Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you’ve all had an incredible holiday with your loved ones. I had my children @quingable @haleygable and Grant home for a week and we even cut down our own tree on my land- a first in my lifetime. As a first post of 2023, I’ve been thinking a lot about authenticity. It is a true gift that so few people are willing to unwrap in themselves and in others. As a test, I posted 2 pictures of myself. These pictures are two sides of a single coin but potentially worth two different amounts in a world with a limited view of where a person’s value comes from. What are we worth without the fancy car, the latest bag, the expensive clothes and a 9 o’clock reservation at the hottest restaurant in town? Everything. We are worth nothing if we can’t be ourselves. The last few years of living in the woods has brought so much authenticity to my life. It’s brought a clarity that I have never had and a true peace found by walking the path of least resistance in who I am as a person. I am very proud of my small town beginnings and the lessons that have stayed with me from growing up in a small midwestern community. I remember the richest men in town were farmers and they wore the same overalls and flannel shirts every day and could have bought my current wealth 10x over. But you’d never have known it. They didn’t wear their egos and their money on their sleeves- only hard work and humility is all I ever saw. I value relationships on strictly three things. Does the person make me think, make me laugh or make me feel? As we think about our own lives and the people we have in them, what do we value in ourselves and others and what do we judge? What are we missing in our relationships if we only value what we see on the outside? Let’s let our guard down in 2023 and find true authenticity in ourselves and each other. Honestly, it’s the only thing that’s worth anything. Happy New Year!!