Universe testing you?

In last week’s newsletter I reflected on using gratitude when things aren’t exactly ideal. 

And I laugh because I think the universe really tried to test me to see if I really embodied just this. Two days after writing that newsletter, my laptop stopped working. 

I opened it and saw a flash of its purple background and wham, my MacBook went black. 

I couldn’t get it to reboot. 

There were zero signs of life. 

And nor could the Genius at the Apple Store revive it. 

These are the things that helped:

• Yep, gratitude. 

  • Serendipitously, I had a coffee meeting schedule in Georgetown literally less than a block from the Apple store three hours after this happened. 

  • Apple could see me shortly after coffee would wrap up. 

Thanks life for helping me get professional support that was easy to access!  

• Recognizing overwhelm & asking for support. 

  • I’ll spare you the nitty details, but I also got locked out of my Apple ID account and I was under the impression that’d mean I wouldn’t be able to use my new laptop for almost 2 weeks. 

  • I could feel the overwhelm building. If need be I could get by on my cellphone and using a library computer, but that wasn’t a great choice. I realized, I’d feel better if I asked for help by seeing if a friend or family member would lend me a spare laptop.

  • I reached out to my childhood best friend who is a former Genius (aka used to work the Genius Bar at Apple ;-) who told me not to fret. She didn’t have a spare laptop, but I should go ahead and set up my new laptop with a new Apple ID and she’d help me when I recovered my original Apple ID. What a relief! 

Thanks life for giving me a chance to practice asking for and receiving support!

• Getting on my bike and going birding. 

  • Right now is peak migration season in the US and with a friend, we hit up a local birding hot spot. Pedaling into the park spotting a hairy woodpecker squeeze in and out of a tree cavity with a big bug in its mouth, as the sound of chicks tweeted from inside connected me to awe. 

Thanks life for a reminder that moving my body and connecting to awe makes me more resilient!  

Three things that kept me cruising when things were less than ideal: gratitude, recognizing overwhelm and asking for support, and moving my body and connecting to nature.

What helps you when you are being tested?

And on that theme of birding and biking, I’m so excited for Ride & Reignite: A DC Birding & Biking Adventure on Sunday, May 19th from 1:00-3:45 pm starting from Cleveland Park in DC. 

Perhaps when you think of birding, you think of someone that doesn’t look like you (read about that in a past newsletter) or you need to know all of the species.

I’d be so happy to prove you wrong!

Birding is a tremendous way to connect to awe, which is a surefire way to destress!

How amazing would it feel to attune to nature and to shed some of that overwhelm, stress and go-go-go energy that you are carrying? 

Absolutely amazing!

Wouldn’t it be so nourishing to not let life pass you by and instead you feel present to all that’s unfolding in your life? 

It’d be SOOO nourishing!

If you’ve never picked up binoculars in your life, I’m excited to support you in connecting to birding in a playful, non-competitive way.

And if you are a hardcore birder, I’m excited to help you drop having to tick off all the boxes on your checklist and connect more intimately with nature and your senses. 

You’ll be riding away feeling more refreshed and connected to yourself, to new friends and to nature!

Ready to ride? Register for Ride & Reignite: A DC Birding & Biking Adventure starting/ending in Cleveland Park on Sunday, May 19th from 1:00-3:45 pm! 

Drop me a line at [email protected] if you have any questions. 

Wheels up, 

Ellen 

PS- The link to register for Ride & Reignite on May 19th is here! We’ll be moving at a leisurely pace and we welcome you, particularly if you don’t call yourself a birder and your bike has been gathering dust in the garage!