Today I am grateful for fun.  I did something yesterday that I’ve waited several years to go and do: Goat Yoga.  I cannot recommend it enough to anyone who likes goats and yoga lol!  I would highly advise being with people who have a sense of humor and love animals but other than that, I’d say go for it.  It was one of the best experiences I’ve had in a long time.  Part of it was the novelty, part of it was the fact that I do love goats, but all of it came down to such a presence and wanting to be there.  We all wanted to do it, we’d all be waiting a while to try it, so we decided to go.  Not to be totally cliché but it was one of those moments where it all came together—we wanted to have fun so we decided to go for it and it turned out really well.  There is no “acting cool” when it comes to these animals climbing over you or when they decide to poop right on your mat—animals are the great equalizer and it is so cool to be reminded that we are animals too.  There is something so connected in the entire experience as well.  Yoga in itself is grounding and keeps you present but throwing in animals that are naturally drawn to people (or not) and it is a truly humbling experience.  We had a girl with us who had been joking she was terribly flexible and started that time of the month and one of the goats literally came and curled up on her mat right as we were starting to warm up, like, “Nope, you’re good, just pet me.”  That type of connection with animals is a spiritual experience. And it was a blast.

Today I am grateful for sense of self.  After our yoga excursion we went to a restaurant super close by.  I knew off the bat this wasn’t my type of scene but in the vein of trying new things, I decided to go with it.  It was a super ritzy place, not somewhere I would go after being crawled on by goats, but it seems this is a norm for the area we were in.  I will not deny it was cute and it was so nice to be with girls just laughing about everything.  It was nice to feel supported and to learn about each other in a group.  But it was not cool to pay $50.00 for a chicken sandwich, chips, and one drink—for one person.  I knew in that moment that the experience of the day was amazing, that is literally something I will never forget.  You don’t easily forget being crawled on by goats, going to lunch, and laughing your asses off for nearly 3 hours.  I understood how bonds do form in those moments.  And I understood the value in trying new things that fall on someone else’s wish list.  But I understood more that just because I have the experience once doesn’t mean I would have to do it again.  Goats and yoga? Any time.  A stupid amount of money for food?  Not so much.  Being with women who have something in common and are finding things in common?  Definitely.  Especially when you’re learning more facets of who you are.  It was amazing. 

Today I am grateful for energy being recognized.  So you see goats are pretty profound lol.  During this whole experience, the woman who was responsible for the goats (the owner of the farm) had been walking around and monitoring, laughing, picking up pee and poop, and working on pictures.  As we were leaving, she stopped our group and told us about other offerings they have and said that our group needed to come back because we had an amazing energy.  Normally I would chalk that up to sales/upselling in general but the truth is she had seen us with each other and she had seen how the animals reacted to us and she knew we truly appreciated the event and would have fun with other stuff as well.  It was nice to put aside the bullshit that comes when women get together and to know that we were recognized for who we were and having a good time.  When energy speaks to energy there is something special with it.  The soul recognizing another soul is key.

Today I am grateful for humor.  As I’m learning about this group, I’ve realized that 70% of us work in healthcare.  We’ve met because of our kids and the activities they are involved in, but we have a lot in common.  We are in different facets of healthcare but we are all exposed to the same things.  We’ve discussed the traumas we’ve witnessed, up to and including sexual assault and hostage situations, ER shootings (just last week), and death.  And in each of those incidents, it is amazing to me how we have all stood and dealt with it and been there to support each other.  We all work for different health systems and have all experienced issues like this.  Life gets messy, life can be painful, and life is certainly unpredictable.  The events of our lives that led us all together in these moments are more than coincidental.  And the way we deal with these things is a choice—and part of those choices involve finding people who see and understand what we’ve been through.  They know what you deal with and they know how to deal with it.  Being able to find that counterpoint of recognition changes everything and the fact we can do it with humor and still show up for what we need to do is amazing.

Today I am grateful for decisions.  The choices I’ve made over the last few months have seemed to be slow going, like the results of what I’m hoping to achieve have been painfully slow…  But I am grateful that the decisions I’ve made have shown me that there are other ways to do things, that I don’t have to continue to sit in the crowd and wait for the answer or opportunity to fall in my lap.  I can say something, I can choose something, I can do something and quite frankly, it doesn’t matter what people think.  I made the choice to leave my leadership role because I struggled with the way things were run and the choices people made in that environment.  And now that I’m in this new role, the adjustment is a bit disorienting but I am so glad I made the choice to do what is right for myself and my family at this point.  As shaky as I felt in making a change like this (because it feels counterintuitive to what I need to be doing to advance where I want to be), I know that the universe has a way of letting everything unfold as it’s supposed to, that it takes us exactly where we need to be.  That only happens when we make the choice to trust and take the leap.  And believe me, this last week has shown me just how far I jumped.  I wouldn’t change it for anything.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.