I've been walking the same trails for years.

I know where the wild iris usually appears in late May. I know when the lilacs in my neighborhood reach their peak. I know which creeks should still be running cold and full this time of year, and which trails should still have a little snow tucked into the shadowed north-facing slopes.

This year, almost none of that is true.

The iris bloomed weeks ago. The lilacs are already spent. The creeks are running thin or not running at all. The scrub oak is fully leafed out where it should still be tender. My favorite trail, which I've ridden in spring many times, looks like late summer.

The landscape has shifted.

And the truth is — I don't fully know how to read this version of it yet.

There's a particular kind of disorientation that comes when the ground beneath you stops behaving the way it used to. When the rhythms you've trusted no longer hold. When the cues you used to navigate by — the ones that quietly told you what season it was, what to expect next, what was coming — stop pointing where they used to.

It happens in the natural world.

It happens in our lives, too.

A career that no longer fits. A marriage that needs updating. A body that doesn't behave the way it used to. A child who has grown and gone. A parent whose decline is accelerating. An identity you'd built over decades, suddenly loosened. A version of yourself you don't quite recognize in the mirror.

When the landscape shifts, our usual trail markers can become unreliable. The cues we used to navigate by — be productive, be selfless, be needed, be the one who holds it all together — may have served us once, but they don't help us through what's actually here now.

This is when values become essential.

Not as concepts. As compass.

We've spent the month walking with the question what guides me? We've explored the difference between true values and should values. We've sat with what we inherited from the women who raised us. We've listened to what the body knows about alignment and dissonance.

Now, as May closes, I want to leave you with the truth that pulls all of it together:

Your values are most important when the conditions of your life have shifted.

Not when everything is going smoothly. Not when the trail is wide and the markers are obvious and the season is unfolding the way you expected.

When the landscape changes — when you're walking through something you didn't plan for, didn't choose, didn't see coming — your values are the one thing that still belongs to you. They're the steady note your life can keep playing, even when everything else has gone quiet or strange.

They are how you find your way without needing the old map.

Let me say something I think we don't acknowledge often enough:

Navigating a shifted landscape is not something we are meant to do alone.

Our foremothers didn't. They had circles. They had kitchens full of other women. They had the women at the well, the women in the fields, the women who came over with bread when someone in the village was grieving or birthing or simply at the end of their rope.

We have lost so much of that.

And yet, in midlife, we need it again — perhaps more than we've ever needed it.

This is part of why I built the Connection and Story Circle. Because I believe deeply that women navigating change need other women navigating change. Not a self-help book. Not a podcast alone. Not even great coaching, on its own. We need each other — to be witnessed, to witness, to remember together that we are not the only ones whose ground has moved.

If something in this blog is resonating, if you're sensing that your landscape has shifted in some quiet (or loud) way and you don't quite know how to read what's in front of you anymore — please know that you don't have to figure it out alone.

Looking ahead, June invites us into the next chapter of our journey: Boundaries as Self-Respect.

Once you've done the work of identifying what you value, the next question becomes — how do I protect it? Boundaries are the practice of honoring your values when other people, expectations, or old patterns try to pull you away from them. They are the structure that makes a life lived by values actually possible.

Until then, walk gently this last week of May.

The landscape has shifted, yes. But you have your trail markers now.

You know what guides you.

Trust them.

🌿 You don't have to navigate the shifting landscape alone.

The Connection and Story Circle is a small, intentional community of women in midlife doing this work alongside each other. We meet monthly, to gather in person for our Trail Magic Hikes and seasonal events, and walk through the year together — held by a structured journey through somatic practice, story, nature, and women's wisdom.

Membership is $49/month and includes:

• Monthly BodyMind module and member workbook
• Monthly Celebrating Women Through Story podcast access
• Monthly Story Circle gathering (in person for now)
• Trail Magic Hikes throughout the year
• Seasonal celebrations and gatherings (Solstices, special workshops)
• A community of women navigating midlife with intention

Learn more about the Connection and Story Circle

🌳 A few other ways to walk with me:

🎙️ Listen to Celebrating Women Through Story — my podcast featuring women's stories of navigation, transition, and becoming. 

🌲 Join us on the trail — Looking ahead to summer: Summer Solstice gathering in June, outdoor yoga and sound bath in July. See upcoming events

🌱 Laser Coaching — 30 minutes to ground yourself and find your next step. Book a session

🌳 Six-Month Coaching Partnership — A deep, sustained journey through the questions midlife is asking you. Learn more

💛   Angelique

Breakthrough BodyMind | www.breakthroughbodymind.com