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When I lost everything

I had a very big experience this past fall—one that changed the trajectory of my life.

Last autumn, I lost my business (the one I've been building for over a decade).

During Hurricane Helene the building that housed my apothecary, classroom, sanctuary and client space was buried until nine feet of water when our entire town was destroyed in a 1,000-year flood.

If you've been walking with me the past few months, you've likely heard a lot about this already.

But what I haven't talked about too much yet is how, within such piercing loss, so much profound clarity and direction has come through on the other side...

On a physical level, I lost everything there. But within that loss I've reconnected to my mission in a way that has reinvigorated me beyond words.

I'm starting over again—and it feels just as fresh and full of hope as it did when I began over a decade ago.

All of this feels SO important to share...

Because while we may not all experience a 1,000-year flood, there's a layer in which we are all living through a 1,000-year flood right now.

We are living in big times. We all know it, can feel it as surely as river stones underfoot.

Every single one of us has experienced seasons in life when we lose, what feels like, everything.

Our job, our health, our homes.

Our loved ones, our footing, our belief.

But in the loss, if we look, we can find something startling — the clarity to know what's important, the shaman's-eye perspective of our life, a recommitment to our soul's mission.

It's a beautiful, bizarre, meaningful truth of existence...

As you stand among what is lost, or what is ending, the importance of why you're here can be revealed.

In the aftermath of living through what one of my friends started calling, a "doorstep apocalypse," the invitation has become so very clear...

In the weeks following the hurricane, as the land ached with broken trees, torn riverbanks and an ocean of plastic left behind in its wake, I could feel the Earth here thrumming, humming beneath me, saying the same thing over and over again...

Now is the time.

Now is the time to let go of what's been holding you back.

Now is the time for you to bring your creative visions to life.

Now is the time to believe in what you're meant to bring to this world, to give it form.

And the Earth wasn't just talking to me, or our region. It was a planetary-wide message, one that brought truth-tears to my eyes as we collectively walk into the bigness of this upcoming year...

Every single one of us has experienced seasons in life when we lose, what feels like, everything.

Our job, our health, our homes.

Our loved ones, our footing, our belief.

But in the loss, if we look, we can find something startling — the clarity to know what's important, the shaman's-eye perspective of our life, a recommitment to our soul's mission.

It's a beautiful, bizarre, meaningful truth of existence...

As you stand among what is lost, or what is ending, the importance of why you're here can be revealed.

In the aftermath of living through what one of my friends started calling, a "doorstep apocalypse," the invitation has become so very clear...

In the weeks following the hurricane, as the land ached with broken trees, torn riverbanks and an ocean of plastic left behind in its wake, I could feel the Earth here thrumming, humming beneath me, saying the same thing over and over again...

Now is the time.

In gratitude, for it all,
-A