Hey Reader

Today was a big and yet very ordinary day. I woke up in my own bed at home this morning as we are home for a week between phase 2 and phase 3 of our gap year. It's also the 1 year birthday of my book Beyond Normal: a field guide to embrace adventure explore the wilderness and design an extraordinary life. I am also celebrating crossing the 100,000 downloads milestone on the Ordinary Sherpa podcast. Is this success? I'll be talking more about this on the podcast 116 | Summit vs. Success this week!

I like to call these summit experiences. A peak or a highlight that we have been working towards and most people don't see the training and behind the scenes reps that goes into getting here. They also exude an inner-feeling of joy and accomplishment in a way that doesn't seek external recognition (to most people it might not even seem like an extraordinary experience). They are different than traditional goals. SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely) goals have a place, and often are driven by an external desire, based on a measurable outcome. I wanted a way to honor the spontaneous and unplanned ways to recognize accomplishments and the feelings of happiness, joy and contentment.

Defining and recognizing summit experiences was developed after we did our family Joy Audit (I talk in depth about the joy audit in my book). I don't think I would have ever noticed or appreciated sitting in the recliner with a cup of coffee and enjoying the sunrise. Or the sensory experience of taking our warm and fresh bedding out of the dryer when returning home. I don't know that I would enjoy recording a publishing a podcast for 2+ years if I was chasing a metric of 100,000 downloads. Or looking back at my first book and thinking that now I know the process and can write an even better second book!

The Joy Audit Tracking Form that helped us design our Family Gap Year is now available for purchase. The Joy Audit helped gain a deeper understanding of what truly brings you joy and fulfillment. It helped to identify activities, experiences, and moments that light us up from within. It revealed patterns and trends that impacted our happiness and prolonged joy. It helped identify areas of life that need more attention and highlight areas that already bring you immense joy. I am excited have this available now in a format for others to begin noticing, tracking and replicating the moments and experiences that bring family adventures to life. Click here to download your Joy Audit Digital Download Tracking Form now and experience the power of intentional joy tracking: https://ordinarysherpa.podia.com/joy-audit-tracking-form.

Shifting to a joy-driven mindset has been helpful framework to determine when we say yes, to slow down and make intentional changes, embrace adventures big and small, noticing the everyday moments that get overshadowed with tasks. Big adventures are often built on the backs of small wins. My book was written in 1000 words per day, 100,000 downloads was accomplished by publishing new content each week. Our family gap year was built on a series of simple adventures in our backyard and beyond. Using a tool (such as the joy audit tracking form) is a helpful awareness builder in making decisions and taking action towards your next bold adventure. I can't wait to hear about your summit

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Have you seen my recent content?

Have you listened to these episode? These are the three most recent episodes from the podcast. The podcast continues to be the best platform to share stories of adventure from our family and others.

• ​Generations of Adventure with Diane Nachel​​
• ​​Breakaway from the Bucket List, Practice Untourism Instead​​
• ​Doing Hard Things with Rich Jun​​

Do you have a summit story to share? Or is there an adventure that you'd like to experience but need a sherpa to help you get you unstuck? Feel free to fill out this guest form to share your contact information or suggest a guest for the podcast.
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How Can you Help?

Celebrating 1 year is a fun reflection point AND it's also a reminder that when you write a book it takes constant work to get it to the people who need it most. With your help we can continue to reach readers who need to hear this message.

1. Leave a written review for my book on Amazon​

2. add it to your "want to read list" in Good Reads or another book recommendation site,

3. share the book with a friend or loved one!

4. Check out this blog post where I share 10 tips to support your favorite author/content creator.

For more information about Heidi or the book head to https://ordinarysherpa.com/book/​

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We are gearing up for phase 3 of our gap year which will take us to Alaska for the summer. When we began planning our gap year I thought we were going to start this summer by heading to Alaska. We ended up starting 6 months sooner in January by winter camping and skiing. Looking back, I am really grateful we made the decision to start sooner and in unconventional way. As much as our gap year still feels like and endless vacation, I think we have worked through a number of things to help us make Alaska an adventure lifestyle experience as opposed to a vacation. I have been to Alaska several times so my hope is we will be able to embrace community life in small increments without feeling the pressure to do all the vacation type experiences.

Heidi Dusek
Founder and Host of Ordinary Sherpa Podcast and Author of Beyond Normal​
​Listen: Ordinary Sherpa

Read: Beyond Normal: A field guide to embrace adventure, explore the wilderness, and design an extraordinary life with kids. ​

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Inspiring families to connect through simple adventure experiences