Well here i am. . .tail between my legs. . .full of broken blogging promises:( BUT. . .there has been a change in the tides. . . I have come to a new revelation!! AND I have some great new support staff in the GORP office. . . AND these ladies are pretty good at declaring their opinions about me getting back on the blog schedule! I always felt guilty about taking time to blog. . .like I was doing something non-essential (and heaven forbid fun!) while everyone else is toiling away. . ..I got a good talking to the other day and gave myself permission to do this. .. .it's good for my brain. . .and it will hopefully do some good for our awesome GORP community as well:)
Anyways. .. here we are. . .this is year 3 of having GORP on the shelves of stores and this adventure keeps getting more intense and rewarding. .. (albeit stressful!). . .we've landed some pretty neat accounts this past year. . .(Hello northern Canada! Thanks Northwest Company!) and with that comes piles of paperwork full of acronyms and retail math terms that set my head spinning and honestly makes me want to find the nearest rock. . .(you know. . .to hurl through a window shouting. . ."I didn't sign up for this!!!". . .). . except that I did. . .and I'm here. .. and despite the shame associated with being a complete rookie in retail. . .I am lucky enough to have something that propels me forward. . .EVERY SINGLE TIME I GET DISCOURAGED AND WONDER IF WHAT I'M DOING IS WORTH IT. . . THIS HAPPENS. .
It's the phone call from some surfer guy in Tofino. . .(Dan?). . .who was losing his mind on the phone because he just bit into a bar and couldn't help but call the number on the back of the package and shout at our office manager Lisa. . .
"I took one bite and almost sh#t myself with delight. . .you guys rock!"
. . .or the phone message from Helen from Collingwood Ontario who just phoned to tell us she is 62 years young and who after getting to her car with her first GORP bar. . .took a bite and got right back out and bought 5 more. .. she continued to crinkle the wrapper into the end of the receiver and thank us for what we are doing. .. .:)
It's humbling and totally makes up for all the dumb questions I find myself asking the "big guys". . .ummmmm so do I calculate that OIC off the OYR from the wholesale price after I divide by pi or should I just run through that window right there?" (lol!) Seriously. . .I'm learning. . .but seriously. . .
So what I'm getting at is this. . .with all the stress and work/life balance becoming a sheer fantasy. . .I lost my way a bit. . .(#what? wine and chips can't be supper?). . .exer-what?. .I found myself so passionate about inspiring an adventure lifestyle in others that I forgot about letting myself take time to do it too. . ..hence the GORP CHALLENGE idea. . .I pitched it to my new office staffer Jen and she's in. . .for the next 30 days we are on it. . .taking all the best advice and recipes we've personally experienced and love and compiling them into an easy to follow program. .. with a daily challenge to get outside and move for just 30 minutes. . .every single day. There is lots of other fun involved. . .but Jen and I are being the guinea pigs for 30 days. . .we will share our ideas and results and then launch a fine tuned plan coupled with a challenge (perhaps some rad prizes!) to our awesome GORP community:)
Lots of fun to come. . .boy does it feel good to get thoughts down on virtual paper. .. #ilovemakingfunofhashtags! Lookout!
. . .adventure on!
Colleen
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