Yesterday #restday : )  gave me a little time to have some terrific chats about the Kjölur Run project with partners and supporters (more about this later!). Today’s intermittent flakes and raindrops on the other hand give pause (and an excuse to wait for the temps to drop) and a chance to reflect on what drives the impulse to take on this adventure–or any adventure, whatever its scope. 

One answer, maybe, is in these words-–Aspire & Inspire.  

Sure, they share the same Latin root, spirare, ‘breathe,’ but I also think of the spires of alpine summits, granite outcrops, and Vermont village church steeples–each reaching upward toward heaven still, exalted, breathing hope and desire  toward a goal they can never reach. 

As a teacher and runner and father each, I find much of what I do is born of an aspiration to inspire–my students, my friends, my son, myself. This happens in even the smallest of gestures or even just a word, but also on the grandest of scales like this project to run across Iceland next spring to inspire as many as I can to act, to make real change, and to build networks for climate resilience.

What can you do to turn your aspirations into action?