"Lost really has two disparate meanings. Losing things is about the familiar falling away, getting lost is about the unfamiliar appearing."
-Rebecca Solnit
A couple weeks after I quit my job last year, I found myself in the middle of South Dakota, surrounded by jagged rocks you'd mainly find on a planet in Star Wars.
Reading a sign that welcomed guests to Badlands National Park, it said the following:
"Beyond this point, self-reliance is key... It is easy to lose your bearings and become disoriented...
There are many ways to go,
from the short walks and
well-marked longer paths…
the main thing is to get out
of your car and away from
the parking lot if you can."
I didn't know how at the time, just how accurately I would be following this sign. The past year has been quite the adventure of getting away from any sort of comfort zone.
I thought of this sign when in preparation for my chat with Paul Millerd (scroll below for a recap!), he passed along a quote from Rebecca Solnit's A Field Guide to Getting Lost:
The word “lost” comes from the Old Norse los, meaning the disbanding of an army, and this origin suggests soldiers falling out of formation to go home, a truce with the wide world. I worry now that many people never disband their armies, never go beyond what they know. Advertising, alarmist news, technology, incessant busyness, and the design of public and private space conspire to make it so.
Solnit also writes, "Lost really has two disparate meanings. Losing things is about the familiar falling away, getting lost is about the unfamiliar appearing."
Many of us have been forced into falling out of formation the past six months. We are experiencing losing things, and the grief that accompanies that loss.
Recently, what I've noticed in myself and others, however, is almost the opposite of unfamiliar appearing, and moreso boredom, leading to restless impatience. Impatience for what, we're not quite sure yet. How, then, with these current constraints, are we able to embrace getting lost?
What if we were brave enough to ask the questions that we've been avoiding through distractions? What if we were able to sit with the boredom and see where the discomfort leads us?
Perhaps with that intentional space to discover what we don't know we don’t know yet, we'll finally be able to deal with our lives catching up to us.
Love,
Amy
et cetera
🗺 Feeling antsy that you can't travel? Explore this literature map instead— each island represents an author, and each city is a book. The distance between them is calculated by their relationship on the web
🎧 Climate anxiety as a spiritual quest - What if anxiety were actually a superpower in this case?
🔥 Speaking of climate anxiety, those of us in California and the American West (and around the world) might be feeling a bit of that right now. Hmm could possibly climate change be playing a role in what's going on?? idk??
I feel my throat tightening. It’s not the coronavirus or smoke. It’s rage—rage radiating up from my belly and my heart. We’re trapped inside because of the pandemic and because of the fires, but ultimately we are most confined by the inequality, selfishness, and greed that created this moment.
📖 On Witness and Respair: A Personal Tragedy Followed by Pandemic. A tragically beautiful article by novelist Jesmyn Ward on the loss of her husband and collective grief.
☁️ Click here to pause your thoughts and pop some clouds
🤫 Very excited to be launching a group introspection challenge next month! More details to come, but if you're interested in creating accountability around habits like mindfulness, meditation, and journaling (and perhaps meet some like-minded friends along the way), you can fill out this form (it'll take you one minute, max— if you've already joined or expressed interest in mindfulness sessions with me in the past, no need to fill it out again 😊)
📚 book updates
Background for the newcomers— I wrote a book titled Reclaiming Control: Looking Inward to Recalibrate Your Life that was published last month! You can grab a copy here.
Thank you to those who have been leaving such kind messages and reviews. Here's one from Dianna, the founder of TERRA - go check out her amazing handmade candle selection!
I had a fun book chat with Paul Millerd (here’s some of my book excerpts in his newsletter) the other week! We discussed intentionally getting lost (inspiration for this letter), creating space for discomfort, alignment between thoughts/feelings/actions, and identity and worth around titles and money. You can catch the full replay here (it's separated really nicely into topics on YouTube) or the shorter podcast version here.
Had another really fun fireside chat with the Interintellect - no replay for this one, but you should definitely check out their upcoming salons. Thank you to those who stayed up till 3AM in respective timezones to be on for this ♥️
That's all, thanks for reading 💛
If any of this resonated with you, feel free to share or subscribe below to keep up with more musings. You can read past letters here. If you want to chat about anything, anything at all, feel free to reply to this email or schedule a time here. I’m taking my time to respond thoughtfully with each reply, but I promise I’ll get there 🥰.