 This photo of my dog Ace as a puppy says it: Be yourself. Ace was always curious, playful, and present, never pretending to be anything he wasn’t. I miss him, but the lesson he taught me still sticks: life is better when you stop worrying about appearances and live. That’s a big part of why I stepped away from social media.
 Sometimes the road provides exactly what you need before you even know you’re going to need it.
Back in 2017, while I was on my solo bicycle ride across America, I hit a wall in the small town of Eminence, Missouri. The day before the "wall" appeared, I had a chance meeting with a man named Wil and his family. They were incredibly gracious, inviting me to breakfast and seeing me off with Wil's email address. At the time, it felt like a nice gesture; 24 hours later, it became a lifeline.  The air in Idaho has a specific kind of stillness, especially when you’re out on the water. Years ago, while fishing with my son, one of those quiet moments was captured perfectly.
Truth be told, he always did much more of the actual fishing than I did. I was often content to just be there, camera in hand, watching the rhythm of the cast and the water. Because of that, I was fortunate enough to be ready when this dragonfly decided that the very tip of his fishing pole was the best seat in the house.  Lately, the news feels nonstop. I've been making a point to be more selective about what I pay attention to. Taking breaks from the constant updates is something I'm choosing to do more regularly now.
Instead of the headlines, I put on a playlist of songs I grew up with—mostly 70s tracks.  Sometimes, the biggest sources of motivation don't come from books or seminars. They come from the people right in front of us—or in this case, the people on the other end of a text message.
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