Merging Two Worlds

Flooding and damage in Erwin, TN. Photo by Billy Bowling from New York Times After Helene’s ‘Historic’ Damage, Appalachian Trail May Need Years to Recover.

First, my heart goes out to everyone that has been affected by Hurricane Helene. In the days following, seeing the reports and photos showing the damage has been shocking. Lives have been lost, homes have been destroyed, and many still don’t have running water and other crucial resources.

Some Appalachian Trail towns have been hit particularly hard, including Damascus, VA; Erwin, TN; and Hot Springs, NC. The Trek compiled a comprehensive article on ways you can help with relief efforts, including donating directly to American Red Cross.

You can also help by donating directly to local/state relief efforts, including:

View from a nighttime run around Jamaica Pond in Boston, MA

In the meantime, I’m trucking along here in Boston. Life is super full right now with grad school, an increasing amount of freelance work outside of school (yay!), and figuring out training as trail/mountain athlete in a city setting.

I had a particular meaningful session with one of my mentors in which we made a Venn Diagram of music and the outdoors, and what I get out of both. It took me a while to understand the assignment. I was really good at listing activities and talking about people I admire in both worlds, but had a much harder time talking about how the things I do make me feel.

However, after finally finding a baseline of describing how I feel–it was like pulling teeth to finally land on the word “good”–Nearly everything we listed fell right in the shared space in the middle, which was pretty neat to see. What exactly about music and the outdoors makes me feel good? Words like sharing, connecting, inspiring, and empowering were the big ones that came up.

This exercise helped me to better define my personal values, what makes my life’s work meaningful to me, and how it can positively impact others. It helped me to see the parallel motivation in the things I’m pursuing and juggling, which helps me to feel further affirmed on my path. I’ve often said that feel like I’m living a double life. What I’m working toward is continuing to merge it all into one holistic life, which feels more and more real every day.

💫

Thanks for reading. If you have the means, please consider donating toward the Hurricane Helene relief efforts listed at the top of this letter.

If you’re picking up what I’m putting down, please consider subscribing to my newsletter if you haven’t already (it’s free), or joining Pink Feathers as a supporting member. My sincerest thanks to those that have already done so.

Supporting members receive access to exclusive content in the member portal of my website, plus a handwritten “thank you”, and occasional surprises in the mail from my treks around the world.

Here’s a link to my most recent members-only vlog, shared 9/28.

‘Til next week! ~Mercury