rest

Time away

Until I broke the silence yesterday, I was in the longest “blogless” stretch since I started blogging consistently in 2015. That January, I joined a 7-day, daily blogging challenge with Seth Godin’s team and I liked it so much, that sort of like Forest Gump, I simply decided to keep going. Since then, I’ve written more than 1000 posts. It hasn’t been easy, of course. It’s been a huge commitment, one that I’ve held myself to pretty intensely. I would blog 5 days a week, no matter what. until this year when I decided to intentionally choose to allow rest into my life as needed.

The last 10 days of silence were glaring evidence of that effort to allow myself to rest.

After our last GNO, we left early Friday morning to head out of town for my niece’s beautiful wedding in Florida. As preparing for travel often is, by the time …

This is me in 2014, at our very first-ever HeartStories event. In some ways, it feels like an entire lifetime ago and in many ways, that’s true. Especially for me, and the person I’ve become on this journey. I’ve worked harder, longer hours than I ever dreamed possible. I have sacrificed more than I ever thought I would. It certainly feels I’ve learned more in the last six years since I began HeartStories, than I had my entire life, up until that point. In fact, “learning” was something I would have put in a bucket of “have to do’s” instead of the bucket of “get to do’s”, like I do now. Now, I crave more time to invest in learning and personal development.

In fact, so much so, that yesterday, it showed up in a perfect collision of several different inputs into my life.

You may remember that at one of the …

by Crystal Gornto Female Social Entrepreneurs Girl's Night Out Inspiration Inspirational Leaders Inspirational Women Inspirational Words Loving Yourself Our Story Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment, but one of my all-time favorite pastimes is trying to bodysurf the waves on the beach in Mexico. I can’t simply “lay out” like a grown up and just enjoy the sun and the sound of the rolling waves. I have to get in there! It started when I was about nine years old, my parents bought a week at a timeshare on the beach and that became our summer vacation every year. We would get out there, right where the waves would crest and tread water. We’d laugh and scream for hours, excitedly awaiting the arrival of “The Big Kahuna” so we could catch it and ride it in. Sometimes we would catch in with the great pride of accomplishment, but most times, we’d just get washed up on the shore, with only half our swimsuits, hair tangled all over our faces and …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspiration Love In Action Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life 1 comment chat

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!” I’ve always loved this quote by Hunter Thomspon.

And oh, how I still do.

But this year, after rounding the curve of forty, while building a business and a house, while both kids are entering the puberty years, it sort of feels like the “thoroughly used up and worn out” part came earlier than the skidding in broadside in a cloud of smoke with a joy ride proclamation!

My friend Wendi gathers this lovely group of women once a quarter, with the sole purpose of supporting, connecting and inspiring one another. It’s the AC3 group and if you’ve been around here long, you’ve met them before. We met last Thursday …

by Crystal Gornto Female Social Entrepreneurs Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Loving Others Loving Yourself Priorities The Journey Through Life 1 comment chat

This was my Christmas morning view last year. Boys who came running down the stairs in delight to see if Santa came and begin rummaging around under the tree, on the table (I know, that’s a whole other story). They were so excited and full of joy.

I barely remember it.

Thankfully, I took pictures. I was so tired. We were in the thick of our new house project with deadlines and all the rest. We stayed up to the wee hours wrapping all the gifts and the kids woke up at the crack of dawn. I remember that I was barely functioning. I needed so. much. caffeine. that day.

Christmas day came and went in the flurry of all the things and the pace of life just kept charging full speed ahead.

This past year was chock full – of not only all the house activities, but record growth with HeartStories, which brought …

by Crystal Gornto Inspiration Inspirational Words Love Love in Family Loving Yourself Motherhood Priorities The Journey Through Life 1 comment chat

Yesterday, we got a handful of “sneak peek” images back from Vanessa Corral of last weeks Holiday Ready GNO. I love seeing the first images that come through as it takes me back to the moments we shared together. It often highlights some of the special small moments I missed or wasn’t a part of.

This is one of my very favs.

I love it for so many reasons. I love the two women in it, Laura and Libba. I love that I know a little bit about their stories over the past year (because they both so courageously shared them with the group that night). Because of that, I love that they are resting, full-on, into a moment of meditation led by Karen Langley, our resident massage therapist and self care expert. I love the memory of seeing (almost) everyone in the room that night quiet, peaceful and breathing.

That’s not a …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspiration Inspirational Women Love in Family Loving Others Loving Yourself Motherhood Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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Time away

Learning to rest, not quit

Don’t quit, rest

What does rest look like?

This moment will never come again

Dreaming of a silent night