I'll admit - I've been holding out on this one.

There's one, big, huge message I want every single person to know. And not just know, but truly deeply BELIEVE to the core of your being.

I also feel like it's the climax moment in Grounded Wildness and I didn't want to give it way before you read the book. I've hinted around it several times, but I was afraid you might not buy the book if I told you this message directly.

Then I decided I wanted you to hear this even if you never read Grounded Wildness.

I recently presented my keynote at a large conference for women in Engineering. I opened my keynote — Discover Your Authentic Voice - And How To Use It To Create Change — with a story about the feedback I received in my corporate career that I was too direct. Because of that feedback, I started to hold back the bold, fiery side of me. I questioned my voice and began to speak more cautiously. Not thoughtfully, cautiously.Which begs the question -- should I have ever listened to that feedback in the first place?!?

“How did you find the motivation to start saying no?” The answer to this one came to me immediately: I didn't want to keep dealing with the consequences of saying yes FAR too often. I didn't want to be tired the rest of my life. I didn't want to be resentful for taking on work that paid me less than I was worth. That was my initial motivation. I wanted to get rid of the consequences of over-yessing. Over time, though, the motivation started to include what I DESIRED from saying no. Because there are SO MANY benefits of saying no.

How do you know when to be persistent and stay the course - and when to make a change? In my experience, this comes down to four words: SLOW DOWN. TURN INWARD.

A few weeks ago I was thinking about what I wanted to do this summer and the thought came to me: One of my GOALS is to spend more time in the mountains.

Even though it was my own thought (hello past programming!), I immediately recoiled.

This is going to be fun! It's time to do some Marie Kondo-ing. And we're taking this way beyond your closet.

I invite you to think about how you can Marie Kondo your entire life. I've been doing this slowly over the past several years - and can I tell you how FREEING it is?

You can Marie Kondo your activities, decorations in your house, even relationships. It's okay to let go of things that are no longer you. Or that never were you - you only had them because of the "should" and "supposed-to" rules you've been taught.

You also get to ADD what DOES feel like you.