Beginning a new adventure can be an obstacle course which we must navigate to cope with its challenges.

<——— Sounds ominous and not very appealing. This approach makes me want to reconsider if the journey will be worth the pain. I sat contemplating why some women jump at the opportunity to walk from Al Ain to Abu Dhabi with the Women’s Heritage Walk and the unfettered enthusiasm I felt at our launch in November.

Then as luck would have it, a young three-year-old waltzed into my view. She was wearing Uggs, tights and a pink Tutu. She twirled and ran about engaging people in this hotel lobby with reckless abandon. “Wow,” I thought – bliss!” In our youth, everything was new, different, unusual and we did not have the “stop and move away” reaction. If we did, we would have never learned to walk. WHY? Blissful ignorance? Lack of examples of failures and repercussions? An assumption that every adult was put in her world to offer care and love?

At that moment she taught me (AGAIN) many things are just that simple and can be approached with her ebullient – without restraint – joyfulness. As we embark on this new adventure of walking from Al Ain to Abu Dhabi, I ask you to embrace this journey with a childlike innocence. I would ask you to:

Do not assume you CAN NOT.

Let yourself feel the full excitement of doing something for the first time.

Unburden yourself from your past failures.

Ask for help and lean on those around you for support.

Talk your way through it.

Open your heart to new people.

Trust your instincts.

Eat and sleep well.

Be a minimalist; you need very little to find success.

Sing, dance, and twirl in circles.

I look forward to meeting you all, walking together, dancing, singing and twirling in circles together.