About 5 months into the start of the Covid pandemic (do I need to specify?) my husband’s car broke down. Perhaps better stated…it died. Up to Subaru heaven. Or wherever ancient Subarus go to rest. 

Mike and I decided a replacement car was unnecessary since the only place I was driving myself was crazy pacing the hallways of our house…and at that point, there was nowhere to go.  

Until one day, who even knows when later (a few months?) I said to Mike: “We need another car.” To be clear, the circumstances were the same. Situation hadn’t changed much. Except I couldn’t bear to walk around the streets in my neighborhood one more time. 

I knew what I needed. I needed the ocean. I needed the salt water. I needed the sand. 

The Atlantic was a 30-minute drive from our house. While fairly close, super far without wheels. 

I grew up at the shore in Jersey. I slept smooshed up next to my siblings in the V-birth of our family sailboat most weekends growing up. The water grounds me. 

At that juncture of our world in 2020, I needed some grounding. 

While we eventually did buy a new ride, that moment I proclaimed we needed another car, Mike handed me the car keys and said…commanded… go. 

I headed east. Ended up at my spot in Neptune Beach. I sat on my sarong and stared at the ocean for hours. 

My shoulders dropped. My mind cleared. Tension drained from my body. I felt…OK? Slightly calm? Almost at peace? 

As I headed to the car to head back home, I remember thinking, “It never fails. It never fails when I go to the beach, I feel better.” More whole. More human. More grounded. More me.

A few days later I was on my yoga mat in my bedroom doing Zoom-yoga. I remember after class sitting up from savasana, thinking, “It never fails. Every time I get on this mat, I feel better.”

I started to notice those “never fails.” 

Music, specifically Amos Lee. 

Chats, especially with my JMU Ladies. 

Hugs from my hubby…although if you ask him, my hugs might not be on his list. 

I started writing down my ‘’Never Fails” on a post-it note. When things got really shitty or I’d swoop down into a mood, I would grab that post-it and go do one of the things. Get on the yoga mat. Blast some Amos. Head to the beach. 

My mood would shift and more often than not, lift. 

Now, I teach the Never Fails to the teams I work with. To my friends. Last week I even told a rando at the airport about it. 

I’m thinking of my Never Fails list today because I have an addition, and that’s my friend Amy Climer. Amy and I met at an NSA (the speaker not the security) conference 5 years ago. We’ve become dear friends and have a weekly walk-and-talk when we cover miles talking business and life. 

Wouldn’t you know it, life continues to throw curve balls and today before our walk I was in a funk. Amy and I walked. And talked. And by the end of the conversation, I was laughing. I felt more at ease. Like things are going to be OK. 

I told her she made it: she’s now a bullet on my Never Fails list (and so much more!) It NEVER FAILS when I talk to Amy that I don’t get off the phone and just FEEL BETTER about all things. 

Now it’s on: what’s on your Never Fails list? The activities, the people, the foods, the fill-in-the-blank that you do or see or hear or eat that no matter what, NEVER FAILS to make you feel grounded, peaceful, at ease, and like things are going to be OK. 

You know me, I’m always curious to hear from you and I’d love to know what/who is on your list.

Even better, if you got yourself an Amy Climer in your life, write/text/call THEM and tell them that they’ve made it! They are a bullet point on your list! And so much more…