Lazy Bear Lodge

05/29/2026

05/27/2026

Play, joy, and love are biological necessities. 🧬

The emerging science of epigenetics shows that your environment, your emotions, and your relationships can switch genes on and off, regulating everything from inflammation to immune function to how fast you age.

Your nervous system was designed for love and belonging, and when you deprive it of that, everything downstream suffers — your hormones, your immunity, your brain, your longevity.

Think of joy, connection, and play as part of your health stack; just as essential as what you eat, how you move, and how you sleep.

So laugh more, love deeply, and stop treating joy like something you have to earn after all the “real” health stuff is done.

It IS the real health stuff.

05/26/2026

Yesterday marked my 30-year sobriety birthday, and I wanted to celebrate by sharing one gratitude for each decade.

1. My sobriety will always be the most important thing I do, because it allows me to fully love—and be loved by—the people who matter most in my life. I’m grateful for it every single day, even when it feels like a street fight.

2. Five years ago, a woman approached me in an airport and thanked me for writing about sobriety as a superpower. She said it helped her get sober. I’m grateful for all the people whose words helped me along the way. Before boarding her flight, she asked if I’d accept a gift from a stranger. I said yes. She handed me her first AA chip. I carry it in my purse every day. We were never strangers.

3. My favorite line from the AA Big Book reads: “That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we have been placed in a position of neutrality—safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.”

Understanding and keeping in fit spiritual condition has been a decades-long challenge for me. I wrote about it in the final chapter of Strong Ground and I thought I’d share that full chapter with you today as a “thank you.” To read, go to the home page of brenebrown.com.

Today I am sober af and I am grateful. ❤️

05/25/2026

05/24/2026

🏞️ BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY OPENS FOR THE SEASON THIS MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

Campgrounds, picnic areas, and visitor centers open this weekend as the Blue Ridge Parkway kicks off summer operations — but the Parkway is asking visitors to plan ahead and pack their patience.

Multiple construction and repair projects are underway this season, primarily related to ongoing Hurricane Helene repairs and two Great American Outdoors Act road projects in North Carolina and Virginia. Visitors should check the Parkway's interactive map for milepost-by-milepost road status before heading out.

One piece of good news for Helene recovery: direct access to the Linville Falls trail system at milepost 316.4 has been restored via the 1.5-mile spur road. The visitor center, picnic area, and campground there remain closed.

Camping reservations are available at Recreation.gov. Hours and facility schedules are at nps.gov/blri.

Full story ➡️ link in comments

05/22/2026

05/22/2026

BOONE — The Orville Hicks Mountain Talkers Storytelling Contest will return to Boone on Saturday, May 30, at Hickory Ridge History Museum for an afternoon celebrating Appalachian storytelling, music, humor,