Are You too Busy to Trail?
Plus hiring news, a party reminder, and fall events!
I’d like to welcome all of my new subscribers, many of whom I met at the PA Greenways & Trails Summit this week. I’m happy to have you as part of the Cycle Forward community. I use this space to write about trails, placemaking, and the wonder of nature. It’s a newsletter that reads more like a blog. More importantly, it’s a place for trail advocates and community champions to come together and imagine a better collective future.
Are you too Busy to Trail?
Are you someone who loves being outside or even works in the trails profession, yet you often feel “too busy to trail?”
This is very often my own experience. It’s not the “trail” that’s important here, but rather our ability or willingness to make time for ourselves and the things we enjoy doing. As a whole, we are overtasked and overwhelmed. That’s why I proposed a “Too Busy to Trail” session for this week’s PA Greenways & Trails Summit. I’m so glad the session was accepted! Leading this session on Monday was a highlight of the summit for me. Having a group of people who earnestly wanted to consider how they can make more time for life outside of work felt like the start of something. It seemed to further humanize the trails space. Even people who couldn’t make the session wanted to talk about the issue. Several people stopped to talk with me about work-life balance, health issues, and simply wanting to spend more time outside.
The session itself was great! We considered the benefits of spending time in nature, why we take work on vacation, the “myth” of multitasking, and related topics. We explored how we can make personal changes (one person asking about our Velcro-level attachment to work: “Is this self-inflicted?). And we considered how we can influence the culture of our workplaces, even if in increments. Afterward, one participant shared that she rescheduled a meeting so that her colleague could keep a planned half day.
Keeping work from becoming all-consuming is a struggle for so many of us. The paradox of it is the more of ourselves we dump into work, the less effective we probably are. I shared an example of a friend who experienced a health issue after a long run of nonstop work. He decided to reprioritize and set some boundaries. Basically, he ended up working less and playing more. The result? In his words, “I was indeed happier and more focused.” I’m hoping the same for you as well as the grace that we must allow ourselves as we attempt to put this into practice.
Welcome, Alicia Broudy!
I’m happy to welcome Alicia Broudy to Cycle Forward. Alicia will serve as a Project Coordinator, bringing to Cycle Forward a strong marketing background, a passion for the outdoors, and some much needed additional organizational capacity. She will be working on a part-time basis.
Alicia is an outdoor guide and yoga instructor. She works as an Outdoor Educator for the Pittsburgh-based nonprofit, Venture Outdoors, and she leads her own yoga and hiking retreats. A former corporate marketing professional, Alicia has more than 10 years’ experience managing marketing campaigns and digital media, most recently for DICK’S Sporting Goods. These days, her passion projects have become her work – she is dedicated to helping people and the planet. When she isn’t working, Alicia enjoys travelling, being on a trail, and a good cup of coffee.
10th Anniversary Party Reminder
If you’re in or near Pittsburgh on October 1, please join me for Cycle Forward’s 10th Anniversary Party! We’ll be at Velum Fermentation in the South Side from 3-6 p.m. Help me celebrate 10 years in business, support a new brewery, AND know that you’ll be helping a local trail organization, Friends of the Riverfront. Velum will have a session IPA on tap and will donate $1 for each one sold that day (not just for my party, but for anyone imbibing throughout the entire day).
Not only this, but if you’re there for the party, your first drink is on me. Learn more on the event page and let me know whether you plan to be there.
I’m Raising my Rates
Friends of Cycle Forward…I’ve been getting some one-on-one business coaching from the Duquesne Small Business Development Center (highly recommend!). My consultant has a way of simplifying things that weren’t so simple in my own head. When she asked me if I’d raised my rates recently and my answer was something like, “No, but I probably should,” she emphatically responded, “Amy, the price of EVERYTHING has gone up since the pandemic. It’s time.”
With that, I’ll be raising my rates on January 1. If you’ve been considering me for a consulting project, workshop, or keynote address please reach out to me to secure that work under the current rates. If we’re under contract by the end of the year, I’ll honor these rates for any work that occurs in the first quarter of 2024.
Summits and Such
I’ll be participating in these upcoming trail events:
Iowa Trails Summit, Oct. 6
National Trails Workshop, Nov. 7-9
Carolina Thread Trail Forum, Dec. 5
If you have questions about any of these events, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Gratitude Notes
I’m feeling immense gratitude coming off a few days with the trails community. I’m not going to call anyone out today, but I’m thinking about the first person I encountered at the conference. She offered a sincere, “I’m so sorry about your dog” (this from someone I didn’t even know personally). And the friends who gave the best hugs throughout the week or gave me or my book a shout out. And my friend and collaborator who sent me an email with the simple subject line “gratitude” to express what she was feeling about our relationship. And those who shared so much of themselves and their experiences in the “Too Busy to Trail” session. I’m constantly surrounded by some pretty fantastic humans, and for this I am grateful ❤.