How to be a Bad Ass
“If you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission.” -anonymous
Just a girl on a mission, trying to prove a point to anyone who doubted me, but mostly myself. I arrived on this lonely island in Thailand with hammock & pack in hand, intending on hammock camping right on the beach.
Yep, right there on THIS beach!
The ranger looked at me and said, “It’s going to rain, you want a cabin. You can share with a couple of other girls here.” I looked up at the sunny sky and looked back at him dead in the eye, “No, I don’t. I’m going to camp right there on the beach. In. My. Hammock.” FAMOUS LAST WORDS.
Does this look like rain to you? No, it does not. Point made.
Okay, that might be a bit melodramatic. But I did argue with the ranger about camping, and he did finally allow me to camp after I was forced to rent one of their weathered, beaten down tents. He said he didn’t want to help me set up or clean up after me, like I was some damsel in distress. Oh no, he didn’t. Yeah, he did. *CUE SOAPBOX* I gave him an earful of how I was just as damn capable of anyone of those “men” who had camped here. His eye roll was clearly an indication of his defeat and that he wanted to cry from the verbal ass whooping. Whatever, I got what I want.
Big leafy trees loomed just a few steps from the waterfront, so I set up my hammock - easy. Dumping all the contents of the tent out, I figured I’d better be safe and set that up too. NOT SO EASY. Truthfully, I had never set up a tent before and without some direction (in English please) it is very confusing. After some fumbling around, I looked at my perfect slice of heaven, my personal queendom. Sure, the tent was old and smelled like mildew, but I had successfully put the puzzle pieces together and constructed my castle. Panties waving like a flag from low hanging branches. I felt like such a badass.
In badass fashion, I slept soundly to the roaring of the ocean and rustling of the jungle. Until 3 am, when a torrential downpour woke me up, drenching my tent and nearly everything in it. Ranger was right, it did rain. Perhaps, because I didn’t stake out rainfly correctly, but also definitely because the weather-beaten tent had a leak on the roof. (Tents & other gear should be weather treated time to time, but rentals usually get neglected!) And to think, I was so keen on camping in my hammock. There it was, the answer. Throwing my hammock (waterproof) over my tent, I successfully stopped any more rain from soaking through. I am such a badass!
Though I slept only mostly dry, I woke up the next day to see my castle had survived a brutal (okay, really not that brutal, just very stormy) battle with nature. My girly panty-flags still waving in triumph.
Yesterday, I turned 27 and you think about things, ya know? Things like who I'm becoming and if I'm accomplishing anything and if I'm enough. Sometimes, we just have to stop thinking about what we lack and celebrate our victories even if they're completely ridiculous to some people!
Who am I? I am a badass. I may not have always been, but I am now. I am one bad ass motha-f*cker.
If you were looking for tutorial on how to be a bad ass, you don’t need one, know that you already are one bad ass babe.
View of the island from the mountain top!
I love getting to know other bad ass babes from around the world or right here in So Cal! Sing me happy birthday or let's just follow each other on Instagram!
