Hello there!
I’m Kerrie and I started this blog to document our family’s experiments in sustainable living and home schooling as we move from living in the big city to a small island. Sharing these stories is also a practice in vulnerability for me.
I’m a perfectionist learning to trust my gut, my wilder inner voice.
I’m a parent remembering how to play like a child.
I’m a scientist easing into the wisdom of feeling.
I don’t have everything figured out. I’m in the process of figuring stuff out. I’m also not an expert in many of the things I write about, but I’m a keen, curious observer and love learning.
I believe it was Brene Brown who said,
‘Write what you need to read.’
So here’s what I crave to read/write stories about:
- Humans taking action for causes we care about
- Humans banding together to heal wounds in the natural world
- Parents raising children while also following their passions
- Women trying new things – women fumbling, failing and also learning as we stretch and unravel into new seasons of our lives
A bit about me
My life is sweet and privileged, but until recently didn’t feel like my own. I’m an educated, white female and I live within unceded, ancestral lands of the SENĆOŦEN and Hul’q’umi’num speaking peoples, also known as Salt Spring Island, Canada. I’m the mother of two curious and goofy children that my husband and I homeschool. I’m committed to anti-racism and am listening to and learning from a diversity of voices.
I’ve taken a few leaps in the past couple years that are bringing me to a place where what I’m doing feels aligned with what I enjoy, and how I want to be of service.
Homelearning
I love Sir Ken Robinson’s question,
‘What is school for?’
This question rocked our family’s world when we heard it because, together, my husband and I have spent more than 40 years in school and never considered this question! Isn’t that nuts?
Our pondering about the purpose of school changed the course of our children’s learning. We pulled our oldest out of a public school that wasn’t aligned with our values and started homeschooling. We now use an eclectic mixture of unschooling, forest schooling, and child-led learning for our 5 and 7 year old children.
One of my favourite things to do is research different learning styles, educational approaches and resources and I will share them all with you! I am by no means an expert, so will share what happens when we try out different approaches.
Sustainable Living
I am passionate about taking care of our planet and sharing practical ways we can all regenerate the living systems that support us. A friend once asked me what my dream job would be and, without thinking I said,
‘I would love someone to pay me to live as sustainably as possible.’
That’s still a work in progress.
I love simple, clear action I can take toward sustainability because I get overwhelmed when I think about things like climate change and species extinction. My goal is to share these nuggets of do-able action with you!
I have a BA in Environmental Studies and a PhD in Zoology where I focused on sustainable fisheries. I’ve worked for non-profits and co-created community building projects in Vancouver, BC. I’ve also recently become fascinated by permaculture and am pursuing a Permaculture Design Certificate with the Permaculture Women’s Guild.
trusting my gut
For me, this is pretty literal – my gut is sensitive to the choices I make. I have IBS that’s exacerbated by stress and the food I eat. For a long time, I ignored the clear messages of discomfort my body sent me. They were inconvenient. I’d tell myself, ‘Everyone drinks coffee. I have lots of work to do that requires energy! So, I need coffee.’. Aaaaand my IBS symptoms got progressively worse.
But, what if instead of coffee, I chose to DO less? What if I paused…to rest? Would I end up a failure? What would they think?
I spent most of my life doing things the hard way because I thought I should, or because I thought I had to, to be good enough.
My motto was something like:
Study hard. Work hard. Play hard
I certainly had plenty of success, by some definitions, doing things the hard way, but I didn’t feel fulfilled. And my body was suffering.
Although through the years, I saw flickers of the light-hearted, silly, authentic me – the wilder me – I didn’t know how to tap into her wisdom to guide me forward.
So a few years ago, I sought out help. I saw a psychiatrist. I connected with other women in the Decide to Thrive Immersion and then dug deeper into Tanis Frame’s Luminous Leadership program. These experiences of sharing with circles of honest and inspiring women are changing me.
First I started to notice my feelings. Really, so simple, right? I’d spent so many years ignoring my own voice, and seeking approval and direction from others, that simply noticing how I felt is where I needed to start.
Then, I started feeling things, in addition to all the thinking I’d always done. I started emoting all over the place! Sometimes it was damn inconvenient! Once I even cried at the dentist (that one’s still a mystery).
I will always have the voices in my head that worry about what others think. They tell me I have to work harder to be good enough, or that I should put on make up before I leave the house to look ‘presentable’. I hear you! And, with more and more practice I also hear the whispers of the deeper, truer voices that flow from the wildest part of me, the part of me that feels.
My hope is that my stories of trying to trust my gut and seeing what happens will reassure you that we are all in this together. This is my next step in practicing listening to my wilder self – writing down the observations of my wacky humanity and sharing them with you.
Disclaimer: Please note that this is a personal blog where I share my personal experience about sustainable living, home learning, and wellbeing. All opinions are mine. You should not take anything from this blog as professional advice. Feel free to read more about my Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, and Term and Conditions.