Also screaming about the Supreme Court ruling that allows states to ban trans girls and women from sports, thank you for including that! Currently watching Coco Gauff at Wimbledon, getting back into the sport of tennis myself which feels really fun and humbling (played as a kid, overestimated my skills as an adult!), and learned something about how I'm really feeling when I quickly clicked on the link in #8. Sending you love and safe hiking!

First time commenter, I live 15 minutes from Waterbury and would normally be happy to help out but I gotta work tomorrow. ☹️ But! The Green Mountain Club keeps a list of volunteer trail shuttlers! You can contact the GMC Visitor Center at 802-244-7037 or gmc@greenmountainclub.org.

Thank you for your writing at the intersection of collapse and outdoor joy (I found you via Carrot Quinn's writing, and there is resonance between your writing styles and topics for sure). And thank you for being so clear about taking a break. I help organize big community events (the Queer Arts Festival and Queer Craft Fair, come hang out if you're ever in Vermont in August or December!), and one of our main principles is: organize from a place of joy. If you're not having fun anymore, stop doing it! If a task makes you shrivel up inside, let someone else take it on! It's a good tactic for preventing burnout and also for making sure our events are truly sparkly — when something is made with joy vs burnout, your attendees can tell. All that is to say, hurray for taking breaks and listening to yourself!

P.S. My dad died 5 years ago. He introduced me to hiking and I miss him every time I go to the mountains. Grief never stops being grief, but it does stop hitting you over the head and heart quite as frequently, eventually. I'm glad to grieve because it means I also love(d), even though it sucks sometimes. ❤️

Thank you for the links and honest sharing. As always, it's a balm on my day-to-day anxieties and reminds me there are other humans experiencing earth school just like me. Sending you warmth and rest during your time away.

What's working for Jessica:

Upgrading my bird feeder game. Learning about native landscaping. Reading and re-reading middle school aged books. Allowing myself to order coffee. Small acts of kindness. Service in my twelve step rooms. Crying. Petting the dogs that come into my local coffee shop. Rescheduling meetings to rest.

So much goodness here—thank you for sharing!

I’ve also been enjoying some morally complex (understatement) characters lately. Have you read Yesteryear or Best Offer Wins? I tore through both trying to see what would happen.

Popping in to say I hope you have a restorative, illuminating, and fulfilling hiatus! We will miss you but I appreciate how you always lead by example. Can’t wait to hear what emerges from your chrysalis. 🦋💕

What’s working for me lately? Finally cleaning up my deck so I’ll actually use my “bonus room” and buying a big ass patio umbrella to shade my hammock for relaxed summer reading time. And summer means one of my favorite things about being an adult: ice cream for dinner!!!

I hope the best for your time away!

The athletic feat I’m marveling at right now is that Kelsey Pfendler broke the record for fastest solo row (for any gender) across the Pacific (California to Hawaii) at 43 days. I had no idea such a record even existed until my childhood friend rowed on a team with her a couple years back in World’s Toughest Row.

On a personal level, what’s working is actually committing to strength training. I talked my wife into getting an InBody scan with me last month with plans of getting another done at the end of summer. Even though it isn’t a perfect way of measuring muscle, psychologically it has kept me honest about eating enough and getting consistent with going to the gym.

I am on the third audiobook in a series, The Winter of the Witch, after not listening to fiction since childhood, and it’s been 10/10. I would not get the Russian names right at all if I read it with my eyes. Since the books are so long they’ve been keeping me company for over a month now. Shoutout to the Libby app and my library.

Silence has also been working. And eating outside. I deleted the Instagram app and have only been using it in a browser which is a bit like eating the off brand version of a guilty pleasure food; it doesn’t really scratch the itch and it always leaves a bad taste in my mouth, which is more or less the point. I’m approaching job interviews like the online dating I did back in the day (sometimes I really want them to like me and sometimes it’s just a funny story to tell my best friend). I’ve been soaking up time in the rec pool after my kids’ swimming lessons and delighting as they actually learn to swim(?!) which I did not realize would be so important to me as a parent. I had some plans and hopes for this month that do not seem to be aligning with reality, so I’m trying to make the most of what is instead of fighting it. And let’s be honest, if I can actually get better at savoring what is, it would probably be far more consequential than whatever SMART goals past me had in mind.

Reading Anna Brones’ analog version of Creative Fuel in bed with morning coffee! Love her work!

I’ll miss your updates and thoughts while the newsletter is on hiatus - I can always count on it to challenge and push forward my own thinking. Hope you get everything out of this break that you need, and looking forward to whatever comes next.

Just wanted to let you know before you take a break that I really appreciated how open you've been about money throughout the years.

It really pushed me to make a budget and get more granular with how I manage my money. I was feeling bad about how much I haven't saved this year but then I looked at how much I had last year at this time and I have almost double that now. Keeping those records has really helped me appreciate my progress and know where my money is.

What's working is reclaiming the label of athlete. That was missing from my life for the last few years due to some health reasons but it is the only thing I feel passionate about right now and even if I'm not in perfect shape - I'm still an athlete.

Just popping on to say that per your last newsletter, I listened to your latest podcast. I'm sending all my best juju your way for a positive outcome. And, it made me smile from ear to ear to hear that you have so much joy in your life right now (except for our crappy politics and every shitty decision that has been made because of it). I hope you have an amazing summer of good health and lots of swims in your local lake. Look forward to hearing from you when (and if) you're ready again.

I always love your work and I just had to share this zucchini recipe (sub with smoked paprika if your are veggo) ì. It is supremely delicious and incredibly easy. I’m a chef and this is one of my fave recipes ever - passed down by my other mother (family friend who is essentially a parent too).

• 375 g grated zucchini (don’t bother draining it, the zucchini water is what gives it the flavour!)
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 3 rashes of bacon, chopped -1 cup grated cheddar cheese -1 cup self raising flour, sifted,
• 1/2 cup veg oil
• 5 eggs lightly beaten
• salt and pepper to taste (more salt than you’d think because the zucchini is hungry for it)

Mix egg and oil, and in all other ingredients, pour into a roasting dish and bake in a moderate oven (160-80 degrees Celsius) for 30-40 minutes until lightly browned.

Enjoy!

What’s working for me lately… naps, finding a Spanish learning course that seems to be a good fit (Real Fast Spanish school), reading a little bit each day, watching World Cup matches on tv.

Thanks, as always, for sharing with us! I’ll be making my way through these links and some previous ones.

I’ve been thinking of you a lot though I am not one who comments often. Virtual good vibes to you.