Isn't it amazing when your dreams give you an exact message?

Last week mine gave me a reminder -- and it was one I knew I had to share with you.

So much so that I literally got out of bed and immediately wrote down almost all of this email!

In the dream, I was at a cabin in the summer and a big group of us was split into two teams to do a fun outdoor Olympics competition.

For the past few months, I've been in major experimentation mode.

I’m not exactly sure what’s going on, but I have a feeling that I need a refresh.

I love my life and my work. I live in a great place. I don’t see any MAJOR changes on the horizon.

But a refresh?

Taking steps to create an updated version of me?

Shedding some of the old to make room for the new?

That sounds exactly right.

It's that time of year again. When the new year's resolutioning kicks into high gear, you start seeing nonstop ads for gyms and weight-loss solutions, and you feel the pressure (and sometimes real desire!) to improve every aspect of your life.

There's nothing innately wrong with using the energy of the new year to make changes. I've spent many hours over the past few weeks both reflecting on 2022 and visioning for 2023 - and I'm excited to move towards that vision and do some things differently this coming year.

I also know it can be a lot. The motivation to change can turn into the weight to change which can morph into the inner critic punishing you for NOT doing the change perfectly pretty darn quickly.

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?!?

There will be people who judge what you do with your life, whether that's something as small as saying no to a dinner party invite or as big as leaving your job to take risk on something completely different.

So what if you just let that go and gave yourself permission to be judged by them?

What if you listened to your own knowing and made decisions based on what you know in your core is right for you, instead of decisions based on the fear of what other people might think?

Spring always sparks a stirring inside of me—one represented by new growth peeking through the snow and the returning chirps of birds as they begin building their nests. This stirring is one of aliveness, regeneration, and hope. I’d like to share with you what I know to be true about this human experience and what it means to be alive.

It's time to recreate my life in a true new normal. It's been so long, I feel like I don't even know how to be in a "normal" anymore - even if it's a new normal! One thing I do know for sure -- I don't just want to go back to what I was doing pre-pandemic just because that's what I did. I’m starting by asking myself this one question.

Do you feel like you've come to a point in your life where you're tired of proving, pleasing, perfecting, and above all PERFORMING -- and you just want to be yourself? When you're close or actually have the career and house and life you've always pictured, but you're not sure it's what you really want anymore? If so, this blog and video are for you.

My friend Lauren says, "the trail provides." Although I've always loved to hike, I don't think I fully, deeply understood what this meant until this past year. The trail has become my salvation. The place I go to find myself, to find my spirit. The second I set foot on the trail, my soul is free.

One year ago today I decided to move to Colorado. I'd been actively pondering the decision for months, but was having a hard time fully making the leap. And then one night I knew. I KNEW with everything in me that I needed to move to Colorado. But NOTHING was certain about the decision.

In the last week I've spoken with multiple women who've told me they are exhausted, overwhelmed, and feel like they have NOTHING left in their bucket. I've thought a lot about this lately. About burnout and exhaustion and disconnection from ourselves. Here is the conclusion I’ve reached about the cure to burnout.

A few weeks ago, I was casually walking around the lake when I saw two runners jaunting towards me. A man and a woman, probably in their 30s. As they passed, I heard the man say to the woman: "If you do something enough, it's going to become part of you, whether you like it or not." SERIOUS WISDOM BOMB DROP.

For the first time in a long time I can feel a forward momentum towards "normal." Over the past year I've seen a ton of social media posts questioning what "normal" we want to go back to - both individually and collectively. If you haven't stopped to ask yourself that question, now is the time. Here are three questions to help you out.

Do you have a photo that REALLY looks like you? Here’s mine - I'm in second grade. Holding a snake and looking STRAIGHT at the camera with a smile. I'm also rocking a mullet. I look at this photo and see a girl who knows EXACTLY who she is - before the rules I was taught to play took hold.

Yesterday I got a message from someone who just finished reading my book, An Overachiever's Guide To Breaking The Rules: How To Let Go Of Perfect and Live Your Truth that said: "I'm living more abundantly and at a MUCH slower pace AND no one has criticized me like I thought they would for not being Johnny on the spot with work or schedules."