☀️ Sailing the Seas of Surprises: A Peek into my July Reflection

Letter 170: July Reflection, August In & Out List & Swimming three miles

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Aloha fellow learn-it-all 👋

Greetings from Metro Detroit!

Here’s the view of my drive downstate of 250-plus miles south on i-75 yesterday.

Saturday was a slow day for me. I slept in until 10 AM (!) after taking allergy medicine that stopped my sniffles and knocked me out. My cousin made me some of her special steamed sunnyside-up eggs on sourdough toast with shredded parmesan cheese on top. We spoke about our fear of aging, but not of getting old. Getting old is a privilege. We’ll get to reminisce when we’re older about distant memories of the pandemic and how we used to drive our own cars. It was quite nice.

It was a slow rest of the day too. Waterskiing for the first time in three years. Overcoming my fear of faceplanting felt terrific! I bopped around the sandbar meeting people, ate a sandwich for an early dinner, and read my old journal entries snuggled up on the patio until the sun set around 10 pm. What a full day.

Anywho, Sunday was a totally different story. I swam the longest distance I’ve ever gone in open water. I share about that at the end of this letter ;)

Now, let’s dive into letter 170 from a learn-it-all. Enjoy!

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❓Question to think about

How did July go?

🤔 Reflecting

“We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.” – John Dewey

Reflection is essential to life. This is why I’m obsessed with my journaling practice. I undoubtedly would not be near as poised in the life I live today if I didn’t take time to pause and objectively look back on life.

I invite you to ask yourself these same questions I go through to prompt yourself. It’s never too late to reflect.

🎉 What am I celebrating?

1. Slobbery homecoming kisses from Paisley and Polo.

2. Cultivating cat energy with slow mornings and solo movie theater nights. The occasional dog energy here and there.

3. My four published letters:

   1. 🏝️ Two Years of Hawaii as my Happy Home

   2. 💌 My love letter to Hawaii

   3. 🛩️ A Time of Turbulence: Reflections from a Red-Eye

   4. ⛵️Adventures Afloat: The Windswept Triumphs and Trials of Yacht Racing and sailing on a team

4. Listening to audiobooks again. I’ve loved listening to Polina Pompliano ‘s audiobook narrated by herself Hidden Genius: The secret ways of thinking that power the world’s most successful people.

5. All the new people I’ve met across neighbors, sailors, runners, and mothers. It’s been fun.

6. Going on microadventures (link).

7. My confidence to take a ten-day social media break with an indefinite end date.

8. Sailing and dancing with my family at the awards party on Mackinac Island.

9. Watching Barbie: “Humans only have one ending. Ideas live forever."

10. Finally getting back into more of a routine while remotely working with regular movement.
    

    Here were some of my favorite ways to move my body:

    

    

🤭 What made me laugh?

1. Living off of tootsie rolls and smarties while sailing.

2. When I woke up, I looked in the mirror and looked baked out of my mind with red eyes but it was from living with too much feline affection (due to my allergy to cats).

3. How much of a weirdo I get perceived when I share about my full moon ceremony ritual.

4. Watching pudgy Smudgey be frisky rolling around the oriental round rug.

5. Seeing chipmunks scurry across the road for the sake of their life as I bike by.

6. People who thought my pink lemonade was spiked.

7. When I was called a “sophisticated scrivener” and an “extremely literate writer”.

8. Attempting to eat buffalo-dipped chicken lollipops and brussel sprouts at some boujee restaurant with my family and none of us being able to eat them.

9. Having the same waist size as my brother and being able to borrow his wet suits and denim shorts.

10. The short inseams on men’s shorts these days.

🪫 What did I lack?

1. Zoomed-out conversations on life rather than fixating on micro problems.

2. Actually taking action or setting a plan for what’s worth investing in.

3. Consistent vegetables.

4. Regular stretching.

5. Weekly reflection.

6. Alone time.

😯 What surprised me?

1. How my body perceives the temperature to be chilly in Michigan. I’m not used to A/C. I’ve been wearing pants every day.

2. I’ve been doing my up dog pose in Vinyasa yoga wrong my whole life. The proper way means that I don’t let my hips touch the ground. (My arms were very sore from doing this the right way)

3. Being roommates with my brother. It’s actually quite nice. Sharing a bunk bed with him until I was five left me with tainted memories that are untrue today.

4. How easy it is to make friends while taking initiative.

5. Oppenheimer is mind-boggling. This movie literally and figuratively blew my mind. I don’t remember learning about the atomic bomb in school. I need to watch this again.

6. I don’t miss social media. My year of connection ironically feels fuller without it.

7. How challenging it is to have a consistent mediation practice on my own in an ever-changing environment. I have yet to have a single two-day streak…

8. Eight-dollar ice cream on Mackinac Island in Michigan felt like I was back in Waikiki. There are so many trends across the economics of demand and tourism. It’s inescapable and fascinating.

9. Going to bed at midnight regularly is okay. There are more hours of extra light here than I am not used to. I am acclimating.

🎯What did I learn?

1. Building community feels easier when you have certainty of being in a place longer term.

2. Parkinson’s Law is real. The time allotted is the amount of time that will be filled for a project. Don’t think somehow it won’t happen that way.

3. I am a sensitive person and don’t want that to hold me back. It can be a superpower that propels me forward to feel things that others would miss.

4. I’d rather be surrounded by doers than dreamers. Though I cannot fathom a life without dreams as the crux of those deeds. At the end of the day, actions speak louder than words.

5. Age doesn’t equate to maturity. Reflection and awareness and wisdom do.

6. Single-speed bikes force you to slow down. So does driving a 25-year-old manual Jeep.

7. Being able to talk to anyone anywhere. This major dog energy is a superpower. I’ve watched my parents and realized they are two of the most gregarious sociable people that I know.

8. The epiphany of the five C’s that flow into each other: curiosity → courage → confidence → connection → creativity → curiosity

❓What am I actively pondering?

1. What does courage mean to me?

2. How can I be sure to please myself rather than always pleasing others first?

3. Do I want to keep leaning into a chameleon mode? If so, how can I be sure not to lose parts of myself?

4. How can I have VMG (velocity made good) in every avenue of my life rather than merely speeding forward?

5. What is my balance of self-preservation and candor about life? I want to share openly like how Maggie Rogers does in her “notes from the road” with intimate thoughts yet still keeping her sanity.

6. I love listening to audiobooks but I don’t want my phone in my bedroom at night. What is the next best option for an immersive auditory and visual reading experience with minimal tech?

I might write more about some of these reflections. They all feel raw, and I am willing to dive into any of them more. If you have a particular interest in reading more about any of them, just let me know :)

✅ ❌ In & Out List for August 2023

📜🖋 Poetry Corner

I Remember, I Remember
BY THOMAS HOOD

I remember, I remember,
The house where I was born,
The little window where the sun
Came peeping in at morn;
He never came a wink too soon,
Nor brought too long a day,
But now, I often wish the night
Had borne my breath away!

I remember, I remember,
The roses, red and white,
The vi'lets, and the lily-cups,
Those flowers made of light!
The lilacs where the robin built,
And where my brother set
The laburnum on his birthday,—
The tree is living yet!

I remember, I remember,
Where I was used to swing,
And thought the air must rush as fresh
To swallows on the wing;
My spirit flew in feathers then,
That is so heavy now,
And summer pools could hardly cool
The fever on my brow!

I remember, I remember,
The fir trees dark and high;
I used to think their slender tops
Were close against the sky:
It was a childish ignorance,
But now 'tis little joy
To know I'm farther off from heav'n
Than when I was a boy.

🎧 Listening

And when I see you again
I wonna make you smile
I’m gonna ask for your number
So I can give you a dial

Oh, Saturday went by too fast
For me to even say goodbye
I know I got a little bit too high
At least I got your number

🔍Word to define

Peripatetic: adj.

1. traveling from place to place, in particular working or based in various places for relatively short periods: the peripatetic nature of military life. 

Peripatetic: Noun.

1. One who walks about; pedestrian; itinerant.

2. Of or pertaining to the philosophy taught by Aristotle (who gave his instructions while walking in the Lyceum at Athens), or to his followers. "The true peripatetic school." Howell.

Example using word from Professor Melanie Pryor’s article on Cheryl Strayed’s Memoir Wild:

Strayed links the notion of wildness with movement, suggesting that “becom[ing] wild” only came about for her when she moved away from—and I would suggest here deliberately rejected—a sedentary role in her life. That is, when she became a peripatetic walker…

🌟Quote to inspire

“Publishing is making public your own enthusiasm.”

-Robert Gottlieb, the late editor who had a 50-year relationship with writer Robert Caro explained in Turn Every Page excellent documentary

📸Photos of the Week

I started my Sunday out swimming at the Coastal Crawl. It was a three-mile swim in Little Traverse Bay and around the point into Lake Michigan. I haven’t swam for two hours since I had three-hour two-a-days in high school a decade ago. I did it to test my limits to see if I could actually do it.

My goal time was to complete the event and finish within two hours and I ended up going the three miles or 5400 yards in one hour and 40 minutes.

Here’s the high-on-life look of feeling accomplished after completing a goal:

🙏Shoutouts

• Author Austin Kleon for sharing his recommendation to watch Turn Every Page where I found this week’s quote to inspire

• Musician Maggie Rogers for continuing to write her “notes from the road” that continue to inspire me as she shares the intricacies of what it’s like being on tour. It’s remarkable that she creates time to reflect and share despite the choaticness and busyness of the tour

• My parents, Kaitlyn and Marc for coming to see me cross the finish line on Sunday. It meant a lot to not be there alone!

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I appreciate you reading this!

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Never stop learning 😁

Mahalo 🌺

Jen

PS - in case you missed last week’s letter, I was surprised to bare witness to seeing turtle sex on my Monday Morning Microadventure

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