Happy 14th Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 14th Re-Birthday to Me! 

Fourteen years ago, I decided to go off-script. Instead of following the playbook, I started ad-libbing. I said "no thanks" to what was expected of me and began embracing whatever moved me. 

While I sometimes have no idea how my story will unfold in the moment, looking back, it all seems to fall into nice, orderly, entirely sensical chapters. 

After leaving the work world came the nomad chapter.  I assumed it would have a tidy ending and that I'd move fairly quickly into whatever came next. Alas, I spent a good chunk of time in a liminal, who-am-I-now space. Looking back at my re-birthday posts over the last few years, there's been a recurring theme: "I don't know what's happening next." And while I suppose that's always the case, I now seem to have found my purpose. At least for this chapter of life. 

In last year's post, I mentioned I was excited to start my own biking endeavor. Within a few months, I'd fully severed ties with my previous biking affiliations. While that was sad at the time, hindsight has given me a healthy dose of gratitude for those endings. They've allowed me to pour my energy into creating something of my own. Little did I know that would mean starting not one, but two biking endeavors. [Gulp.]

A year ago, I had a vision for something called BIKE Bellingham: free, themed, GPS-guided bike routes connecting cyclists with Bellingham's culture, heritage, landscapes, and businesses. I applied for a grant to help cover the costs of a web developer, software, marketing, and a little something for my own efforts. I waited until late January to find out whether I'd get it. It didn't. I told myself, Well, that idea ain't gonna happen and proceeded to wallow in my misery. But after a quick minute, Resolve grabbed my hand and said, "Fuck that shit. We're doing this." She told me that we weren't going to let some stupid grant validate our purpose.

And so, in mid-February, I threw myself eyeball-deep into building BIKE Bellingham. With no funding, I started from scratch, teaching myself to build a website. It was an ugly few weeks, but I did it. Then I built the first three routes, launched the program, and added five more over the following months. 

The program launched just over six months ago, and more than 4,700 unique visitors have checked out the website. I'm pretty happy with that! Along the way, as the scales tipped and out-of-towners began outnumbering locals, the tourism folks took notice. They encouraged me to apply for yet another grant. Once again, I'm playing the waiting game, this time knowing the outcome will help guide my decisions at the next turning point.

Anyways, check it out: www.bikebellingham.com

What I hadn't envisioned on my 13th re-birthday was starting a second biking endeavor. Bellingham, the community I call home, is all about mountain biking. But as I've expanded my network, I've discovered that there are quite a few bike travelers here, too. We're pretty siloed. 

Well, Resolve grabbed my hand once again, this time saying, "Sarah, now we're gonna build a bike travel community." And so, just as I was looking forward to a little downtime after six months of doing nothing but building BIKE Bellingham, I pivoted and started building BIKE Beyond.

Give it a look: www.bikebeyondpnw.com

Somewhere in my mid-20s, I really latched onto this thing called "self-actualization." It essentially became my religion for the next two decades. While I'm nowhere near perfectly self-actualized (in fact, the older I get, the more flaws I seem to discover), during this in-between-chapters period, I found myself thinking there had to be more.

Earlier this year, I read David Brooks's The Second Mountain. He describes how, in the first part of our lives, we climb a mountain in pursuit of self-actualization. This stage is about personal happiness, independence, autonomy, and self-interest. But then we reach the summit thinking we've arrived, only to look out and say, "Holy fuck, there's actually a higher mountain over there." And so we must descend, making our way down the first mountain and through a valley before beginning the climb up the second.

For me, the last two years have been about trudging across that valley. I was passionless, my soul sluggish, and I couldn't quite figure out what came next. As Brooks explains, the valley is an essential period of shedding the old self, sitting with the emptiness, and making room for a new one to emerge. Not exactly a comfortable process, but apparently a necessary one when the life you've been living no longer fits. 

Once I dug into these bike projects, I was suddenly golden. I was back to climbing a mountain, but this time, toward something entirely different. I wasn't climbing toward self-actualization. Nope. This time, I was climbing toward self-transcendence: a mountain centered on meaning, moral joy, interdependence, relationships, and giving. I'm no longer asking, "What do I want from life?" but rather, "What is life asking of me?" It's uncanny how many number times in the last few months I've found myself thinking: I can't not do this. 

Reading Brooks's book gave me permission to stop making my life about me and start making it about what I can give to others.  These days, it's less about enjoying the bike ride myself and more about creating opportunities for others to experience that joy. 

And so, it's looking like that is what this new chapter is all about.

Alright, enough philosophizing. Let's get on with the highlights from the past year! 

While BIKE Bellingham and BIKE Beyond consumed the lion's share of my physical, mental, and spiritual bandwidth, a few other noteworthy things happened along the way:  

• I bought my house from Nick, and somewhere along the way, I seem to have passed the homeless/trip-leading baton to him. From February through June, he used my place as a home base between trips. 
• I helped Mike empty out his mother's home after she moved into an independent senior living community. We emptied it in record time, only to watch it sit on the market for months. Anyone want a house in historic Coupeville? It's practically right on the water!
• Mom and I attended a Valentine's event at WinkWink, a "not creepy" sex shop here in Bellingham. Before the event, we wandered through the store, commenting on the various merchandise. Definitely a memorable first for this mother-daughter duo! 
• I nagged Alex (of Meet Alex fame) to put his Seattle house on the market. He did. Fast-forward a bit, and Alex trusted my opinion enough to buy a house sight unseen, just a few blocks from mine. It's lovely having my bestie of 20 years living so nearby!
• Mike and I spent three days at Baker Lake, hiking, paddling, camping, and generally being wowed by the scenery.

Lazy rafting on Baker Lake.

• I took a three-day bike trip with Kate to Birch Bay State Park and did a solo overnighter to Bayview State Park. How wonderful it is to live so close to so much recreation!
• I saw Christopher Marley's Exquisite Creatures exhibit. Holy wowsers! (Thanks for the nudge, Pam.)
• I led an Intro to Bike Touring trip to Lopez Island with Shifting Gears. It's an all-women group, and oh. my. gawd. There is something pretty darn amazing about being surrounded by nothing but women!  

All ladies bike trip!

• I had a serendipitous encounter with Frederick Su, author of Life per Gallon.
• I wrote an article sharing the origin story of BIKE Bellingham and BIKE Beyond. It'll be published in the Adventures NW magazine in about a week!
• I made some improvements around the house, making it feel even more "me." I also cursed homeownership a handful of times, most notably when my roof sprang a leak a week before Christmas.
• After a year of "should I or shouldn't I?" I finally took the plunge and got a sauna. It's a lil sanctuary within my sanctuary. (Thanks for the inspiration, Paul.)
• I took lots of long walks, including a favorite newly pieced-together, 13-mile loop. I can leave right from my front door and spend much of the route on trails: up over Samish Crest, around the backside of Lake Padden, and back via Galbraith Mountain. I love where I live!
• I continued volunteering at the Pickford Film Center and watched 33 films over the past year. My favorites were The Testament of Ann Lee (which I watched THREE times!), Nuremberg, and, of course, You Can See Everything.
• I enjoyed the companionship of 12 kitties (Mr. Mello, Timber & Lilah, Scooter & Duke & Tanner, Hozomeen & Willow, Frida & Emme, and Asher & Annie) over 45 days of housesitting. And for 95 days (25% of the year!), I had the great fortune of hosting sweet Keeko at my home.

Keeko on the lookout for deer.

It amazes me to think I'm 14 years into this lifestyle. Meanwhile, folks my age have another 14 years to go until retirement. Some might say I'm halfway there. How wonderful to have been all the way there this whole time.

Living intentionally has given me a level of perpetual contentment I never could have imagined. And simplicity has delivered a richness that money never could. Cheers to another lap around the sun!