Belonging, Courage, and Cold Water
🌿 Celebrating International Polar Bear Day
We are thrilled to celebrate International Polar Bear Day (Feb 27th) with Angela Hawse — someone I had the pleasure of meeting in Svalbard a few years ago.
Angela is a powerful example of a woman doing everything she can within the spaces she works in — staying active in her sport, teaching technical skills, mentoring aspiring guides, and encouraging care for the wild places we adventure in.
She doesn’t just move through landscapes — she protects them.
Please join us for this month’s Pioneers of the Possible as we honor polar bears, Arctic change, and the leadership of women who show up with purpose.
📅 February 27
🎥 Live on YouTube
🌿 Redefining the Fourth Quarter
If you’re in your 60s like I am, your physicality likely isn’t what it was in your 30s. That’s okay. That’s life. We just recalibrate.
I’ve taken my body on many journeys with many literal loads— across, up, down, over, in the light, in the dark, in the heat , in the cold. I am sure you can relate? Now I’m learning to live with subtle limitations while still taking risks, staying curious, and redefining what this “fourth quarter” really means.
And honestly? It’s kind of exciting.
I’m inspired by people who keep showing up — irrespective of where they are on their timeline of life. It’s always a choice we each get to make.
Do what you can, with what you have, from exactly where you are.
In March, I’m joining a Wild Women Expeditions kayaking trip in Baja. For once, I’m not planning it. Not leading it. Not organizing it. I’m just showing up. And I am so lucky that a dear friend of mine Jill will join me. She is a mom of 10 y/o Markus and she cannot remember the last time she took a trip where she just “showed up”. The beauty in this is travelling with operators that really “ GET” you and your why?
In a world saturated with heavy news — and here in BC, where February 12th is a provincial day of mourning — it feels more important than ever to care for our hearts and spirits.
We are needed.
But we must also nourish ourselves so we can stay in the work.
As we leave the Year of the Snake and enter the Year of the Horse, I’ve been shedding what no longer works so I can move forward at a full gallop. No pressure :)
If you’d like to follow along, your support means a great deal.
👉 Follow here:
https://www.instagram.com/sunnivasorbyembracetheplanet/
🌿 Passing Through the Door of Grief
I took this course last year and I cannot say enough about the value and impact it has had on me - personally and professionally- you can join Plum Village Monastery and the course Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet (ZASP) beginning March 1.
Brother Spirit shares:
“On the way to peace we have to pass through the door of suffering and grief.
For joy to be real it has to include our pain.”
There is suffering. There is injustice. There is ecological disruption. And yet, it is spiritual strength to say: “I accept this moment — the horror and the beauty — without flinching.”
If you feel the weight of the world, this course might be a great start for you!
👉 Learn more:
plumvillage.org/zasp
Know your capacity. Nourish yourself. Stay present.
🌿 Join the Salish Sea Polar Plungers
On March 8, communities across Canada will take part in the Royal Canadian Geographical Society Polar Plunge — supporting science, education, and storytelling.
I’m captaining the BC team: The Salish Sea Polar Plungers !!
You don’t need to be in BC — or even in Canada — to participate.
Plunge wherever you are. Donate. Share the mission.
This is a simple, spirited way for citizens, explorers, educators, and everyday humans to show up together across all borders.
👉 Join the BC Team:
https://secure.qgiv.com/event/royalcanadiangeographicalsocietyp2p/team/1020224
👉 Donate:
rcgs.org/polarplunge2026
Elbows up. Plunge in.
🌿 Pioneers of the Possible
February 27
2:00pm Eastern / 11:00am Pacific
Angela Hawse joins us for International Polar Bear Day.
She has led over 30 high-altitude expeditions, guided in Antarctica and Svalbard, trained mountain guides for decades, and now leads climate initiatives within the IFMGA.
She embodies skill, courage, and stewardship. And she is one amazing kind woman!
👉 Join us live:
https://youtube.com/live/FeDBFP4rTfc
If you’re not on my mailing list yet, I invite you to sign up so you don’t miss future conversations and opportunities.
🌿 A Final Reflection
Wherever you are on your timeline of life…
Whatever capacity you hold…
There is a role for you. You simply have to decide where and how you will show up.
With courage. With care.
“ The only thing more powerful than hate is Love”
