When my friend Emy showed me a GroupOn for a 3 day 2 night canoe trip, it sounded so fun. This was early in April 2013. We talked about and decided against it; but, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. It kept floating into my mind. I would push it away and remind myself that we decided we couldn’t or wouldn’t do it; still it nagged on. It was late on the last day of the GroupOn and somehow I still could not get past the feeling that this was something I needed to do. I impulsively bought 2 GroupOns; one for me and one for Emy. I hoped she would be okay with it; I hoped that those past reservations would be lifted and she would agree to go with me. I messaged her the next day and told her what I had done, and I waited somewhat anxiously for her reply.
Gratefully her reply was a resounding “YIPPY”. I had no idea how this one impulsive purchase was going to change my life and change me. The fun was reason enough to keep going on our Boundary Water Canoe Area (BWCA) adventures; the personal growth was the cherry on top.
Emy and I experienced so much personal growth, even the first year we talked about leading other women on similar adventures. It was during the 3rd year that the idea of writing a book together was first born. We have both always felt that there is a book inside of us. I do not know all these years later if having a published book is in the cards for me. I am open to it not being part of my future. I am working to live in the flow with life and allowing Spirit to work through me and guide me on whatever path that may be. Together Emy and I wrote three books from our BWCA adventures. Spirit has been guiding me to share the installments I wrote on my blog. When I shared this idea with Emy, she was on board. It has taken a couple years to get from the idea to the actual re-reading and revising the chapters into blogs. Emy shared with me how much more complete the various writings seem when we can look at them with new eyes several years later. The first trip took place in 2013 and the writing about it came a couple years later.
In the past I struggled with what to write about. I wanted it to be fun and uplifting. As a Hospice Nurse, I have learned that life is way too short to not have fun. I also want to inspire people. We are all capable of such great things! Too often, in life, we get messages that diminish our expansiveness and capabilities. Emy and I want to help you find that expansiveness and capabilities within yourself. This idea came to us, as all great ideas do, out of the blue. We were sitting around the campfire or the cook stove (I don’t remember which exactly); on the 2nd day of the 3rd year it just popped out of Emy’s mouth. Telling her, “I like the way you think”, had been a theme the third year and once again I told her this.
Over the rest of our 3rd year Adventure we started planning and jotting down stories that were fun and/or inspiring. The birth of an idea is such a wonderful thing. From the initial conception, through the gestation, into the labor of making it a reality, until out pops the “baby” which has taken so much of your time and effort. It is a beautiful process.
As I started this creative effort, I spent time contemplating where to start. Is it the story of “Release the Worms” or the personal journey of getting to what “Lessons through Joy” really means. In the end I decided, the intention behind these writings was where I must start. If I want you to you spend your very valuable time reading what we have written, the very most important thing is to let you know, we have written this because we want to share with you our amazing journey, in hopes of inspiring you to take your own leap of faith and find out who you really are and what you are capable of.
It is important to let you know that we are not some kind of “experts” with a theory of what you must follow if you want to be happy. We are two ordinary women, with very different lives, who magically came together. We made many mistakes on this journey. Many! We learned through our mistakes and became better people for them. We have experienced so much fun and growth and we want to inspire you to find fun and growth in your life. We want to share with you the stories of our experiences. We want to inspire you to go have adventures of your own. We want to share our laughter, our contemplations, and our tears, in hopes that it will enrich your life in some way. We want to help you find the magic that is all around us in our everyday lives. It is there, I assure you. You only have to look for it.
During our relationship, Emy and I have shared: fun, setbacks, growth, struggle, silliness, more than a few bottles of wine, and supported each other through good and bad. We do not always see eye to eye, but we have a healthy respect for one another and each other’s opinions. We have had these amazing adventures which have helped us become better people than we were prior to our first adventure. “Better people” sounds like such a judgement; I want to be clear that I judge myself not against other people. I am not this “high and mighty” person who thinks I am so much better then someone else. The only person I can compare myself to, is the person I was previously. Personal growth and being the best Stacy I can be is at the core of who I am. It even shows up in my astrology.
We are all in our own separate place on this journey through life. I am where I am. You are where you are. If you are reading this, and you feel inspired to level up, that is great. If you feel compelled to carry on as you are, that’s great too. I wish happiness, lessons through joy, and dreams come true for you. You get to decide what is right for you and when you feel a call, you get to decide if you want to follow it or not. No judgement and no “shoulding”.
The idea of “Level up” was born during the second BWCA. It was on a rainy day sitting in our “bedroom”. So many of the really great things that happened, happened on rainy days. Life is really funny like that, isn’t it? Who wouldn’t want sunshine on vacation, right? Especially when you are extreme “roughing it” camping. These trips would not have had the same richness without the rain. Not only does the “rain” in life help you appreciate the “sunshine”, but also it is a catalyst for growth. Those days in life that we really wish wouldn’t have happen spurred us on. They make us reach for the next rung on the ladder.
The second year we decided we would like some comfort on our trip so we packed in cots. After a daunting trip in, we set up our tent and went to put up our luxury item, the cots. They didn’t fit in the tent. Emy and are not women who will be defeated. We had an extremely spacious campsite that year. Space is something there is a lot of in the Boundary Waters (BW). There was a little clearing in the woods not too far from where we put our tent. We strung a tarp from the trees, (rope, budgie cords, and zip ties are some of our best friends on these adventures), and set up our cots underneath. This became known as our bedroom for this trip. When it rained one whole day that year, we passed the day sitting on the cots and talking like two little girls at a slumber party. It was on this rainy day slumber party that we came up with the idea of “Level up”.
“Level up” is like when you are playing a video game and you complete the current level. Obviously you are capable of the challenges that particular level of the game had to offer. To keep you challenged and interested in the game, the game’s creator gives you a more challenging level. This is the meat and potatoes of “Level up”. In life as we rise to the occasions that come across our path we gain tools in our tool box to deal with these types of challenges.
Think back to when you first did something. I traveled a lot in the course of my job so let’s use that as an example. The first time I flew somewhere alone was challenging and intimidating for me. I was nervous about going through security, and what I could and couldn’t pack in my bags. Navigating my way through the airports and the stress of making my connecting flight caused me to break out in sweats. I would fly alone once or twice a year for personal reasons and slowly I started to level up. I became more confident and less intimidated by the process. Once I started traveling for work and was flying 2 days a week, I became very confident with my “skills” in this area. Airports no longer intimidate me. I breeze through security with a cheerful greeting to the TSA agents. I however have only traveled overseas a few times. International travel still holds some of the anxiety for me that domestic travel did initially. I have leveled up in this area; I have certainly not completed the game.
The challenges we face in life help us to level up. For Emy and me, the BWCAs were a process of leveling up every year. Things that we did for the first time the first year, by the third year we were taking for granted. Leveling up can happen in a very ordinary way like the first time Emy and I had to wash dishes in a lake. By the 3rd BWCA we did not even consider this a challenge. We simply would head to the shore with our scrubby pad and environmentally friendly soap and squat down and wash our dishes. This leveling up continued when we learned that was not the best way to wash your dishes and it is better to wash in a pan and let the ground filter the grey water before it gets to the lake. It was a continual process of learning. Leveling up also happens emotionally and psychologically. The first year we had a lot of anxiety about being out in the wilderness, 2 women alone. By the 2nd year we were increasing our length of trip from 2 nights to 4 nights. We became more confident in our inner strength and determination.
During our BWCAs we would have breakthroughs and process past experiences. We hope that in some way, big or small, these writings will inspire you to go out on a limb and try something new; or even, just look at the things in your life in a new way. This is why we have gone through the gestation and labor of these writings, our baby. We hope you will enjoy it. It is our deepest wish that your life is enriched by our adventures.
Stacy Crep 