Soar

What is rising from your ashes? Have you been hit with a series of unfortunate and unimaginable circumstances that have you reeling? Have you been given the opportunity to seek employment, relationship, fulfillment elsewhere? Has your world exploded? Did a relationship or project get consumed by flames?

Take time, a few days or a couple weeks and recognize the reality, accept the finality, do some bargaining with yourself, feel hurt and angry and then come out the other side. The measure isn’t in what you lost but what you learned and what you are doing to embrace and use your circumstances?

We all suffer tragedies and trauma, and when we ruminate in it and then use the experience to flourish and bloom into something we never imagined.

If a long or short relationship has come to an end, embrace being single. Love yourself and the chance you now have to make decisions that are good for you. Start ticking off the list of things you wanted to do, but the relationship prohibited. Spend time in the world in awkward situations. Go to places that you wouldn’t usually consider. Talk to people who aren’t in your ‘loop.’ Learn something new every day. (curious.com has a comprehensive menu of possibilities)

If you have been underemployed or unemployed for a while, take advantage of the time, develop new skills, volunteer with organizations, visit family, and spend time outside enjoying the fresh air. Look for new ways to be seen and known. If you have been a geologist for years but are interested in food, take a class, visit a foodie event, reach out to the chef you most admire. Whether you are 30, 40, or 60, beginning anew isn’t a failure, it is courageous. We will all start and end numerous careers throughout our lives, and many of us will continue to add value in some employment arrangement well past what was once considered retirement age.

For every pyre, there is a phoenix waiting to arise. As long as we don’t douse the embers with disappointment and defeat, there is a new you waiting to be born. When the egg hatches, fly as high as you can and be okay if/when the next challenge settles you back on the ground with a thud. Starting over is an opportunity and a testament to your courage.

Are you living your adventure? We have an opportunity to lead an abundant and exciting journey. With about 675,000 hours, we have a chance and a responsibility to make the most of them. I have lived almost 575,000 hours ( I shouldn’t have done this calculation, but that is 80% of my allotment). In the remaining 20% or whatever number you calculate, what will I try? where am I going to go? Who am I going to meet? What am I going to learn? What will touch me? What will scare me? What will challenge me? What will make me laugh? Cry? Love?

We need to make each day an adventure regardless of where we land. Living in one of the best countries in the world (Canada was again rated #2) in a city that gets the highest honors for liveability and opportunity (Calgary), in a neighborhood that has also been voted one of the coolest places to live (Inglewood), we shouldn’t need to go far to be showered with possibilities.

We have an average of 2396 hours of bright sun each year, spread over 333 days. Our weather is variable, but for the next five months, it will be temperate. We live along the shore of two rivers and have hundreds of miles of walking/biking trails. We are within a fifteen-minute walk of two large urban parks and have urban excitement and a bird sanctuary within fifteen minutes on our bikes.

From early spring to late fall, before the pandemic, there were festivals almost every weekend. Some are large multi-day events like Folk Festival, Opera in the Village, and The Calgary International Children’s Festival. Some festivals are one-day and local to communities like Lilacfest, Sunfest, and Chinatown Street Festival. Some events celebrate ethnicity – Serbian Fest in May, Greek festival in June, Fiestaval Latino Festival in July, and Carifest in August. Some featured food and beverage – Taste of Calgary, Wagons, and Alberta Beer Festivals. There are celebrations of the arts, parties for local and national holidays, and the fantastic Beakerhead, a smashup of arts, culture, and science.

Even when there isn’t an organized party, there is still so much to see and do.

If we took in some of everything that I listed and a day at the Calgary Stampede, we could spend 200 hours laughing, learning, listening, lingering, and letting go. Sounds like adventures are waiting for us, and we just need to step outside and breathe them in.

Wherever you are planted or wherever you land, find your adventure for today and be ready for tomorrow’s.