02/23/2026
There is a specific rhythm to this path—a heartbeat I’ve known since I was fifteen. It is a pulse I find myself coming back to over and over again, year after year. Long before these markers were placed and the path was “found” by others, it was my secret sanctuary in the woods.
Walking here today, with the winter storm upon us, the cool air is crisp in my lungs and the snow crunches beneath my boots. Ideas and dreams are forming as I pass through my favorite stretch of trees. I’m not just walking as the woman I am today; I’m walking alongside every version of myself that has ever sought refuge here. Every dream I’ve ever dared to dream started on this path:
From the fifteen-year-old dreamer who walked these woods to escape, imagining a future she couldn’t yet see;
To the seeker who paced these trails through heartbreaks and triumphs, searching for answers in the silence;
To the present soul who comes here now—not to escape, but to arrive.
Every year, the trail changes—the branches grow heavier, the lake shifts its shoreline—and I have changed right along with it.
As I move, I feel the energy of the Year of the Horse pulsing through me. It is a time of forward motion, high spirit, and the power to cover great distances. Just like the plant that holds its life force deep within the frozen earth, my dreams are no longer dormant—they are forming, stretching, and coming to life in real-time.
The stillness of this wintry day feels like the quiet breath before a powerful exhale. I can feel the “big things” shimmering on the horizon, moving from the ethereal into the physical. This isn’t just another season; it is a threshold. I have lived many lives on this trail, but I have never been more ready to enter this specific chapter.
Today, this walk is my moving meditation—a soulful “thank you” to the ground that has held me, and a fierce, loving “yes” to the big life that is unfolding right now. I honor the roots of my past to support the bloom of my future. Under the sign of the Horse, my spirit is free, my dreams are waking, and I am stepping into my life.
And it feels so dang good.
