“Sometimes, stepping back can help us move forward. That’s why I want to create a life book with you,” I said to 15-year-old Jamie.

Jamie sighed. She’d been in the foster care system for six years, didn’t have a life book yet, and didn’t really want one. In fact, she didn’t really want an adoptive family, either, if we’re being honest – so I had my work cut out for me.

Sometimes small steps lead to big ones.

For many people, life has been challenging – the pandemic, the climate crisis, war, and much more. As we each climb a personal mountain, the question for many is: How can peace be found amidst the chaos? Do beauty and discovery arrive in the slow process of the ascent… or are they achieved by suddenly reaching the summit?

In 2014, a mountain knocked on my door, and took up residence in my life.

A crush injury, they called it. And what a fitting term - I have been crushed, quite literally. (Quite metaphorically, too, if we’re being honest.)

I recall back on that autumn day, I looked to the future with enthusiastic anticipation: Two days prior, I had resigned from the nonprofit that I’d cofounded in order to pursue other dreams. But that mountain had other ideas for me, and although I didn’t realize it at the time, a long road to recovery would follow.