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2016 {the year of many firsts}… and the best is yet to come in 2017!

January 14, 2017 • Agriculture, Career, Lifestyle, Public Speaking, Social Media, Travel

While we’re 14 days into 2017, I couldn’t look back on 2016 more fondly as a year that I considered ‘the best year yet.’

Until this year….. more to come on that so read on!

I made a commitment last year to make 2016 ‘different’ in everything I did – personal, professional, my business, my hobbies AND my attitude. One of those differences that inevitably fell into my lap was embracing firsts, something I may not have been so open too in the past.

Embracing ‘firsts’ teaches you so much about yourself – what your capcity is for courage, strength, spontaneity, adventure, experiencing news things that you’re not use too or comfortable with and just how open you (and your attitude) are to welcoming firsts, in the first place!

I really tried to continue living by the motto I shared back in my 2015 Year in Review, “Life Begins at the End of Your Comfort Zone.” Some firsts last year weren’t easy, but man did they feel good after they were done, knowing I had set my mind to doing them!

To reflect on what some of those ‘firsts’ were for me and others close to me, I thought I would highlight some of the memorable ‘firsts’ from last year (there were surely more but not enough time to capture everything!):

  • Travelling with my family on our first out-of-province trip to receive our second Holstein Canada Master Breeder award in Banff, Alberta
  • Horeseback riding in the Alberta mountains
  • Hiked a mountain (Tunnel Mountain in Banff)
  • Explored many new towns, cities and destinations in our very own Ontario including the Muskokas, Bayfield, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Lake of the Woods/Kenora and Bobcaygeon (home to the infamous Tragically Hip song!)
  • Worked with new clients both in and outside of agriculture – learning about new industries is fascinating (and what agriculture can learn from these industries is invaluable!)
  • My family started building their first robotic dairy barn, which will be completed this winter
  • Andrew and I took our boat through the Trent Severn Waterway liftlocks in my hometown of Hastings
  • I visited my first-ever cranberry and shrimp farms
  • Met so many new, amazing #girlbosses including Canada’s own Conquer Kit writer & speaker, Natalie MacNeil
  • Flew in a helicopter, experiencing the beautiful fall scenery of the Muskokas
  • Saw my mom featured on the cover of a national dairy magazine, The Progressive Dairyman (way to go, mom!)
  • Experienced many amazing new firsts at work as a Press Secretary, I feel so fortunate to do what I do in the industry I love
  • Saw the Northern Lights for the first time while visiting Manitoba last summer
  • ….. and the best “first” of 2016… Andrew and I found out we’re expecting a baby in 2017!

What I thought was the best year yet in 2016 is certainly going to be topped this year with the incredible gift that Andrew and I have been blessed with.

To be given the the gift of parenthood is going to be by far the greatest thing we’ve ever done come May, 2017 and we couldn’t be more ready (despite doing this ‘thing’ called parenthood for the first time!).

Let the countdown begin for the BEST ‘FIRST’ EVER coming up in 2017! 🙂

2015 Year in Review

Leave a Comment Agriculture, Career, Lifestyle, Public Speaking, Social Media, Travel 2016, 2016 Year in Review, 2017, Agriculture, Alberta, Baby, Banff, Blog452, Blogger, Blogging, Boating, Bobcaygeon, Business, Career, Change, Christina Crowley-Arklie, Communication, Conquer Kit, Cranberry, Cranberry Farming, Crovalley, Dairy, Dairy Barn, Discover Ontario, Explore, Fall, Family Farm, Farming, Firsts, Girl Boss, Hastings, Helicopter, Hiking, Hobbies, Holstein Canada, Horseback riding, Kenora, Lake of the Woods, Lifestyle, Liftlocks, magazine, Manitoba, Master Breeder, Muskokas, Natalie MacNeil, Northern Lights, Parenthood, Personal, Pregnancy, Press Secretary, Professional, Progressive Dairyman, Robot Dairy Barn, Shrimp, Shrimp Farming, Side Business, Side Hustle, Social Media, The Passionate Voice, Travel, Travelling, Trent Severn Waterway, Tunnel Mountain, Water, Year in Review

The Necessity (and Uncertainty) of Change

December 8, 2016 • Agriculture, Lifestyle

Change PV

A lot of change has taken place for me and those around me this fall.

Some would say that change can be for the better and for worse…. but is change EVER really bad?

Change helps us to grow, learn, adapt, expand on new skills and gain new perspectives and experiences.

As I mentioned in my last post, many of my friends and colleagues experienced change this fall. They left jobs, relationships, moved and/or made life decisions that will impact their future.

One of the major changes I’ve been experiencing this fall, is with my family. In July, my family undertook the building of a new dairy barn back at home in Hastings. It is no doubt, an exciting and wonderful time. But as with all change, its comes with bittersweet, mixed and unexpected emotion. We’re leaving our old dairy barn, a barn we loved to milk our cows in. Its the only thing me and my siblings have known.

Everyone is so grateful for this opportunity to build a state-of-the-art dairy barn. But with anything new, the ‘what ifs’ swirling around in your head can feel overwhelming.

And that’s OK.

I keep reminding myself (and my family) that change is necessary and needs to continue to happen. And whether you like  it or not, change inevitably happens! I too, sometimes question the pace at which change is happening now a days. And this, coming from a millennial whose generation ONLY knows fast-paced change! Even for me, someone who likes to believe they can adapt (easily?), I too at first, am sometimes apprehensive to change. And that’s because we’re human. 

I can only imagine how people who haven’t experienced change as often as others or who are resistant to change can feel totally overwhelmed. Change makes us feel vulnerable and that is why we dread it. It exposes us to the ‘uncertainty’ of ‘not knowing.’ And that is scary to us as humans, a species that always wants to be ‘in the know’ and ‘in control.’

Change is something we’ve seen and experienced especially in the social media movement of the last 10 years. It is moving at such a rapid pace.  You try a new social media platform and feel like you’ve finally ‘mastered’ it…. and then there are updates to it, or a ‘new and exciting’ platform is introduced altogether. Applying the saying ‘Adapt or Die’ seems so fitting if you want to keep up with social media these days.

What is exciting though, and something I’ve gotten SO much better at, is being open to the unknown as a way to deal wtih change. Even if you believe you may be Type A – a planner, a person who always knows what’s going on and wants to have things planned – the first step to accepting change is accepting that you won’t be in control all the time.

And once you let go of that notion of control, it can really be an alleviating feeling. 

This fall, its been amazing to watch my family grow together through the barn build – experiencing the uncertainty  of change – together.

With the right attitude of being open to the change, it is an exciting year ahead to look forward too in 2017 as we  move our cows into their new home. Check out some shots of the barn build at the beginning, in July and updated shot taken recently in November.

Crovalley’s New Dairy Barn – July 2016IMG_1825

Crovalley’s New Dairy Barn – November 2016

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Leave a Comment Agriculture, Lifestyle 2016, Adapting, Agriculture, Business, Change, Christina Crowley-Arklie, Cows, Crovalley, Crovalley Kind, Dairy, Dairy Farming, Fall, Family, Growth, Hastings, Life, Life Lessons, Rural Ontario, Social Media, The Passionate Voice, Truth, Vulnerability

… With the End in Sight

November 26, 2016 • Career, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Travel

with-the-end-in-sight

What a beautiful #fall2016 it was.

I had so much to say and share from this fall. Stories to share from travelling, events, conferences and ideas/thoughts of inspiration.

But the truth was, life got in the way this fall, both personally and at work….  in a good way. 

And I let it take over.

I wanted to take it all in and experience it all without feeling the need to overshare on social media or on the blog.

So I took a break…. since October…. and I’m happy I took the time to take it all in.

I love seeing how transformative fall is and how it is a time of change for so many people. A lot of my friends and colleagues began this fall by changing jobs, moving and starting fresh.

Fall can do that too you. It breathes new life into you with the change in air.

With the end of year in sight (how is it December next week?!), fall provokes people to take action before the end of the calendar year.

I’ve always loved fall. But as each year passes, I think I enjoy the Christmas/holiday/winter season even more. I love it because of the ‘hibernation’ that we all get to deservedly take without feeling guilty. Its a time to relax, watch as much Netflix in our PJs as possible with those we love and recharge for the year ahead.

There are no shortage of posts to share. I just decided to write them after the fact than in the moment. Look forward to seeing more in coming weeks as we begin to unwind, relax and take in the holidays.

30 days until Christmas folks, I can’t contain my excitement! 

Leave a Comment Career, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Travel 2016, 2017, Blog, Change, Christina Crowley-Arklie, Christmas, Conference, Events, Fall, Fall 2016, Fall16, Holidays, Ideas, Inspiration, Netflix, Passionate Voice, Social Media, The Passionate Voice, Thoughts, Travelling, Winter

Where is the Pause Button At?

August 10, 2016 • Lifestyle, Travel

Say it with me… where is 2016 going?! Can we just push the pause button so we can slow this year down? And then on the other hand, I think of all the things I’ve did so far in 2016 and I’m not surprised we’re already into August.

2016 has been an incredible year of travelling and ‘firsts’ for me including trips and experiences enjoyed in Mont Tremblant, Quebec; Banff, Alberta; wine tours to NOTL and discovering new little towns across Ontario like Jordan. And there are so many more towns and adventures I want to see and do before the summer begins to wind down.

My husband and I typically get a chance to visit my in-laws over the holidays back home in Manitoba but this summer, we were able to head to the prairies to take in the beauty of the western skies and canola/sunflower fields during the beautiful summer months.

Another first I got to experience with my in-laws was visiting their cottage on Lake-of-the-Woods near Kenora, Ontario. The views were spectacular.. as fellow blogger and friend Jen commented on my social media accounts when I posted the top photo, it looks like a photo from the group of even artists. Experiencing the beauty of the wilderness in the heat of the summer was so refreshing.

One of the best parts about my recent trip to Manitoba and cottaging in northern Ontario, besides seeing family and friends of course, was enjoying Lake-of-the-Woods and the outdoors without internet connection. I’ll blog about this in a follow up post to elaborate more but the thrill of not having to answer emails and social media accounts was a healthy blessing in disguise for a society of people that now depend on these devices and mediums to keep us stimulated throughout the day.

Because of that, I was able to fish, canoe, finish the summer-fiction best seller ‘The Nest’ in two days, enjoy Ontario craft beer at the local famous brewhouse, Lake of the Woods Brewing Company, hike to Rushing River provincial park, and see the Northern Lights for the first time in my life! The pictures don’t do these moments justice.

Hope you all are enjoying this beautiful summer… I think I can smell fall in the air already!

 Manitoba 2016

Leave a Comment Lifestyle, Travel 2016, Banff, Canoe, Canola, Christina Crowley-Arklie, Cottage, Craft Beer, Discover Ontario, Fall, Fall 2016, Fiction, Fish, Holidays, Internet, Jordan, Kenora, Lake of the Woods, Lake of the Woods Brewing Company, LOTW, Manitoba, Mont Tremblant, Northern Lights, NOTL, Ontario, Passionate Voice, Prairies, Reading, Rushing River, Social Media, Summer, Summer 2016, Sunflowers, The Nest, The Passionate Voice, Travel, Vacation, Western Canada

Food for Thought

July 21, 2016 • Food for Thought

Food for Thought

I finally found time this past weekend to take a read through my longer than usual list of blogs and articles waiting for my attention. That may be why this week’s round up of #FoodforThought may be  little longer than usual and include just a few more articles and reads I wanted to share with you all!

+I’ve been trying to get through this list of the 20 most popular TED talks of all time, some of which I watched years ago and have now re-watched to refresh myself with the content. I always find these interesting to listen too when I’m commuting on the bus or driving and listening to them as a podcast. I really love the whole concept of TED talks and how quick and easy they are to digest and learn key takeways from quickly. Now on to the goal of starring in my own TED talk one day 🙂

+ Hilary Clinton is hit with the tough question that women get often: “Why aren’t you smiling more?” One of my most loathed questions to be asked. Period.

+This read by Betty Ann Heggie, a personal mentor of mine who also came from the agriculture world was a great read for women about the ‘voice in our heads.’ It really couldn’t be more true about how sometimes, our main obstacle is truly ourselves. Sometimes how we interpret what is said in different scenarios is all because of the way our voice inside our head interprets things.

+Author and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg who wrote the popular ‘Lean In’ gave a commencement speech recently at a graduation at Berkeley that made its rounds on social media earlier this year. It really is a fantastic read that brings to the forefront, so many life lessons she learned that I wish I had heard at my commencement speech. Instead of the typical ‘fluff,’ she shared honest and raw lessons that since graduation, have personally impacted me as well. Some of her lines like “The question is not if some of these things will happen to you, they will” and “Finding gratitude and appreciation is key to resilience” really made me stop and think that while I’ve been through a lot with my family over the past few years, I continue to be grateful for everything we’ve been blessed with. Be appreciative of this fact and feel grateful for what you do have. A good daily reminder for anyone!

“The question is not if some of these things will happen to you, they will” – Sheryl Sandberg

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+ These 5 roadtrips recommended to take from Toronto are definitely on my summer bucket list! Andrew and I have already checked off the Bruce Pennisula three summers ago which was SO beautiful and so worth the drive. I say it often, but there are so many amazing places to explore in Ontario! On that note, these 17 breathtaking hikes to do in Ontario also look like so much fun! #DiscoverOntario

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Leave a Comment Food for Thought 2016, Business, Career, Christina Crowley-Arklie, Communication, Discover Ontario, Food for Thought, Hiking, Hilary Clinton, Inspiration, Leadership, Life Lessons, Ontario Travel, Passionate Voice, Sheryl Sandberg, TED, The Passionate Voice, Women, Women in Leadership, Words to Live By

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