All of the Above (But Hopefully Not)

What it feels like to stand at the edge of a book launch, a career shift, and a dozen possible futures.

VP of Sales says I can be anything I want, as long as I bring treats..

Lately, when people ask what I do, I find myself hesitating.

It’s not because I don’t have an answer. It’s because I have too many.

Am I an author? A coach? A veteran advocate? A founder of a hiking-based book club for women? A disabled woman trying to make sense of midlife with a German Shepherd sidekick and a lot of trail snacks?

Yes. Also: maybe none of the above.

The truth is, I’m in the middle of a quiet, internal identity crisis. Not the kind that spirals. More like the kind that simmers. The kind that makes you rearrange your Substack homepage for the third time this month because you’re not quite sure where you’re headed—but you are sure you’re changing.

On April 10, my book Mission, Tribe & Grace (have you pre-ordered your copy yet??) launches into the world. I’ve spent years writing it, revising it, and pouring everything I know about veterans, leadership, and resilience into it. And once it’s out there, I honestly don’t know what happens next.

Maybe I’ll become a speaker and consultant on veteran issues. That would make sense.

Or maybe I’ll lean fully into growing Outdoor Book Club—a community of wild-hearted women discovering their inner heroines on Michigan trails and in the pages of good books. We’ve sold out the last three retreats we’ve offered (but still not making any money).

Maybe I’ll finally finish that novel I’ve been writing on and off for twenty years (yes, twenty). The one with the fierce, complicated heroine who somehow keeps sounding more and more like me.

Or—bear with me—maybe I’ll become a #tradwife. Keep house. Make sourdough. Hike the neighborhood with my dog and spend afternoons alphabetizing my spice rack. (Unlikely. But tempting in its simplicity.)

Hopefully not all of the above. My Google Calendar would collapse in on itself.

So I’ve decided to make this little corner of the internet—this newsletter—a reflection of everything I’m wrestling with and reaching toward.

You’ll find essays here about writing and disability and life in transition. About leadership and solitude and figuring out who you are when the chapter changes. Occasionally I’ll share updates from Outdoor Book Club or Mission, Tribe & Grace, when they intersect with the larger story I’m living.

But mostly, I’m writing to find my way through.

To say out loud that transformation isn’t always tidy. That sometimes it looks like hiking in circles. Or starting over. Or updating your bio for the tenth time in a year.

This is a moment of becoming for me.

I’m here for it.

Mostly.

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If you’re in your own season of reinvention—or just trying to figure out what comes next—I’d love to hear from you.

Hit reply and tell me what you’re wrestling with. Or leave a comment and let me know which version of me you’re rooting for:

The speaker? The novelist? The #tradwife with trail mix and dog treats in her pockets?

And if this resonated with you, feel free to share it with someone else who's navigating their own messy, magical becoming.

We’re not meant to do this alone.

Thanks for walking with me.

—Jill