yes and/or no

i'm calling it 'the year of the yes.' a year in which i dangle willingly outside of my comfort zone. the year where i say yes to adventure, move across the continent, start a blog, ditch the routine, talk to strangers & climb mountains. and yes to whatever else is next as this journey unfolds like one of those ridiculous rand mcnally maps that your dad used to bring on family road trips. and you know what? it freaking rules.

last week i did a whole lot of yes-ing and found myself crazy packed with fun activities, and very few photos to show for it. monday hot yoga with a new instructor left me feeling more powerful in my practice than the week before. and yes to the amazing italian dinner afterwards with two visiting friends was even better.

on tuesday i said yes to a night of wandering a new neighborhood with an old friend before the most yummy indian dinner of my life. and yes to staying up way past my bedtime for the sake of catching up with people that have known me for years & somehow still love me all the more for it.

wednesday was a big fat yes to a quiet private yoga sesh in the studio at work with a new vancouver friend who teaches me something new about myself every day (see below), whether he knows it or not. all this followed by meeting new people out for chai at a great restaurant in my new neighborhood.

i was finally able to catch up with mattie on thursday for an adventurous outing and dinner in gastown at a new mexican place we'd been wanting to try. one thing i've learned already about saying yes is the importance of being deliberate about my yes'. people in vancouver are so inclusive and friendly that it gets easy to fill up my social calendar and lose track of time to maintain relationships with my peeps. as easy as it is to get caught up in adventure, it's double important to make sure i don't lose track of the strong relationships i've already created, whether it be my fam & friends back home (hi mom!) or my US-bred neighbor upstairs.

then of course friday was a double whammy. early morning spin class with scott before work, and a 90-minute power yoga class after work; which led right in to an impromptu dinner with great people at an oyster bar down the street.

with all this yes-ing, you're probably wondering how i haven't collapsed from exhaustion already. or if you know me really well, you're concerned about the amount of caffeine i consumed to make all this adventure possible. lucky me, the same vancouver friend from above also shed some light on the value of saying no to saying yes. of taking care of me, and knowing that sometimes...just sometimes, saying no will actually yield a more balanced self. like saying no to an early saturday workout; because as much as i like to sweat every day, sometimes that sweat happens organically when i say yes to roasting by the pool instead. and like saying no to meeting new people for drinks; because every once and awhile, saying yes to a gluten-free brownie and a full night of sleep will actually yield a more productive me the next morning.

and its even ok to say yes to letting out a few tears in hot yoga tonight in a moment of clarity when i realize how much i miss my best friend with my whole heart & soul. because it means i've said yes to setting intentions, and yes to pushing my practice out of my comfort zone, and yes to finding my happy.

xo,
caroline