Colorful Colorado

Kodi and I are living the Colorado dream.

This past week or so I've been luxuriously sleeping in most mornings. Feeling wonderfully indulgent and a bit like a spoiled princess. Then, when I finally do get up my biggest dilemma facing me most days is choosing which fun outdoor activity I would prefer for the day. Do I want to ride my road bike? Do I want to hike in the front range? Do I want to hike in the mountains? So many choices.

Most days I have been choosing to hike. Mainly up in the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area which is only 45 minutes to an hour out of Boulder. Although the weather has been fairly nice in Boulder, it's been even nicer in the mountains. The amazing thing about Colorado is that I feel like I could hike a new trail every day I go out, and not hike the same trail twice for the rest of my life!

I've been having a lot of fun exploring new trails, and seeing new mountains. Kodi thinks he's died and gone to heaven! Hiking or playing frisbee every day. He's going to have a bit of a shock when I go back to work this fall.

I've also had some time to meditate and work with Reiki in my own healing. The stress of the past 5 years definitely took its toll on my system. I went from having a relatively carefree lifestyle to an incredibly stressful lifestyle almost overnight. I didn't give my body any time to adapt. So now I'm catching up with myself and giving myself the care I need. As my friend Kathy just told me today, no one can truly give anything to anyone else until you first take care of yourself.

I think learning how to love and care for ourselves, especially for women, is undervalued in our culture. We are taught to put everyones needs before our own, and we buy into this mindset. When this summer started, I honestly didn't know how to love myself. I was so used to loving and caring for everyone else, but I didn't know how to give it back to me. Any energy system based on energy flowing in one direction is destined to fail. By learning to give love and care to myself I am creating a circular energy system that can sustain itself. At least that is my goal.

Tomorrow John and I are heading out on a 2 1/2 day backpacking trip. I love backpacking! Yet somehow I just haven't found the time to do it in almost 6 years. It feels so wonderful to be doing the things I love again! This is why I live in such a beautiful place. Not to work 5 jobs just to pay the bills, but to have fun.

Living the Colorado dream. Fun. What a fun idea!