A Note to the Universe

'Phoenix' was supposed to be metaphorical

Well. This Substack began as a response to the events of early 2020, when my family and I lost our home as the pandemic was just starting. That sent us into a year of crisis which ultimately led to the creation of this project.

It was not my intention to stop writing here, but two things happened. First, Acceptance is really hard. Not hard as in effortful, but hard as in difficult to master. And so I got bogged down in my “acceptance” chapter, feeling like I wasn’t really doing a good job communicating that part of Hayes’ ideas.

Second, I was simultaneously working on a backcountry safety project for my other website, sierradescents, and given I’m primarily known for writing in that domain, I felt I should prioritize that effort.

Which brings us to 2025.

Yes, we…lost another home

Although this time the circumstances are very different. I sometimes feel my very strange life has been built to help me share important things with other people. I would like to complain, bitterly, to the universe for making ‘Phoenix’ now a very much literal title, rather than the metaphorical one it was intended to be.

Still, it’s hard to argue that this doesn’t give me a hell of a chance to put Hayes’ work to the test. And maybe, via the twists and turns of that process, something of value will filter back to you.

I hope so.