As most of you know, last year was my year of YES. I only have one chance at this life so why not try as many things as I can, travel to as many places as I can, and enjoy life as much as possible? Why let a little thing like fear hold me back from that? So I jumped in with both feet and had the best year of my life. Saying YES led me to try rock climbing, mountain biking, and paddle boarding. I met so many amazing people, some of which have become great friends. I’ve developed a confidence I didn’t know I had and attained a level of happiness and freedom I didn’t think was possible. You can read all about my best year ever HERE. I decided to continue my year of YES and keep living my life to the fullest extent possible.
So of course when someone posted about a group called Bold Betties on Facebook, I had to check it out. They are a company based out of Colorado with the motto #DiscoverYourBold. I don’t even have to know what they do and I am already loving them! Turns out, though, that they are company with the goal to take the intimidation out of adventure and help women be able to experience epic things in life: hiking, climbing, camping, rafting, etc. with a group of other like minded women. It’s about having fun, developing lasting relationships and friendships, trying new things, stepping out of your comfort zone, and of course discovering your bold. How rad is that? Not only is this company about encouraging women to be their badass selves, they encourage ALL women to give adventuring a try. It doesn’t matter your age, size, skill level, background, life story, etc. They wanted EVERYONE to be involved. Every woman deserves the chance to take that magical step out of her comfort zone to discover herself and see herself in an all new amazing light.
I could not even contain my excitement. With a squeal and little dance (seriously, I am not making this up…those of you who know me will know this to be true) I hurried over to Meetup.com to join the local group. Aaaaand to my disappointment, there wasn’t one. So I moped around for a bit and then after some heavy consideration and arguments with myself (thankfully none of them out loud) I stepped WAY out of my comfort zone and contacted Bold Betties about becoming a Chapter Leader for SLC. I had not the slightest idea of what it would entail, if would cost money, or what kind of commitment I was getting myself into but after talking to Sommer, I was so excited about this random opportunity that essentially came out of nowhere. I signed the paperwork and there was no turning back!
I’m not going to lie, afterwards I questioned myself wondering if I jumped the gun or if this was right for me. I am not really good at anything but rather have just tried a few things and enjoyed them enough to keep doing them. What if I didn’t have good ideas or ran out of things for the women to do and try? What if I was too weird and people didn’t like me? Because, that’s a real concern…I am VERY weird. Haha! BUT I swallowed my fears and jumped into planning some events. Turns out, I LOVE planning events and organizing get togethers. I hadn’t even met any women yet and I was having a BLAST! I FINALLY FOUND MY CALLING IN LIFE! Quickly after announcing the launch of the SLC chapter, membership requests starting flooding in. I was amazed at how many women wanted to try new things and meet new people. The amazement quickly turned to absolute fear as I saw the RSVP count for the Meet and Greet jump to 50. HOLY SHIT. Thankfully, I have a great support system and they were there for me in case I got the urge to run out the door, start crying, or ended up puking on the floor in front everyone. Sadly, none of those things happened. This story isn’t quite as excited as you had hoped. I did have the shakes and thought I was going to pee my pants. At first, it felt like I was in school again giving a presentation with 33 sets of eyes staring at me and waiting to hear what I had to say. Surprisingly, though, after that first “Umm…Hi … Hello…” I was in my zone. It was so incredibly inspiring to see this group of women who had taken this first step in saying YES and committing to give adventure and fun a try. Most of them didn’t know each other and none of them knew me and they all gave me a chance to tell them my story and let them know how my life has been changed and how I’d love to help them change theirs.
After introducing myself and welcoming them, I got the chance to make my way around and talk to each and every one of them. Asking where they came from, what their story was, and what they wanted to do or try. It was really neat to be able to get to know them on a personal level and connect with them in one way or another. They were all so different and so amazing! Some of them were novices, like me, and had only tried a handful of things. Others were certified instructors and adventurers and ALL of them had ideas of things they wanted to do or try. That makes my job easy! Now I just have to plan it and set it up!
I’ve been on the Bold Betties team for about a month now and I have loved every minute of it. I love coming up with ideas for events and activities and doing the research to figure out how to make it a reality. I love meeting new women every time we go out to do something and connecting with each of them, creating friendships I would have otherwise never had. I love being able to help empower and instill confidence in others who question their abilities. Being able to tell these women that they CAN do it and I will be there every step of the way to support them and help them is truly amazing and I am so glad I have an opportunity to do so.
Saying YES changed my life and discovering my bold has made life more exciting than I ever thought possible, what could be next?!
The Pipsqueak Chronicles 