staying grounded

Yesterday’s Forum was beautiful. I look forward to sharing some words and photos with you but anticipating that I might not be ready to do so right away, I wrote this post last week to share with you today.

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Although I have been hosting events and speaking publicly for most of my life (I was even the MC at my high school’s commencement!), and last fall I taught public speaking at the nearby university, I am still not immune to pre-event jitters.

Sometimes the jitters get so big that I want to curl up in my bed and hide, dreaming of canceling the event or praying for Mother Nature to provide a major rainstorm or snowstorm to do it for me.

It is a really vulnerable feeling to stand up in front of a group, and as the groups I speak in front of steadily increase in size, and the topics we discuss get bigger and more personal, I am continually challenged by feelings of being unprepared and over my head.

But thanks to the powerful process that I am experiencing with the help of my amazing life coach and friend, Julianna Ricci, I am learning to go with the flow of energy that comes up right before a big event, rather than fight it.

One thing that I have learned is that I need to do things that help me stay grounded in the days leading up to a big event. Things like digging in the Earth, being in nature, and being around animals are really helpful to me.

So although in some ways it might seem crazy that I began tackling a major barn project this month, it is actually in perfect timing.

Here are a few shots of the very early stages of our new — and very much improved — chicken pen (one that will actually hold our chickens in and keep our compost-scrounging dog out):

I’ll keep you posted on this project as it comes along (another collaborative project with design input from my dad and the skills and hard work of my cousin Dan) and I will share what I can about the Forum and also about my recent retreat as I am able to find the words to do so.

Hope your week is off to a lovely start!