This week’s email is heading into your inboxes a few days early because I want to make sure everyone knows about the Sunday LAC gathering at Oxbow in Oxford. It’s this Sunday, 1/29 and we’ll meet at 12:00 for a cross country ski or snowshoe (your choice) and then gather up for some delicious pizza and a beer/seltzer (this was originally scheudled for 11:00, but I just discovered that they don’t open until noon on Sundays). Looks like snow is in the forecast starting at 11:00 and then shifting to rain around 4:00 so we will be a-ok, weather-wise.

Also, I’m planning on hitting the uphill trail for a skin at Mount Abram beforehand if anyone would like to join me. I’ll plan on making my first tracks at 9:30. This isn’t an uphill lesson and I’ll skin at my steady, if slow, pace. If you would like to learn how to skin, check out the Inclusive Ski Touring website and sign up for one of their free weekend ski tours.

Sometimes in these notes I write about personal achievements, fears, growth moments and today I have a story to share.

On the morning of my 50th birthday, I woke up to a good snowfall (yahoo!) and I also woke up to the realization that I would have to use the snowblower for the very first time in my life. A friend had given me a lesson on how to snow blow, but that was before any snowflakes had flown and learning something in theory is a lot different from a practical application. I negotiated the beast out of the garage without hitting my car, primed it up, opened the choke and turned the key – it started! My first attempt was maybe a strong C. I was okay with that. I had gotten over my fear of running the damn thing and knew I’d get more comfortable with each passing snowfall.

My next opportunity arrived the following Monday. All was going pretty well until I turned off the machine because I couldn’t figure out how to turn the thing around after arriving at the end of my sidewalk. Once I turned it off, it wouldn’t restart. I had to drag that big heavy chunk of metal all the way back to my driveway where I placed a panicked text to my friend who knows a lot about small machines. No reply. Finally, I got it restarted and was limping along when my nice across-the-street neighbor walked over and asked if he could take a look. Turns out he knows a thing or two about snowblowers and shared with me that I had been running the throttle on turtle instead of rabbit. Running it on rabbit leveled up my game to a strong B+.

I share this snow blowing story with you (kind of crazy that I filled two whole paragraphs about being excited about snow removal) because I had built up a narrative that snow blowing was scary and beyond my ken. I was operating from a place of self-limitation. As it turns out, I’m a kick-ass snowblower. Not only did I successfully snow blow, but I also shovelled the heck out of my walkway and stairs. It felt amazing and liberating to dismantle that story I had created and carried around for way too long. How many not-true stories and limiting beliefs do you have running through your mind? What are the impediments stopping you from breaking through the doubt into a world of success and achievement? Can you imagine if we all let go of the fear and barriers? Think about what we could achieve individually and collectively. We’d rock this world. Let’s do it.
 

Upcoming Community (not all LAC) Adventures – These are not LAC adventures (except for the ones that say, “LAC”). These are adventures we’re sharing that are put-on by other orgs. And if you have ideas for the calendar, please send me a note.

Maine

❄️ January 1-March 26: L.L. Bean’s Discounted Ski Days at Maine ski mountains (including $19.60 Thursday ski tickets at Mount Abram for Maine residents)
❄️ January 28: Pineland Farms Snowshoeing
❄️ January 29: LAC Oxbow Cross Country Ski Adventure
❄️ January 29: Pineland Farms Nature Forest Therapy
❄️ February 4: Inclusive Ski Touring Women’s Program at Mount Abram (I’m volunteering co-leading this tour)
❄️ February 4: Telefest at Mount Abram
❄️ February 4: Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust Old Speck Hike
❄️ February 5: Mid-winter Classic 10-mile Road Race
❄️ February 5: Royal River Conservation Trust Full Moon Trek at Pisgah
❄️ February 10-13: Last Skier Standing at Black Mountain of Maine
❄️ February 11: Inclusive Ski Touring Women’s Program at Mount Abram
❄️ February 18: Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust Four Ponds Hike
❄️ February 18: Inclusive Ski Touring Women’s Program at Mount Abram
❄️ February 25: Inclusive Ski Touring Women’s Program at Mount Abram
❄️ March 4: Two Maine Mermaids International Women’s Day Dip
❄️ March 4: Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust Caribou Mountain Hike
❄️ March 4: Inclusive Ski Touring Women’s Program at Mount Abram

New Hampshire
❄️ February 4, Full-Moon Snowshoe in Jackson

Happy adventuring,