If we've talked over the last couple months, there's a good chance Tus Olas has come up and now that its just a couple of weeks away from actually happening I don’t think I could be more excited!!!! On August 5th we are partnering with Sal Y Roca to bring to life this one day experience designed specifically for a group of teenage girls and a team of 3-4 volunteers + Haven and I. I think every time I share the vision for this day someone has said some version of the same thing back to me.

"I wish I had this when I was younger."

Honestly, I feel the same way.

So much of what we're building has been shaped around that one sentence. I grew up in a lot of instability. Family, Home, school, church, sports, all of it inconsistent in its own way, and all of it pulling me toward different belief systems about who I was supposed to be. I spent so many years just trying to be helpful enough that people would want me around. I struggled with belonging, with feeling cared about, with being too much, and if I'm being fully honest, I still struggle with a lot of that today, partly because I carried those belief systems for so long without ever getting to look at them.

That's what Tus Olas actually is. A one day workshop that explores resilience, identity, and personal story through guided and hands-on reflection, creativity, and connection. It's supper interactive and It's for girls walking through it, and honestly, it's just as much for the volunteers walking alongside them too. It asks something simple and something enormous at the same time. Who have you been? Who are you? Who do you want to be?

Your story isn't your identity AND what's inside your story still shapes how you identify with the world, whether you've ever gotten to look at it or not. We're not asking these girls to make an idol out of their circumstances, their waves, the harder parts of what they've carried. We're inviting them into something bigger than that. Knowing that who you are is allowed to hold all of it. That you don't have to be ashamed of the waves or the threads that are harder to look at.

It's spiritual, it's emotional, it's cognitive, creative, connective AND it's grounded in research that keeps saying the same thing. When these tools, the ability to actually look at your own patterns and behaviors, are available early, there is so much room to shift the cycles that keep people, communities, cultures, this whole world, stuck.

If all of this reminds even one girl that she is important, that she is needed, that her story and who she is and who she's becoming actually matters, it's worth it. Holy moly, do I wish that you and I had that when we were younger.

None of this has come together on its own. Haven, my friend and the Tus Olas intern, has spent the summer in research, reading, and conversation, taking all of that and using a lot of her own gifts in helping shape the program, especially the creative aspect of the day into something that actually holds what will be so incredibly special for these girls, the volunteers, and beyond this first program. This past Friday Haven walked me through the creative activity for the workshop,Sharing her own wave design based on her story right now. Then we took our designs and spent a couple hours embroidering them at the beach and just talking about the different aspects of our story and who we are that are coming up for us as we navigate designing the workshop (at the end of the video you’ll see both design).

So here's the part I need to be honest about. I need to ask for help.

We've walked through building this program with a real amount of faith. Trusting that if we build it, it will be provided for. I've watched that be true over and over again, and I'm asking you to be part of that this time.

Here's what the day actually holds. We will begin the day with trust-building games and activities. Each girl will move through five stations built around exploring different parts of their story. There's a shared meal, snacks and goodies we get to enjoy together. During lunch the girls will get to enjoy the beach and an activity that invites them to see the way others see them. After lunch there's the creative piece where each girl designs a wave that represents the story she carries, then learns to embroider that design onto a shirt she keeps.

We want every girl to walk away with tools she can actually hold onto. An emotion wheel, curated to this theme, fully in Spanish. Her own wave storytelling guide. Her shirt. A sewing kit so the skill doesn't end when the day does.

I want to make sure the volunteers and the people helping make this happen feel taken care of too. Not just thanked, actually held in this with us. Each volunteer will be invited to actually experience exploring their own story and the creation of their wave as well.

Asking has always been the hardest part for me and right now, it feels less like asking and more like inviting. So consider this your invitation. To be part of the room. To be part of what one girl gets to walk away knowing about herself. To create something I think we could all use more of and definitely could have benefitted from when we were younger. To be part of what I hope is just the beginning of Tus Olas.

It's happening and I'd love so much for you to be in it with us.