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A Starfish Story

Sometimes you just need one person who believes in you, your heart, your intentions and your dreams to help you keep moving forward when everyone else is telling you all the reasons you shouldn’t. My person has been my Adventure Sister and soul sister Stacy. From the moment we met Stacy has helped me come out of my shell, not only by going on adventures, but growing together in a mind, body, spirit kind of way.

I feel more confident in who I am, because I had a mentor to show me how to fully embrace who I was as a person, to love my mind, body and quirky spirit. She celebrated the attributes I once thought of as negative like ‘stubbornness’ and helped me reframe this to ‘persistent or determined’, which led to setting goals, and then achieving them.

Stacy consistently encouraged me to level up in all areas of my life, she Yoda’d me or coached me through self-esteem issues that were keeping me from being brave enough to be authentically me. She encouraged me to remember who I really am inside, what do I really believe? What do I really stand for? Do your actions match? She asked me hard questions, called me out and encouraged me to be authentic in her own kind way.

Adventure Sister Stacy and I have a strong soul connection, like sisters we have special relationships. She taught me that what’s more important than having someone else believe in you; was that I must believe in myself. Very big sister like advice, I am sure I have heard it many times in many ways. She was an example of what it looked like to own your uniqueness and passions to make them feel like they were the best part of your magical charm. Which is, of course, true!

I have wanted to write a book for a very long time but never had the confidence to try, I would tell Stacy about my dream of being an author for years. It took Stacy suggesting we write a book together before I was brave enough to try. I thought that I needed someone to hold my hand to hold me accountable to go through with it. The moment we decide to write a book together, we set a goal of 3-5 pages per week. Every week, we surpassed this goal swiftly.

The first book “Lessons through Joy” was written in about four months. Our other stories flowed so freely, we continued to write and write some more. We ended up with enough chapters to fill a three-book trilogy. I was doubting myself, looking for approval from others instead of just believing in my own abilities. When I put effort into it I found out there was nothing to be fearful of, only my own doubts kept me idle.

It has been a wonderful literary adventure with my dear friend, we have had the most amazing journey just to get where we are today. Our three book proposals are almost complete and will be ready for submission to publishing companies by the end of the month. We are both full of excitement and anticipation for what the future may hold, yet we know whatever happens will be as it should. We feel blessed to be going through this amazing journey together.

When I learned how to believe in myself fully I realized that no matter what happens I will be okay. If we sell a few books or if we sell a few million books… I know that I will be proud of myself for trying. I will be happy that I found the confidence to attempt a shot at making my dream reality, instead of being too scared to give it a go. That’s what I know. Stacy does too.

It was my sister Stacy that encouraged me to run for State House of Representatives when the opportunity arrived. She reminded me to believe in myself, she reminded me to own my authentic self by putting my political passion to work in real and tangible ways. “The Universe gave you this gift of opportunity, don’t you want to go down the path to see where it leads?” Leaving it to sound like an adventure, because she knows I love adventures.

This, my friends, is how my soul sister Yoda’s me into being a more confident, goal setting, dream chasing, adventurer… because that is authentically me. Stacy was the person who believed in me, encouraged me, and helped me when I was a starfish beached on the shore. She saw that being stuck in the sand was not where I was supposed to be, she kindly nurtured our friendship and led by example what it means to be the change you wish to see in the world.

I feel blessed to have such a great person in my life that I get to call my friend. For more Yoda like wisdom, follow Adventure Sister Stacy Crep’s blog too! Please feel free to follow her at stacycrep.com she is an amazing person.

 

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

https://emyminzel.com

@emyminzel

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/BWCAdventureSisters

Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

https://stacycrep.com

 

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Curveballs or Divine Guidance?

How do you react when you find yourself in a situation you never expected? Out of the blue you may find out you are expecting a bundle of joy, or you lose a job only to find an opportunity that suits you better anyways. Maybe you go through a rough break-up to later be blessed by Cupid’s arrow walking into a room full of strangers. Before you know it, a new exciting and healing romance blooms into your life filling your heart with hope. Sometimes you look up at the heavens and think “Whoa, how did that happen?” I believe it is divine guidance.

I have found those days in my life that change everything to come in my future, are scary, exciting, and uncertain. Yet, they have made my whole life better, like finding out I was expecting a baby. I was scared, excited and uncertain, and it changed the direction of my life for the better. I grew up quickly, I put my baby first, I put my drive to succeed for our future prosperity second on the list and started moving forward with purpose.

Several years ago, in my early twenties, I quit a job that paid me well, but I never felt appreciated. In an expression of setting boundaries and demanding respect for myself, I walked out and quit. I was scared because that was not the in the plan that day, but also certain I deserved to be treated better.

It took me a few months, but I found a job that paid me much more, I enjoyed working there and it is where I met my husband! It was uncomfortable to be in limbo of uncertainty and unknowing if I was going to be okay or not. For some reason, I just knew I could not take this disrespect anymore and the universe supported this decision by rewarding me with a better situation.

This brings me to where I am today. I have decided to put myself ‘out there’ in a very public way. As a semi-introverted person this takes a good amount of courage and gumption. Attributes that I learned while adventuring to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and through living the adventure that is my life. I learned I can do more then I think I can, I learned I am smarter then I thought, I learned I am brave and strong. I have learned a great deal about what I can do, by doing things I never thought I could or would.

How we act when life throws us a curve ball is what determines our future. We can be fearful, drag our feet or go kicking and screaming. Or we can choose to trust that God/Universe sent this revolution because you needed it, dig in and move forward. After being endorsed by the DFL, I found myself a little scared, excited and unsure of the path that lay before me. I choose to fully embrace the opportunity to hopefully represent my community for the greater good with my whole being.

When I decided “Yes, thank you Universe for this amazing opportunity,” is when synchronicities started to happen, I could not believe how effortlessly everything was falling into place. Extremely qualified and wonderful people appeared to help me and support every step of this journey.

The first day I made my stump speech I mentioned my grandmother was my hero. Moments later I met a woman who worked with my grandma for 10 years! Her presence was kind and very supportive which helped me move forward to the next convention. By the next week I had acquired a campaign team that helped reinforce and verify that this is the path for me.

I had been asking for a big map of my district for about a week, I had mentioned it again the morning we were heading to a local pizza and politics meeting for dinner. When we walked into the pizza place the first woman to greet me was holding a giant map of my district and asked me if I would like to have it along with a very generous campaign donation I was not expecting. My heart swelled.

I had no choice but to look up at the heaven’s and say “Thank you. I know you are helping me, thank you for listening!” I have felt as if this whole political adventure has indeed been divinely guided. The less energy I give to the fear of unknown, the more synchronistic happenings appearing as if by magic or miracles.

My life experiences taught me to referred to life’s curve balls as divine guidance from now on. I trust them.

When have you experience divine guidance in your life? I would love to hear your stories!

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

https://emyminzel.com

@emyminzel

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/BWCAdventureSisters

Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

https://stacycrep.com

* I saved this picture off of the internet many moons ago, if it yours I will gladly give you the photo credit. – Emy

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What does success look like?

I believe success is defined by a subjective point view. What one person consider successful, another may disagree because they view what success means differently. Some people believe lots of money, cars, houses, boats, and toys of all kinds means you are successful in life.

Is that true for everyone? I don’t think so.

Yes, money and all the things it can buy will help you live a more comfortable life. There are plenty of people who have all the money they need and all the stuff they ever wanted, and yet, they’re emotionally miserable because they may not have what they truly need. I believe people need things that cannot be bought and paid for like time, family, dear friends, connection with others, and the feeling of belonging. These ‘free’ things, that are often disregarded when talking about success, are more important then they get any credit for.

I believe being happy and content in the life you live is success. If you can look in the mirror and say “hey, you did your best today. I still like you. You were kind to everyone and everything. Your friends and family still love you” then today was a success! I believe that having a roof over my head, food on the table, love and a purpose to get up in the morning (even on days the only good reason to get up is to feed the dogs I adore and love so much it may be beyond normal)… this is what truly fills my heart when it comes down to it. To me, that is success.

Even when funds seem tight, I still consider my life successful because I have worked hard on being the kind of person I view as successful, which is kind, compassionate, adventurous, smart, and ambitious. I’ve been working on myself to be the best person I can be, and it has been paying off mind, body and spiritually. I decided to set goals for myself and keep them, I decided to forgive myself, I decided to love and respect myself, I decided to treat my body better. I try every day to meet these goals and that feels great.

I have wonderful family and friends that love me through the mistakes or miscommunications.  I feel as though I have a wonderful support system of loved ones, which in turn has taught me to try and be as supportive to others as I feel supported. Being thankful for the people, pets, opportunities and situations that bring me joy and allow me to be authentically me help me feel successful.

How do you view success? What does it look like to you? Go kick butt by being you today! Success is what you make of it.

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

https://emyminzel.com

@emyminzel

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/BWCAdventureSisters

Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

https://stacycrep.com

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Spring Fever

It’s that time of year in Minnesota when we go back to wearing hoodies instead of winter coats because the sun shines bright and warm. Then because Mother nature has a great sense of humor the next day it sleets and snows to remind you to it is still winter. Even though the beautiful sunny days persist and grow longer there is snow on the ground, yet there is fever in the air, spring fever that is. I have it bad, my dogs have it worse.

Spring Fever has hit in most every part of my life, I wish to move forward into the happy days of gardening, walking the dogs in the wildlife refuge, camping, kayaking and just being outside. I even have campaign activities and meeting many wonderful new people to look forward to. Although I want to do all these things, it is still not time. Also, I like to follow a little astrology it’s fun and interesting they say Mercury just turned retrograde which means miscommunication can be likely, electronics act up, and the general pace of life seems to be stalled.

This means even though we have tons to do, no matter how hard we have the gas pedal down, we are stuck in the muck spinning our wheels. Our lives seem to feel like tight wrapped buds of a tree just taking its sweet time making sure you are fully ready to bloom into spring. This can be a great time to do prep work for the big launch of the coming spring season.

Revising, reworking, strategizing, planning, even some spring cleaning should be the focus now. We should be doing all the stuff we won’t want to do indoors when we finally get the chance to get back outside. I don’t know about you, but these are not my favorite types of things as I like to spend my days doing. Reworking or cleaning sounds like a trip to the dentist, necessary, but not so fun.

Spring fever is the time of year when we have desires to blossom but are stagnantly bound safely in the bud of late winter. So frustrating! I just wanted to mention this feeling, so we are aware of it. Sometimes our frustration of spinning our wheels no matter how much effort we give can really get us down and affect our moods, attitudes and conversations.

During times when we feel naturally stressed by the feeling of not being able to move forward we may be short with our words or inconsiderate with our actions. If we are aware of the reasons you may be feeling this way, it is easier to put a name to it and acknowledge the true source of your frustration. When we can see why we are frustrated or upset it is much more likely we can handle it in a gentle way. It’s just a reminder to be aware and be kind.

So give yourself a break, acknowledge it’s not time to put the pedal to the metal just yet. This is the time of year we should enjoy the calm because before you know it, the hectic busy season of spring will bring many exiting activities to our longer days. The slow last days of winter are to remind you it is okay to rest, to get your house in order, to clean your office, to edit your work, or plan and strategize.

Here are some examples of type of things that I will be doing to make the most of spring fever. I plan to work on my campaign materials, logos, literature, websites, etc.… Stacy and I must go back and re-edit the revisions our wonderful editor made on our Adventure Sisters book proposals. I will be starting seeds and planning a very simple garden layout since I will have a very busy summer and won’t be able to give it as much attention as I have in the past.

All the things that can seem at times tedious and time consuming are still very important steps to the outcome I wish to achieve. Times like these can feel like spinning wheels, but I know there is a purpose for this slow down, if you can see these things in your life for the intention of the outcome it helps us stay focused.

Even when all I hear is the forest and my kayak calling… I will sit down and work hard today, so I can be ready to enjoy the abundance of fun to come!

How do you cope with spring fever? What are you planning or planting? I would love to hear from you.

 

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

https://emyminzel.com

@emyminzel

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/BWCAdventureSisters

Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

https://stacycrep.com

 

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#Marchforourlives

There is a nation-wide protest organized by teenagers all over the country today to protest gun legislation. I find it encouraging that our young people are using their voices to pursue the change they wish to see in the world. I believe they will succeed getting the attention of our lawmakers by being persistent. Their fight is not one that will be easy, or quick. This is political after all.

I believe our children have heart, compassion, as well as reasons to rage. Rage is a completely normal response to being dismissed, belittled and not taken seriously. I am betting that this rage will take them to the voting booths. The way to change is by keeping persistence and dedication. I have seen these kids say “No. This way of life, of living in fear, is not working for us! We deserve better!” Most of us believe the same.

This gun debate is not as black and white as some like to think. We do live in a nation of freedoms that should be taken seriously. I am a gun owner, I have a conceal carry permit, I support our 2nd amendment. Here, in Minnesota, we have many gun laws already in place that keep us safe, but I believe we need to have better systems in place when it comes to the private sales of weapons to be sure they do not end up on the hands of criminals or mentally ill.

Since I also support our children’s rights to feel safe, I will not look away from the cry for help from teenagers saying enough! When we dismiss their fear, they will inevitably feel like they do not matter. The last thing in the world our children should be feeling is that they do not matter, or their fears are not taken seriously.

How can adults, who blatantly chose to disregard our hurting youth, wonder why they lash out? What do adults do when they are scared and dismissed? They get angry. Anger gets us to move, promotes action and change. Our kids are showing us just how upset they are, do not dismiss them. Listen to them. Help them. Show them we care.

Go ahead kids, stay angry, move the powers that be to action. We got your back!

 

Blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

https://emyminzel.com

@emyminzel

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/BWCAdventureSisters

Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

https://stacycrep.com