Looking back, July felt like a month of doing things a little afraid, a little unprepared, and going anyway.
We took our first Amtrak trip and weren’t sure how any of it would go.
Tom sent a message to a band we’ve loved for years and didn’t expect anything back.
I wrote about two of the hardest days of my career and what they actually taught me.
There were more Tuesdays than I’d like to admit where the workout I’d planned wasn’t happening.
None of it went the way we pictured it going in. Most of it went better.
Here’s what July looked like.
Where We Went
This month we finally took the train to Chicago — Tom and I, Andi and Elsie, four of us with backpacks instead of suitcases and no real plan beyond getting there.
We did the architecture tour we weren’t sure we’d care about, and it turned out to be one of the best parts of the trip. We watched sharks at the Shedd. We stood under the Bean. We saw Rush at the United Center, in what might be the only concert in history where the men’s room had the longer line. Tom sent the band a message afterward. They reposted it. We still have the screenshot.
The train home was two and a half hours late and the four of us couldn’t even sit together. We didn’t care. Those weren’t the parts we talked about afterward.
If you only read one post this month, start here:
A Great Chicago Trip: Train, Architecture Tour, and a Concert
One Story That Stayed With Me
I don’t usually write about work. This month I did.
Early in my career, I was called into two trauma cases back to back — a man who’d been shot, a young patient with multiple gunshot wounds. I was afraid both times. The fear was still there the second time. The doubt wasn’t.
I think about that a lot now, in a completely different context. I went back to school at 54 and was afraid the entire time — not because I lacked the ability, but because I lacked the experience of having done it before.
Fear isn’t evidence you can’t do something. It’s usually just evidence you haven’t done it yet.
Fear Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Do It
Building It Live
Two updates this month, both circling the same thing from different angles.
In Building It Live #9, ten weeks in, the honest update was that we’re not doing more — we’re just not disappearing on the weeks that go sideways. There’s always a smaller version now, and that’s been the actual change.
Then last Tuesday gave me another example. The workout I’d planned wasn’t happening. A few months ago, I would have skipped it entirely and told myself I’d make it up tomorrow. Instead, I did what I could.
And I realized something: the negotiation with myself about whether the smaller version counts usually takes longer than just doing it.
I don’t think that’s about workouts anymore.
Fewer Things Stay in Someday: Building It Live #9
I Don’t Need the Perfect Version Anymore: Building It Live #10
What I’m Reading
Four books this month, and I didn’t notice what they had in common until I’d finished all of them.
Die With Zero, The Practice, Digital Minimalism, The Creative Act — different subjects, same direction, all quietly making the same argument.
Stop waiting.
Apparently I needed to hear that four different ways.
What We’re Reading in July: Four Books About Not Waiting
I also put together this month’s Summer Favorites — the cold brew setup, the dog cooling mat, the handful of things that actually made 95-degree afternoons bearable instead of something to just survive.
What We’re Reaching For When It’s 95 Degrees Outside
Thanks for spending July with us.
Apparently this was the month of being a little afraid, a little unsure, and doing it anyway.
I’m curious what August will ask of us.
See you then.
Krista
Handcrafted Adventure