The view from my family cabin at Katepwa Lake. 

(Originally published in REWILD)

When I was 15, I spent a summer in the most beautiful location: Tunnel Mountain, up near Banff surrounded by mountains; doing what I loved: dancing, all of the ballet; and eating the most amazing food (not to mention desserts) by world-class chefs. I was happy. I was beyond happy. One day, a group of girls suggested we all go down to the gym to weigh ourselves. Ok, I thought, this sounds fun. I never gave much thought to my weight before then.

There were about five of us...

What is your first reaction when you hear the word "No" ?

Is it a cringing? A pang? A sadness or sense of rejection? Loss of confidence?

Or is it a sense of excitement and empowerment? Possibility? An opportunity for something else?

I've always had a hard time with the word no, hearing it and speaking it. I grew up as a people pleaser, an enabler of sorts. Yes sir, yes ma'am, yes mom and dad, yes world even if it hurts me. I did not have any sense of boundaries or even the feeling that it was ok to have boundaries.

Hearing no was hard too. I was very lucky as a child and was afforded all of the opportunities I wanted. I really didn't hear no that often, so when I did, it came as a shock.

Image by Charles Gollob

Life isn’t always all rainbows and butterflies.

Sometimes, things don’t go our way- or as we had planned. I got a lesson in this today. My partner and I were intent and excited to go to Burning Man, we just didn’t have tickets yet. We registered and were eagerly awaiting the ticket sale. We both logged in and waited anxiously in the queue. Unfortunately, in 6 minutes they were all gone. No more tickets. And the amount of people looking to buy tickets was 1000-1. Well there goes my end of summer plans…