happen. The two big ones right now are 1) more music, more and more music, playing, learning, collaborating, performing, making money at it, more music. 2) Travel as a lifestyle. I have several other goals for my life but these are the two that are taking the forefront in my life...FINALLY!!
 
   The music thing I am doing now but the travel thing, well I'm doing as much as I can but it's not my lifestyle yet. There are some other things that I'm working on so that can happen the way I want it to and I'm getting close, oh so close! I can almost taste it!

   Although I'm excited about the direction of my life, actively pursuing one's dreams often comes with fear, resistance, tears, shedding old beliefs, sacrifice, hard work, lack of sleep, the list goes on and on. But the satisfaction one gets from actually living your purpose is worth all of the difficulty.
 
   I am learning that most of the difficulty I encounter is really just me and my head drama taking on a new form. I see and feel it creep up most often in the form of distraction and busyness. I am oh so good at keeping myself busy. Most of it is great stuff too not the obvious things one might think like TV, social networking, gaming, etc. But obsessive health research and application, hanging out with friends, over organizing, unorganized shopping (mostly for groceries) and work (yes, my day job is a huge distraction). If I keep myself busy, I don't have to face my fears and I don't have to do the things that are really important to me and achieving my goals because, "don't you see, I've got grocery shopping to do".
 
   This week I needed to get away from all the distractions I've been participating in. I needed to give myself the space to be present for the fear that was rising inside of me that I was resisting. So I took myself and the dog to the lake.

    I have a spot that I like to go that is free, relatively secluded yet easy to get to and awe inspiring! When I go here I can't help but be totally present. There are no distractions just clear glacial water, a lot of trees, wide open sky and wildlife.

   The level of simplicity of my life mirrors my stress level and what I love about this kind of camping is that it's relatively primitive, at least I try to keep it that way. I do have some decent camp gear but I still filter my drinking water from the lake, cut all my veggies with my pocket knife, gather fire wood, eat out of the pan and go to sleep not too long after the sun sets. I also don't mind being dirty crapping in a hole or sleeping in my clothes. This type of camping requires presence of mind. I can't wander off too far in my head over thinking, blocking or getting too emotional about anything, I could easily do something stupid and freeze, starve or get dehydrated. It's that simple, yet a lot more work than it may sound like.

   It took me a little bit to get settled into "present mode" but when I did, the truth that I had been distracting and resisting came out loud and clear. My fear: that following my dreams will equal abandonment, that those that I love will not understand, will be hurt in some way and leave me or that they will feel abandoned by me because I will no longer be available to them in the way that I have been.
 
   Now I could say right now that this fear sounds silly and that the people who truly love me will always be there to support me, will absolutely enjoy receiving post cards from the road and will wildly throw their arms around me when they get the chance to see me. AND if they can't support me, then I don't really need them in my life.
 
   I know these things to be true but there is still a scared little girl in me sometimes who somewhere along the line believed the idea that she had to behave a certain way in order to receive love and to be safe. To fit in with the pack.
 
   Those who know me know that I have almost never been one to "follow the pack". I have always been wild, adventurous, creative, solitary and passionate. But sometimes just sometimes that fear of being left out and alone gets the better of me in some way or another. It's been coming up a lot in this whole "quit my job and follow my purpose as a world traveler, never mind where the money will come from, just gotta do it" thing.
 
   I find it amazing that whenever I start to get afraid, something happens that whips the fear's ass and brings Carrie back in. I have so much love and support where I didn't think I would. I have random tiny moments on off days when someone will say something to me, something so small but so big and it will reaffirm my purpose and smother my fear. It will fill my heart with absolute joy and courage knowing that the universe has my ass covered, that I'm on the right path and that I'm not alone!
 
   So back to the lake. As I was standing naked on solid rock, dripping wet from a swim, the sun drying my skin, a most gentle and lightly pine scented breeze blew through my lake soaked hair and I knew that no matter how fragile I felt, that I would be OK as long as I am gentle with myself.

   What I've become aware of (in yet, another new way) is that in order for this to work, in order for me to live out my purpose, I, Carrie, must be the one ultimately to accept myself and my purpose. I have to accept that it will take countless hours of dedication, much sacrifice and that some people wont understand and may feel abandoned. I must accept that at some times I will be alone in my adventure.
 
   I'm currently looking for members of this tribe. At this point it hasn't been easy to find people that are doing what I'm doing. What I know is that if I keep talking about it and continue in the direction of my dreams, I will find them! I will not be alone!

   Sometimes we must tread in the dark before we can see the light. And sometimes we have to be so bold as to venture alone in unknown territory in order to stumble upon others on a similar path. So I will continue on, doing things that scare the crap out of me and trigger my fear of abandonment because remaining where I'm at because it is comfortable and "safe" is absolutely detrimental to my soul!

   I will leave you with a quote from Stephen Covey thats been singing through my head and heart for the last couple of weeks. "You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage - pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically - to say 'no' to other things. And the way to do that is by having a bigger 'yes' burning inside. The enemy of the 'best' is often the 'good'."

A Path of Less Heartache: Adventures in Self Love

   Eight years ago I was a different person. I was still Carrie but I only allowed myself to be a shell of who I actually am. Eight years ago I was constantly drunk, constantly afraid and hated myself. I did not go on many adventures, unless you count the fuzzy, vomit-lined, stumbling drunk adventures many parts of which escape my memory.

Here's me passed out on the street in my hometown. My boyfriend was so kind as to take my picture. Not as a reminder for me but because he was mad at me...apparently I wasn't being very nice that evening. The dog is tied up to me so I wouldn't be left alone while he went to try to call a cab. Yes, that is vomit. This is just screaming self love...right...right?

   Eight years ago I met an amazing guy (the guy who took that pic). He was cute, awkward, goofy, dirty, thoughtful, smart and fun. We hit it off immediately and spent a lot of time together. He told me about how he lived his life, how he dealt with his emotions, what pushed his buttons, what he did when he got hurt. I heard all of this, took it into account. 

   With what I knew about myself and what he told me about himself I knew that "he would destroy me" (those were my exact thoughts). What did I do? Well I really liked him, he was so wonderful and I hated myself so I opted for the path of destruction. This choice lead to two intense years of abuse, heartache and self destruction for both of us. 

   Six years ago this relationship is what threw me, head first, onto my path to sobriety, self-love and recovery. It literally took about two years to get over the heartache from said relationship. My songwriting skills, amazing friends and a lot of support helped me work through a lot of it. 

  Six years ago it all started with tiny acts of self-love. I mean seriously small acts such as basic hygiene, eating food, getting to work on time and allowing myself to be human. These are huge acts for the self-hating. The more I did these tasks of self love, the more of them I was able to do. Then eventually larger, more difficult acts of self love like keeping up with my yoga practice, connecting with loved ones and allowing myself time to rest even when there is a ton of work to be done.

   The ability to do kind things for myself has aided significantly in boosting my self esteem which in turn has helped to improve my ability to set (and maintain) healthy boundaries for myself...and my heart.

   This week I was able to do just that in the spur of the moment and while tired. I was having a conversation with the totally amazing guy I've been (kind of) seeing about how our situation was working for us. He told me about how he lives his life, how he handles his emotions, what pushes his buttons and what his needs are. I heard what he said and took them into account. (In his defense, this guy is of much higher caliber than the guy from eight years ago.) In recognizing and honoring the facts about myself, how I handle my emotions and what my needs are, I was able to see that continuing a relationship with him beyond friendship would cause me unnecessary heartache. And a lot of it.

   What did I do? Right then and there I was able to speak up for myself and say that it wouldn't work for me and that I would need to back off a few notches. I have boundaries for my heart and my life that I stuck to despite the fact that I really like this guy. I also didn't have to be a total bitch about it. It was actually quite a mature situation. (Where did this woman come from?!)

   Am I bummed about this possible relationship not working out? You bet! But the amount of heartache I experience now, I know will pale in comparison to the pain I would've gone through if I tried to hold on to the relationship longer.

   I am pretty amazed at how drastically different I handled these two very similar situations. I have come so far in eight years. In fact, even a year ago I would have held on to this relationship a little longer. But not this time. This time I decided not to fuck around with my heart and my head.

Giving myself the awesome self-love thumbs up!! (jeez my hand looks huge here!)

   The beauty of this is that it makes me much more capable of effectively continuing to spread the love that I have in my heart for everyone I come into contact with, including this guy. How awesome is that?

   Self love my friends, self love! The least selfish thing anyone can do is take good care of themselves.
 
 Until we meet again friends!



Adventure Tip:
Everyday before I do much of anything else, I read from a couple of daily meditation books. Some people may find this practice silly or ineffective but it works for me. One of these is Melody Beattie's The Language of Letting Go. Meant for co-dependents but I find that many of the readings could be valuable to just about anyone. The other is Courage to Change which is a book from Al-Anon (for friends and family of alcoholics and addicts and for co-dependents). Again this one could be beneficial for many. The other thing I do is get daily emails from The Daily Love. I know I've mentioned this site on here before but it's certainly worth mentioning again. I get so much out of this daily email. I love how Mastin shares his message. It works for me. I encourage you to find a daily practice that works for you. One that supports self-love. Even if it seems tiny or insignificant...DO IT! Do it everyday. I promise, you will not regret it!

Trash the old script and make your own rules..Maybe your biggest adventure yet!

Today is the day and this is the moment. There is no other moment, not right now anyway.

What if from here on out you could replace all that bullshit in your head with whatever you wanted?
--What new script would you write for yourself?

What if at this exact moment you could truly own yourself, your whole self, your entire being?
--Not the media, your family or friends, not your boss, not your god?

What if right this very second there were no prior rules already set to apply to your life?
--What would you do different?

What if while sitting here reading this you realized that you never had to apologize for being authentically you ever again?
--What dreams would you live out?

What if the only thing you ever had to do ever again was bring all the love and light that is uniquely you to whatever it is that you're doing at this moment, nothing more and nothing less?
--Could you relax? Could you let go?

What if you could look yourself in the mirror right now seeing every exposed nook and cranny, every hair, mole, muscle, stretch mark, skin flap, patch of cellulite, wrinkle, your gut, muffin top or six pack, every little uneven bit of beautiful human imperfection and love every inch and pound of it, I mean really love it?
--Would you stop comparing yourself to others?

What if you could look yourself in the eye and proclaim your devoted and undying love for yourself not matter what?
--Who would you become?

What if you knew that you had what it takes to make all of your dreams come true already inside of you?
--What would you search for now?

What if you knew that nothing could stop you from achieving your goals, not even yourself?
*What would you do?
*How would you feel?
*Where would you go?
*Who would you love?

What does freedom feel like?
Does freedom scare you?
Do these questions make you want to run and hide, switch back to your social network, the tv, that cookie, the clothes rack, the drink, your homework, your job?
Do they invoke a stirring in your guts? Somewhere deep within? Deeper than your physical self?

What if you could not only be loved but be love?

What would the world look like then?

There is no instruction manual for the living.
Past experience does not ever dictate how this current moment will go.

This is it.
This moment.
No rules.
No apologies.
Bring it!

Thanks for reading!

Do you have a friend that could benefit from my "words of wisdom"? Share this with them! You never know how one tiny thought or action could completely change someone's life.


Adventure Tip:
Living a life of freedom is rewarding but can also be difficult and tiring. I suggest an awesome soundtrack. I call mine the "Going Pro Soundtrack". It's full of songs that stir my guts, that make me cry tears of self-slavery ending joy, that make me want to take action, that make me want to bust my ego, that make me want to spread the love. It's full of songs that are impossible for me to hear and not follow my heart. Sometimes I listen to all the songs but more often one strikes me on a certain day and I listen to it all day. Today that song is Fall by M83 Vs. Big Black Delta (wait for it...2:30). Today, all day, while writing this blog and at this very moment, listening to this song, I know that I create my own fucking destiny!  What's on your gut stirring play list? Share with us!

Adventures in possible success and depression

   These last few weeks have been a bit of a roller coaster type adventure for me. School is finally over and I'm not going back, then I was preparing for the holidays while getting back into my old work routine, starting to maybe be officially "seeing" someone, continued working on my video interview project and starting off in a different direction for my career path with a project (hopefully) appropriately titled "the Job Escape Kit". Just typing all of this and rereading it makes me feel a little overwhelmed. That is a lot.

   This is all wonderful, awesome, exciting stuff (except the old work routine) and you know what? I don't want to do any of it! Not a damn thing. It's all too much, it's overwhelming, its scary and most of it is unknown territory for me. The thing is, I don't want to hide out in my pajamas either. I just don't seem to have the mental and emotional capacity for amazing life stuff right now.

    I don't know if it's the lack of Vitamin D we experience here in the Pacific Northwest, a post-holiday let down, the unsettling fear of unknown-ness in my life or a combination of all of the above. One could call this depression I don't have a problem with admitting to myself that I may be a little depressed right now. I'm not going to get a drug prescription and I have no desire to off myself. I'm just not my normal, optimistic self right now.  I haven't stopped my life just because I'm depressed. I just don't want to do any of it!!

   Okay, that's not true. I actually want to do ALL of it...every single bit of the amazing and adventurous unknown-ness but I'm a bit paralyzed with fear and lack of will. Did I just contradict myself? Probably, because that's certainly how I've been feeling...contradictory and very unlike me.

   I am tired, down, unenthusiastic, unmotivated, overwhelmed, scared. I want to do anything other than deal with, walk through and feel what I am going through right now. I want to shop, eat, fuck, drink, lose hours in social networks, what else? Anything! Anything but what I am going through.

   Now normally I feel this way when I'm going through something difficult and unknown but I still have a strong desire to keep on keepin' on. Right now I don't have that and that I attribute to the depression. But the real cause of this all, the biggie, is fear.

   I. Am. Scared.

   I am scared of success. Success in my life, career, love, health. Don't get me wrong, even though I fear success in these areas, I still work very hard to achieve my goals. The days of severe self-sabotage are over. I still get in my own way but usually stop long before any major drama.

   The thing is, I know how to do failure. I excel in what to do when I fail, I get back up...duh. But what do I do if I don't fall? What do I do if I get to stand tall? If I get the love I want? If I get to live the life I've dreamed of, that my spirit screams for, for so long? What do I do?

   In all honesty I can say, that at this point, I'm not really sure why this is so scary right now. Why pursuing a different path for a new career is so scary. School wasn't nearly this scary and I hated it! Or why pursuing a new possible romantic relationship is so difficult (I've done it before and survived), but it is. Maybe it's the way these paths have transpired this time. Different than they ever have before and different than I ever would have anticipated or even thought possible....seriously. Maybe it's the depression. Maybe it's all of the above. The point is, I don't really know but I don't need to know. What is important is that I honor the fact that I am scared and that I honor that this is different. When I honor what I am going though, it makes it easier to get through. When I let myself just be where I am at, instead of fighting it, it tends to just flow. I don't have to create a dam.

  Its amazing how difficult we can make things for ourselves. Discovering how we do this and then not doing it, is certainly an adventure. And this one has made me quite tired...or maybe that's the depression talking. Either way, I still don't have the choice to quit.

    I can easier live with myself if I fail but not if I quit.

 
   Over and out until next time my adventure friends.
   Thanks for reading!


Adventure Tip:
Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! We need it, especially in the winter. It's amazing what a few more hours than I normally need will do when I feel down. I wake up feeling like me again. So sleep my friends! If you don't know what sleep is or how beneficial it is to your health and well-being, google search it. Then take a nap!

adventures in life and skipping the blog for a week (kind of)

   This week's adventure isn't going to be much. I'm skipping the blog and attending to my holiday duties. I suppose by writing a blog about how I'm not writing a blog this week is in fact, writing a blog. The point is that not too much thought or energy is going into this one. At this point the blog is just for fun and generating little attention so I'm all right with doing this. I write this blog because I like to. I am at least writing this little bit because I am committed to writing something to put out into the world at least once a week. So here it is.

   As far as the holiday is concerned, I have family coming in from out of town and it should be a lovely time. But there is much preparation to be done and certain self-imposed, creative deadlines that I must meet. I think that I have allowed myself enough time to finish my tasks without losing my mind...we'll see.

   This week I had my last day of school, continued work on my project, got to hear one of my songs and then see my name on the big screen, helped my friends begin decorating their 7 plus foot tall holiday tree that has roughly 1700 lights and over 10 U-Haul sized moving boxes worth of ornaments that go onto it. I also got to perform at a craft fair and at a local cafe with one of my band mates, both of which payed off more per hour than my day job (gotta love that!), caught up with a friend over coffee. Annnd really this list could go on and on and not include the day to day regular boring life stuff so I'll stop here. The point is, my life is full! It's busy and fulfilling and for the most part, I'm pretty happy with it (except for that pesky day job).

   Pretty much I'm tired and rambling to fill up space. So I'm going to wrap it up. I promise I will be back next week with photos and delicious and adventurous stories to tell! Keeping up a blog is a lot of work and I only do this once a week! What happens when it takes off and I have to do this every day?!! For far less hours and far more pay?!! Believe it and achieve it my friends! The adventure awaits...just watch me!

   Over and out until next week


 Adventure Tip:
If you're a musician in Bellingham, WA and you like good food, head on down to The Old Town Cafe They will give you a meal on the house if you perform for an hour, plus you can accept tips. Not too shabby. The atmosphere is homey, bright and showcases local art, the food is locally sourced as much as possible and if you're a vegetarian, the menu is pretty amazing! Rarely has my cup gone without hot coffee, even on the busiest of mornings. It's a great place for any adventure to begin! 

Adventures in Fear and Confronting Yourself

   It's been an interesting week involving the emotional adventures in Carrie's head. (There will likely be some swearing in this episode). It started out hanging out with a guy friend of mine, a performance in Seattle with my band, continued with work on my current project, the second to last week of school and the onset of a bacterial infection. I got increasingly more tired throughout the week and by Thursday I was forced to spend about 36 consecutive hours, horizontally.

   Fighting an infection causes my brain to not fire logically at my normal capacity thus bringing my ability to handle my emotions with said logic down to about 20 percent. Do you see where I'm going with this? I've spent some time this week crying, talking with those closest to me and facing some of my demons. Thankfully I'm not pms-ing because who knows what sort of unruly bitch-beast would have been released!

    With my fluctuating hormones on my side this week I got to explore into the realm of "liking" someone. YES, I said it...I LIKE SOMEBODY! That's right I, Carrie, like A BOY. An intelligent, awkward, sexy, dirty, independent social butterfly who is a mad cook with a generous heart. Sounds terrible right? You said it! Gods forbid I enjoy a man's company enough to want to enjoy it a little bit more. I seriously have a problem with this, a big one. I don't want to like a boy. I hate liking boys. The last time I let myself get really excited about a boy he ended up beating the crap out of me on a regular basis for two years. So naturally, I'm a little hesitant.

    Don't worry, this post isn't about that sort of thing. Plus, I love myself today and I would never let anyone treat me like that ever again. That all being said, I'm still a scared little girl when it comes to liking someone. I will not allow myself to get excited about it. And that, my friends, is the most torturous part about the whole thing. I want to be excited (at least a little) but the mere thought of it literally terrifies me. I mentioned crying earlier...ya. This shit brings me to tears.

   My insides are all torn up about this. I want to dream about the adventures we could have together, what it would be like to travel with him, playing music, practicing yoga in remote and beautiful locations, cooking together and creating bizarre and delicious ferments, bike tours, hikes, shooting, meeting strangers, the list goes on and on. But I stop myself dead in my tracks. I stop before we've even held hands. I can't bring myself to do it. This may sound extreme but it feels like I will fucking die if I let myself dream.

    *sigh* I don't even want to get to the point where I even begin to like someone because that is where I start to die. So I try to fool myself into believing that I'm not really feeling what I'm feeling. This is where my lack of ability for logical thinking this week, came in handy because I could no longer reason myself out of my emotions. *Bing* Break-through time!

   Finally I allowed myself be okay with the fact that I like this dude. And now that I've had some time to work through my fears and calm down a bit, I want to profess my like for him right. this. minute. This is a big deal for me and I feel a sense of urgency. I need to know NOW if he likes me the same or I'm left not knowing if it is safe to continue liking him. So of course, as some sort of cosmic joke, certain circumstances have lead to there being no way of contacting him for several days unless I run into him somewhere. This leaves me sitting on my hands...waiting. Effing waiting! I can't wait for this!  Limbo. Freaking limbo! (I'm trying to keep it clean see).

   So what happens next? I get to be. I get to be still. It's actually a really good thing that I haven't been able to contact him this week or I likely would have done and/or said something really stupid. This way I get to really understand and own how I feel and not put it onto him. I get to see how all of these fears have nothing to do with him and everything to do with me. So when I do get to see him again, I can be confident and at peace with my own shit. I can continue the relationship, however it unfolds, with love and kindness instead of fear and expectations. (big ol' sigh of relief here!)

   The emotional roller coaster is exhausting! I'm glad that I don't ride it that often. Although it is a rough ride, it always results in some kind of personal break through and that is an awesome adventure, especially when it's finally through!

   I get back to the place of peace and personal acceptance with a new understanding of what makes me, me. And I love me!

   Over and out until next week friends!

   Please feel free to comment below on your own experience, how crazy you think I am or any other adventures you want to share!



Adventure Tip:
This week I encourage you to reach out to someone close if you are having a rough go about things. It is absolutely the most important thing for me to have several people that I can talk to about what I am going through. My friends are able to see my fears from an outside and unaffected perspective. They can see things that I can't or wont. They point them out to me lovingly and sometimes with a bop on the forehead...whatever makes me get it! (my friend actually did this to me this week). Without their loving support I can honestly say that I have no idea where I would be. They remind me that I am not alone in this world inside and outside of my head! So adventure beyond your fears and express them to a safe loved one.