Closure

Walking around by my new apartment
St. James, MN

Hello beautiful people! I felt that you, this blog, and I deserved to see this blog challenge come to a close. It has been gnawing at the back of my mind since the day I stopped writing. Most of you know what happened because you are friends with me on Facebook. Here is a short recap for my new friends and followers.
In October, this past fall, I was in a bit of a rough spot. I felt frustrated and restless from job searching. I came across a walking challenge online that inspired me to hike 100 miles in 30 days in the great outdoors of Minnesota (the best State out there). It was a great excuse to get some exercise in, do some exploring, and most importantly, do some writing!
Over time, the common thread of my blog (the hiking challenge) diminished and I proceeded to write about anything that I felt passion for that day. Since I am, by nature, an advocate, often times topics about the community would arise, etc. I also talked a lot about the challenges of committing to a daily activity that takes up two hours of your time. I lost my focus and then some great things started happening in my life--which I am definitely, absolutely, not complaining about!
I was offered a job with a marketing firm and became very happy and grounded. I struggled to find motivation to continue the challenge. And then, HALLE-fricken-LUJAH, I was offered another job, my dream job.
My blog came to an abrupt halt as I prepared for my new adventure in St. James, Minnesota. Most people would be afraid to move three hours away from home, but I was extremely excited! I love a new adventure.

St. James Lake
St. James, Minnesota

Before I get into St. James and how wonderful it is, I want to talk about what this blog did for me. Even though I didn't "follow the rules" I do not regret a single second of it. When I started my blog, I felt a new zeal for my life. It combined two of my favorite things--exploring and writing. So I choose not to be down on myself for what I didn't do and instead embrace and be proud of what I did do. And, I have to say, I MISS IT! Which is why, dun dun dun, I will be starting a new blog!
That is all for now; keep an eye out for my first post! I cannot wait to tell you all about St. James. It has been an amazing experience thus far.
With more gratitude than you can imagine,
Jamie Lynn

The End. :)

Day 24

Mainstreet
Rush City, MN

Dear lord it happened, finally. My motivation is back! Here is what happened.

This morning I worked for the City and then I came home and worked for my new job. Then I had some dinner. As I was cleaning up, I realized I had forgotten something. Oh crap! My blog! I was so happy and focused today that it completely slipped my mind.

I sat on my couch and was holding my phone in my hands. I thought about how happy I am now and how much of a relief it would be to just throw in the towel and focus on the new things in my life. How it would feel like a weight off my shoulders and I could get back to living my life. As I was about to write my exit post, nine words came screaming into my head like a freight train.

IF IT DOESN'T CHALLENGE YOU

 IT DOESN'T CHANGE YOU. 

I was taken off guard by this thought. Those nine words have been staring at me from my fridge for over a month. I finally know what they mean. I stood up and I decided in that moment- I want to change! And I will not change if I do not change what I do. Quitting this blog would not be akin to "getting back to my life." In fact it would be the opposite. It would send me backwards. It would re-affirm my old belief that quitting is ok.

To truly change, we have to dig REALLY deep and do what we are most resisting, our toughest challenges. There will always be a battle between the old you with the old paradigm, and the new you with the new paradigm. The truly best things in life require work, they are not easy. To get from the old you to the new you, you have to change that paradigm, by fighting those urges to take the easy way out and meeting those toughest of challenges head-on with your gladiator war cry!

What do I want? I want to keep making positive changes in my life. I want a positive attitude, and I want positive results. I want to get better every day. I want to chase my dreams. And i'm sorry, girl, but those dreams do not come wrapped in TV and ice cream. They do not come wrapped in over-doing it at the bar. They do not come from being insecure.

Dreams come to those who work hard and push through their challenges. We are here on earth to learn lessons, to grow, to change, to make changes in the world, and to inspire others to do the same! I want to show up in the world doing just that! And I hope from deep within, that I will leave a positive mark on this world and maybe inspire someone who used to be like the old me- thinking nothing is possible.

Baby, anything is possible!

XOXO,
Jamie Lynn

ECRL
Rush City, MN

Day 22

Freddy
He's seen better days.

I have been sitting here for 15 minutes. I am having complete writers block right now. It is hard to describe but it's like the words have disappeared from me. I am forcing myself to write this.

............

After I finally wrote that first paragraph a topic idea came to me. Staying power. Staying power is "the ability to maintain an activity or commitment despite fatigue or difficulty; stamina" (Google, 2015). Wow I just had a horrible college paper-writing flashback. Chills.

I think since the moment I landed my job (which removed one of the main reasons for this blog) I have lost motivation slowly. The reason why is good- I am happy, content, want to put all my energy into my new job, am no longer in limbo, etc. But I am no longer ok with starting something and not finishing it. I am ok with changing it along the way (remember- something is better than nothing) but I am not ok with quitting.

I think that I owe it to myself (and those of you still following) to finish this blog and finish it strong! I am so grateful to have gotten a job that is already bringing me joy, that I am going to put all those happy feelings into finishing this project strong. This blog happened right when it needed to. I was on the edge of hope. It brought me back. Wow...I am kind of a drama queen! ;)

So from now on, no half-a**ing, whining, excuse making or anything of the like! The next eight days are going to be amazing. See you on the other side!

Ryder's Find of the Day

Gratefully,
Jamie Lynn

Day 21

W 2nd St, Rush City, MN

I am starting to see a pattern....cold, dreary Mondays and a lack of motivation. As if they aren't bad enough already! ;) 

Today I think that I went through every excuse in the book before I hit the pavement. I considered ending my blog early with some lame excuse. I thought about writing every other day for the rest of my blog. The list goes on.

I was talking to a friend a while back and I told her that I think that I am lazy sometimes and I'm not OK with it. She asked me one question. Are you lazy or are you experiencing a lack of motivation? I knew the answer right away. I am not by nature a lazy person. But sometimes I lack motivation! I am sure you can relate. 

So (being the nerd I am) I asked myself- what can you do to fix this problem? What will get you out there hiking and living your life on a tough day when all you want to do is park it in front of the TV and numb out? I thought of a few solutions. 

1. Reach out to an accountability partner. That's you Jasmine- you made it happen today, thank you! 

2. Take a deep breath. Then think about who you used to be and who you want to be. Who will you choose to be in this moment? The girl who used to numb herself out of feeling anything uncomfortable? Or the girl who was brave enough to start a blog? 

3. Stop and think about how you will feel after you make your decision. If you choose to stay inside and watch TV all night, you will feel even worse than you did before. If you choose to go out there and just do it, you will INSTANTLY feel better. The second I stepped outside I felt a feeling of pride wash over me. 

4. Something is better than nothing. Do what you committed to. But if you aren't going to walk 3.33 miles....at least walk one mile. At least 20 minutes. Something, anything. The second you get out there you will walk longer than you originally thought you would, because it isn't as bad as you are making yourself believe it is. 

5. Either make a list or write yourself a letter, of all of the reasons WHY you are doing what you committed to. If you just take the time to remind yourself, that might be just the thing to get you going. It's easy to forget the "why" when our brain is busy having a battle of willpower. 

Today, reaching out to a friend was all it took. I got out there and I walked down to 2nd street, the street I grew up on. On my way back as I passed a bush, that cat scared the living daylights out of me! Sorry it's a blurry picture. 

Hope you somewhat related to the post! Also hoping we have better weather tomorrow!

Gratefully,

Jamie Lynn

Days 18, 19 & 20

Swamp, Scheffer Residence

Things rarely happen the way that we think they will happen. Because we are born with visualization skills, we can sit and imagine the various ways that a situation can play out. We can fantasize the ideal situation or fret about our worst nightmares. But no matter how much we sit and try to imagine the way something will go, good or bad, it never seems to happen how we thought it would.

For the past 11 months, I have been visualizing over and over the day that I would yell the words "I got the job!" I thought of where I would be, what I would be doing, who I would call first, what I would say, how it would feel, etc. I can't even guess how many times I played it out in my head. But I can tell you this- what I imagined was nothing like what really happened.

I imagined that I would interview with a City in Minnesota. And I imagined that I would be at home or at my desk at work and I would get a phone call. I thought I would barely be able to contain my emotions as I accepted the offer over the phone. I pictured myself falling to my knees in gratitude, crying loudly and feeling a huge sense of relief wash over me. I would call my mom, my dad, Jasmine, Jenna, etc. etc. and yell those four amazing words "I got the job!" into their ear. I would feel like all of a sudden everything was right in the world. The feeling I pictured was akin to the immense joy the man feels in The Pursuit of Happyness. A part of me felt like this was a far away dream, like it was almost unimaginable. It didn't feel real to me, like it was a stretch- too good to be true.

What did happen felt even better than what I imagined. Want to know why? Because it felt very real. It felt very imaginable. It felt right. Like every single thing in my life had led me to that moment. It wasn't a dramatic zero to one hundred, everything is ok now, feeling. It was just right. Almost like the last piece of a very hard puzzle clicking into place with so much ease. Instead of everything going from right to wrong- it felt like everything was already right and one more wonderful thing was added to my life.

You know how they say that 90% of jobs are landed through networking? It's not what you know, it's who you know? Well, even though my past two jobs were landed that way, I STILL didn't believe that! I thought, nope- i'm going to be one of the very small percentage that gets a job by interviewing. Hell or high water I will get that dream job with the perfect City! I am already looking back and laughing.

The job that I got was landed directly because of meeting someone through work and because of a former supervisor. The business owner that is hiring me did a project with me for the City of Rush City and also did a project with my former supervisor at the County. She was impressed with the way I handled the project. She met my former supervisor, asked about me, was told that I was looking for work and was told I have a knack for marketing. BOOM. We met for coffee and the rest is history.

I can't tell you all of the details yet. But the moral of the story is, life is never the way we plan or imagine it to be, but sometimes it is better than we could ever imagine. And networking and doing your best is super important!!!

Very very very gratefully,
Jamie Lynn

P.S. I know my posts have been barely about my actual hiking lately, but I hope you are still enjoying them :) Friday I took my niece puppy Bella for a walk. Yesterday I took Ryder for a walk. And today I went to Lindstrom and Interstate Park in Taylors Falls with Janie!

Jamie & Janie the Explorers!
Shout-out to Janie (my brother Jordan's girlfriend)- had a great time today girl!

Day 17

Big a** deer in da house!

Hey there! I hope everyone had a great day! What gorgeous weather we had. I hear tomorrow is going to be the complete opposite so I am glad I had the chance to get outside today!

Today I had a full day at work and then I went to my parents place (again). Wow, I am starting to sound like one of those people that is way too old to be living with their parents. Just to clarify- I DON'T! Haha.

Actually, I feel no shame talking about my parents all of the time. They are really great people and they are not afraid to chase their dreams. Their courage has stirred courage in me, and I am grateful for that, 100%!

After checking out the beautiful ceremony spot in the woods, we found a ton of tracks in the field. To the left you can see one of the monster deer tracks we found. Wowza. Congrats to whoever lands that one!

Sorry the post is so short today, but for once I don't have a lot on my mind. Just sitting here happy!

Gratefully,
Jamie Lynn
P.S. 1,000 page views- WOW, THANK YOU!

Day 16

Black Bear
Fires of 1918 Museum
Moose Lake, MN

Okay, my title may have been misleading. I did see a bear, but it was stuffed and in a museum. It was still pretty cool.

What an exciting day at work! I represent the City of Rush City on the Old Highway 61 Coalition Steering Committee. Today we had two meetings that were open to the public to discuss what the coalition is, how it was formed, and it's mission. Then we had discussion on how we can work together to promote the region. The first meeting was held at the Fires of 1918 Museum in Moose Lake. The second meeting was held in The Spare Room at Chucker's Bowl & Lounge in Rush City. Both are great venues for all of your event needs!

The Old Highway 61 Coalition's mission is to promote and preserve Old Highway 61 in Carlton, Pine and Chisago Counties. An interesting fact is that the effort was started by local Rush City Residents- Tim and Pam Hagen and Mike Robinson. Tim and Pam thought that it would be great to have "Old 61" signs installed along the highway in the County. Mike Robinson, our County Commissioner, helped make it happen. Once the signs were installed, the Chisago County EDA decided to pursue grant funding and put a coalition together with representatives from all three counties. The other two counties had their signs installed, and the effort began. You can learn more at the website. Speaking of the website, here are a few ways that you can get involved with and support the effort:

Model T
Fires of 1918 Museum
Moose Lake, MN

1. Like Old Highway 61 on Facebook
2. Use hashtag #OldHwy61 on Instagram
3. Visit the website www.oldhwy61.com
4. Share your photos and stories!
    Send them to us at intern@chisagocounty.org
5. Buy an Old Highway 61 sign for $61.00.
    You can contact myself or the Rush City Chamber to
    obtain a sign.
6. Take a roadtrip up the route! Shop local in the businesses along Old Highway 61!

Stay tuned for exciting things to come! Sorry that I am on my soap box again, but I just can't help it.

Old Highway 61 Quilt
Spare Room, Chucker's Bowl & Lounge
Rush City, MN

With gratitude,
Jamie Lynn