A Year of Dreams and Unbelievable Things

I started this year with a blank slate. In early January 2022, Arthur and I moved into our very own NYC apartment. And after moving from one temporary place to the next since the beginning of COVID, it felt like a breath of relief to finally settle into our own. I didn’t know then what this year would be about, but it felt like a promising way to get started.

Shortly thereafter, I felt called to finally make that trip down to El Salvador that I had planned since BC (Before Covid), to visit the sustainable resort, Palo Verde. I needed an escape, a place to find myself again and collect my spirit, and I just knew I had to go.

And it was magic. I spent the week learning about the sustainable community practices in their little village, walking the shoreline at sunrise, and I even hosted a climate optimism workshop together with a local coffee farmer and the resort. But something else was brewing inside me, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on just yet, but that I was soon about to find out…

I was pregnant.

I found out shortly after I returned home. The two blue lines appeared for me on the morning of our wedding anniversary and I can’t think of a better gift to give your partner on your day.

“Happy Anniversary, love, you’re going to be a father!”

The year had quickly taken a turn I couldn’t have anticipated or imagined and I spent most of Earth Month navigating first-trimester nausea while hosting zero-waste workshops for 20+ companies from home.

But I also made a decision that this was the year it all needed to happen. The dreams I had worked on for so long — the book, the TEDx talk, the Master Class — were now given a timeline. I had until the baby arrived to make them come true.

It’s amazing what you can achieve once you streamline your purpose and start saying “NO” to everything that isn’t important. In late May, after wrapping up the production of the Live in NYC project with Tetra Pak, I finished recording the 10 sessions for my Master Class (yet to be released, it’s coming in 2023).

In early June, I got to go on stage at the STHLM+50 event with We Don’t Have Time and UNDP, to give a speech on climate optimism on World Environmental Day.

A public speaking dream coming true.

Shortly after I made it back to US grounds, I got contacted by BMW asking me if I wanted to be the host of their new podcast series, Chasing The Greenest Car. I said yes, got the gig, and soon found myself on a plane to Germany to spend two weeks recording the show.

Another unexpected event unfolds before my eyes. Universe, what is going on?!

Since I like to make the most of every travel (and air mile), I spent the tail end of my Germany stay at the cutest Airbnb outside of Baden Baden, going through the final edits for my book. I sent them to my editor shortly after I returned back home, letting him know we were soon to be ready for business (and that I now only had so many more months to go — time is ticking!)

As my belly grew into early fall, so did the opportunities and commitments. I had the opportunity to share some climate optimism at this Women x Climate event during NYC Climate Week…

… and that weekend I left town to give my first ever TEDx talk in Oneonta, NY — now about 8 months pregnant! (I forgot to mention this, but the email I received in May letting me know I was an approved TEDx speaker, truly rocked my world!)

And although by now, I felt like I was done cooking, I wasn’t quite over the finish line yet. Two weekends in October I took the train up to City College of New York and taught a one-credit course on Climate Optimism + Branding at the very program I attended for my Master’s 7 years ago. To return, not as a student, but as a professor, was a true “pinch yourself” moment for me.

How wild is life?

By the time the course was finished and my students’ projects were graded, it was about time for this mama to start slowing down. And I did, just in time for a big box to arrive in the mail with the first order of The Climate Optimist Handbook. After all these years (10 or so in the making), my book was here.

And It. Was. Unbelievable.

Highs I didn’t know possible flooded through my body and I got busy signing copies for people who had pre-ordered books. But the piles of signed books had to sit there for a while because before I had a chance to ship them out, along came she — Eloise Jean.

Four days early, born between two eclipses, our baby entered our lives on Friday, November 4th. And of all the highs I’ve experienced, of all the things I’ve accomplished this year and in my life, nothing compares to bringing her into the world.

She is magic. She is life. She is the most challenging thing I have ever accomplished. And I know now, looking at her face in my arms as she’s once again fallen asleep on me nursing, that nothing will compare to this. No challenge, no pride, no level of commitment and love will come close to growing, nurturing, and raising this little human.

And yes, I have forever changed my view on and respect for mothers and parents across the world.

On the day of my book signing event in Soho, 5 weeks post-partum, I felt a lot of pride. And not necessarily because I had written a book (although of course I’m so proud of that too,) but because that morning, I had successfully ended an unexpected crying session at Whole Foods by mastering our first in-public nursing. We had forgotten to bring bottles (PANIC!) OR a pacifier (MORE PANIC!!), so there was nothing to rely on but mama and her boob.

This is our moment. No nursing pillows, no time to get it all “right”. Just you and me baby, and the trust that we can do this!

In a corner of the Whole Foods dining hall.

We did it. She stopped crying and we were able to finish our shopping and walk home. What a feeling, that is, to be able to feed and soothe your child!

It’s with so much love, gratitude, and magic that I say THANK YOU for this year. I’m so grateful for family and friends, near and far, for being there for us through these times. But I also want to say thank you to YOU for being here with me on this wild and crazy journey.

I appreciate you for reading my newsletters and for believing that climate optimism is needed in our lives and in this world. Keep going, dear friend, and don’t forget to rejoice in these magical moments that are life. Remember that nothing is impossible and that if we only commit and believe, we can achieve the extraordinary and make even the wildest dreams come true.

To end with my favorite quote, the one that changed it all:

“Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.”

Merry Christmas, from us to you. May your days be merry, optimistic, and bright!

— AT