Gaining experience and merit in various environmental/community-related projects. I have a strong desire to work in the climate and environmental space in furthering projects and initiatives that result in triple bottom line impact. I recognize that I still have a ways to go in terms of learning and developing relationships at the age of 28. I want to be exposed to as much as possible to further understand how I fit into systems and how I can better serve them through my personal and professional work. Most importantly, continuing to learn more about myself and grow in order to be able to tap into my potential and share that energy with those around me.

Ultimately, I seek to become part of the bridge that leads humanity to returning to the role of living in alignment with nature and separating the boundary that has been created between. The best way I can describe my role to play is that of connective tissue. In both my personal and professional life, I have been able to bridge together individuals and groups. I believe that my background has provided me with a unique worldview that has allowed me to connect with a wide breadth of individuals, but I have much more to learn and understand. Communication is something that I believe is paramount in any setting. Understanding why and where people are coming from (and therefore, stepping out of my shoes to empathize) is important in finding common ground, in addition to being kind. I may not understand everything at a granular level, but I am able to grasp things at a level in which I believe I can effectively communicate and understand. I want to connect people, groups, ideas, etc. because I wholeheartedly believe that collaboration is the way.

I want to work in a collective made up of passionate and talented individuals that cohesively work on projects to stimulate regeneration between people and place. A group that comes together to work collectively towards something bigger than themselves. I recognize that this sounds a bit too ideal, but I believe that there are ways to frame such 'projects' or initiatives' to those who come from different backgrounds in such a way that everyone will be working towards a common goal. To do this, I seek to gain experience, skills and develop a network of relationships through my professional and personal journey that will allow this to manifest. The collective I seek to work with is my castle in the sky, and I'm currently working on building the foundation to it, stone by stone, day by day, and so on forth (hence registering for this practitioner course). I'm not so much entangled in the specific details of how I'll get there, but rather, continue to have faith in the vision and act when opportunity arises.

The second and third line of work. The past three years I've been focusing inward on developing myself to further reach my potential. While I still have a ways to go, I feel that I need to grow further in integrating myself within those around me and my community. I believe that this will come in the form of increased community engagement - such as connecting with the people that grow my food, or my neighbors. Essentially, I'd like to focus on being of more service to those around me and seek out opportunities to do just that. I think that aligning my values and interests (i.e., local farming/businesses and nature) with my actions in the form of spending time at farms, developing relationships with local business owners and connecting them with my friends and families, and volulnteering is a pathway to help further this. Additionally, my first line of work focus will be on alignment and discipline. Aligning my personal beliefs with my daily practices - where I get food from, minimizing waste and carbon footprint (i.e., using my bike and public transportation more). Having greater discipline in my morning routine, exercise, nutrition while balancing relaxing and rest.

I seek to further my business and financial literacy. I've been able to learn on the fly about such things from my work experience, but I believe to advance my current set of professional tools, leveling up in how the business-as-usual world operates will be key in better connecting and communicating with those with influence and resources, and ultimately bridging that gap to greater alignment with nature. As such, acquiring an MBA is something on my to-do list. I'd also like to further my project management skills and gain more experience working with a team to hone my leadership skills. This will come with more working experience. Also, I would like to dive further into circular economy and biomimcry, amongst other fields that are using nature as a blueprint.

I have invested in the following:
- B.S. in environmental science, and critical thinking from the University of Redlands
- Time and energy towards expeirence in environmental planning and land use development
- Learning how to work with people (interpersonal skills) and communicate
- Becoming comfortable with myself and not putting on kabuki masks to fit into different environments
- Walking away from a successful career, high salary, benefits, etc. in pursuit of a more authentic life no matter the loss in financial wealth
- Learning how to work with my hands through the trades and cultivating land for food production

Self-development from Eckart Tolle, Paulo Cohello and Don Miguel Ruiz as my big three. Ayn Rand's books have played a big part in how I view individual achievement. Gaia Theory and the idea that we are all part of one whole living organism. The environmental fields, from physical geography, ecology and ornithology (am a fully fledged birdwatcher). Regenerative agriculture from those such as Allan Savory and Will Harris. Overall well-being, exercise and nutrition with WimHof, Andrew Huberman and Mark Hyman. Finally, regenerative design and development is the field that provided the 'light bulb moment' for me and has changed my life and led me down the path that I walk today.

All of life is embedded within the singular organism that is Earth (Mother Gaia). Life creates life via mutual relationships that provide services to other species to survive- direct and indirect benefits. Give and take, but not transactional. Natural life has been designed in such a way where these mutual relationships are built-in and ever changing/evolving. This is what drove evolution to where we are today. Humans are a part of that grand web of life. I believe humanity’s role is to live in alignment with the nature of their respective place to further this symbiotic relational web of life and support the living systems that we are embedded in.
However, we are not living in sync on a mass scale, as such, are contributing to our own mortality as a species. Our survivorship is heading in the wrong direction due to our historical extractive approach to the world. As such, for humans to turn the ship we need to move away from the extractive, mechanical framework that got us here, and move towards that of regeneration.