She’s more nervous for this talk than any she’s ever given, mostly because she has a lot to say within a very intense time constraint, with a secondary tension about being recorded.

She’s prepared. She’s practiced. She knows her topic well enough that she could teach about it for an entire day long workshop, but she has 15 minutes or less -- and she is a long-winded person. Nobody would describe her as person who gets to her point quickly. She typically gets to her point after adding as much context and disclaimers as she can. Yet, that’s not how TEDx talks work.

She get to make an argument as to why disability and neurodiversity should be highlighted in DEI conversations, especially now that DEI is under attack.

And she’s going to be sharing a very quick, very vulnerable, version of her disability story.

She thought she’d feel more prepared than she does. This makes sense, the last three weeks were packed with other quest priorities.

Gen Con.

Clown Camp. (Instagram photos of clown camp can be found here.)

Medical Follow-ups to help manage her ever evolving disabilities.

And with the focus on this current TEDx quest and all of the one before it, she hasn’t had the time to create art or public documentation of her quests. At least not yet. She plans on writing more and making videos about what quests she is on, but she will get to that slowly.

She’s given up on creating “consistently” and is now focused much more on just creating when it serves her and other Adventurers most. Which is just primarily a goal of “create and post as much as possible without adding so much pressure that it makes the journey of creation no longer fun and just another thing to check off a to-do list.”

It helps nobody if she pressures herself into creating to the point that she just no longer creates.

It’s not like she’s not busy.

She’s running a speaking business (her main quest).

She’s trying to create content for multiple platforms.

She’s a founding member of the neurodiversity coalition of America

She writes the newsletter and lead the education committee for the Minnesota Disability Bar Association.

And there are some quests that she’s working on this year and concluding at the beginning of next year:

She’s the vice chair of the Minnesota State Advisory Council on Mental Health

She’s the chair of the Local Mental Health Advisory Council Workgroup, where she is the lead on a project to update the MN LAC Guidebook.

She’s was the 2nd Vice Chair of the NAMI Peer Leadership Council.

She was doing tax related legal pro bono work.

She’s decided that 2027 is going to be the year that she steps away from advisory council work and pro bono legal services and pivots more into playful and creative endeavors that support her public speaking and other quests. There have been many weeks in 2026 where she’s spent more hours on volunteer or highly discounted charity work than work on her own business. Logically, our hero knows it’s not sustainable and it’s leading her very close to burnout, yet there’s a guilt that lingers — a guilt around not being seen a selfless. Even though she knows she’s actually being seen, appropriately, as being spread a bit too thin.

Now, it’s time for her to practice her TEDx talk again.

Time Skip

We meet our hero on the plane home.

Yesterday she took center stage on a big red circle carpet with “TEDx Watkins Glen” behind her.

Was she perfect?

Nope.

But, was what she had to say useful and lead to many conversations throughout the day?

Absolutely.

And that’s why she focuses on her actions being useful, not perfect.

So now she waits for it to be published, so she can actually assess how she did (and so she can put it on her LinkedIn profile and website).

She also found it very amusing that the venue was at a NASCAR raceway. What a fun clickbait statement to get to say “I’ve given a TEDx talk at an International Raceway.”

So, with that quest completed… what’s next for our hero?

Slowwwww down and take some steps towards prioritizing her daily quests/wellbeing and also get caught up on doctor’s appointments. Since her body hasn’t been keeping up with the way she’s been living her life. She needs to do a wellness reset soon, since any semblance of a wellness routine has disintegrated this month.

Yet, she also has so many more quests that she is excited to pursue!

Launch her Gamified Group Coaching offer. (September will have a huge marketing push for the founding cohort! Learn more at the Questify Your Life website or wait for an upcoming article about it!)

Revamp her podcast.

Create videos of some of the bigger quests she just did. (I know some of you want to know how GenCon26, clown camp, and my TEDx experience was, and I really want to share with you.)

Wrap up some of her advisory council work.

And soooo many more.

And now it’s time for our hero to watch some Dropout and take a moment of rest.

Time Skip

We meet our hero sitting at a hometown cafe, two weeks after coming back from her TEDx talk.

And she’s finally finishing this Substack article!

(P.S. the TEDx video should be up by the end of the month, I’ll let you know when it’s out!)

Thank you to everyone who reads this! (I appreciate you)

Whatever quest you are on, I am proud of you for going on it.

With gratitude,

Sierra

Before you start most role-playing games, you get to create your character. In D&D, you pick your name, your race or species, your class, your background, and your stats. (Plus a variety of other things that I am omitting from this exercise.) Then the journey begins.

So this is a simplified version of my character sheet:

Name & Species/Race

Name: Sierra Grandy.

Sierra Grandy, Esq., if I’m feeling fancy.

Species/Race: homo sapien. Human. Done and done. (D&D 5.5e - 2024 revised rules - renamed “race” to “species,” I don’t really have an opinion on which one I actually prefer, though, so here I am using both.)

Class

According to D&D Beyond, class is “the primary definition of what your character can do. It’s more than a profession; it’s your character’s calling.”

This is where it gets complicated. I’m a professional public speaker. A disability advocate. A content creator (skill in progress). An attorney. And I’m building Questify Your Life into my own storytelling studio and creative guild.

So what is that if I had to pick a D&D class?

I’d say I’m a Wizard-Bard multiclass. Logical whimsy, basically.

Wizard for the heavy academic history and the written advocacy work. Bard for the storytelling, the public speaking, the goofy side quests.

Background

D&D Beyond puts it this way: “Every story has a beginning. Your character’s background reveals where you came from, how you became an adventurer, and your place in the world.”

D&D backgrounds have labels like noble, entertainer, acolyte, folk hero, etc. So if I were to create a label, it would be something like: She’s Been Through It. But if I am going with something that already exists within D&D, I suppose Folk Hero might work.

I share my backstory openly; it’s a tool I use for perspective-shifting and education, but it can be heavy, so here are the highlights, bullet-pointed to save time.

• I grew up with a serious mental health condition, life-threatening, hospitalized many times. Therapies. Medications. Residential treatment. Electroconvulsive therapy (modern-day shock therapy). A year of my memory, gone, because of that treatment. It took many years before I could start my mental health recovery journey.

• I also live with a variety of chronic pain conditions.

• I attended four different undergraduate programs, dropped out of two, before finally finishing my psychology degree with an economics minor at the fourth.

• I was diagnosed with ADHD and autism in law school. I started identifying as neurodivergent before the formal diagnosis.

• Being openly disabled and neurodivergent changed how I move through the world entirely. It’s why I built the Questify Your Life system, and why I give so much of my time to advocacy and pro bono work.

There’s a lot more to the backstory. But that’s a different article for a different day.

Overall though, I do want to take this moment to give a reminder: we each get to determine when our backstory ends and our journey begins.

Stats and Skills

In most RPGs, after you pick your class, you assign stats: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and so on. I think knowing your values matters more in the real world, so that’s what I’m analyzing instead.

If you’ve never done a values quest, adding language/words to your own values, you can find some unoptimized but useful directions in my first Substack article.

For what it’s worth, in order from best to worst, my D&D stats would be Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, Dexterity, Constitution, Strength.

Values

My skills and proficiencies mostly trace back to my values, which I identified years ago as Courage, Contribution, and Curiosity.

We all have many many skills, but I think an example is in order. So I will analyze my skill in communication, specifically storytelling, which sits at intermediate-to-advanced.

I’ve been a professional public speaker for about two years now. Here’s how that connects:

Courage: It takes courage to share vulnerable parts of my backstory with strangers (especially other lawyers) as a way to connect with them and open the door to longer lasting change lined with more practical tips and strategies.

Contribution: I use storytelling to add to bigger conversations on mental health recovery, disability, and neurodiversity, drawing on my lived experience across several leadership and council roles to support other advocates and educate more broadly.

Curiosity: I’m always learning, growing, exploring. I know enough to know I know very little. I also know how to go learn what I need to know.

There are a lot more skills where that came from, but I think that’s enough to illustrate the point.

That’s my character. At least, a simplified version of it.

Quests

Next comes the quests, the adventure out into our open world.

But first, a quick zoom-out on why I think it’s useful to frame life like a quest or a game.

The basic idea: life is already a journey. We already have goals, obstacles, resources, skill trees, side quests, allies, main goals, and more, so why not use a flexible, fun structure for incentivizing slow and sustainable productivity by turning goals into quests.

I built this system for myself first, back when I was starting my recovery journey, reframing the wellbeing tools I needed to stay well into something that could also help me build a life I actually liked. Sometimes that looked like daily wellbeing quests. Sometimes it was a Tetris board in my bullet journal that helped me build momentum (I never did finish that board).

It’s also about giving myself permission to fail a quest without failing as a person. In D&D, rolling a Nat 1 means a critical failure, the worst outcome on the dice. And with that failure, you take it and fold it into the plot, because every unlucky roll moves the story forward, and none of us actually know where the story is going. That’s part of the fun.

I’m on a lot of quests right now. One obstacle I keep battling is my own ambition. But I’m making progress, I have incredible allies and connections in my life, and I’m grateful I never rage-quit my game.

PS, typical character creation covers more than we got to here, but I hope this gives you enough of a starting point to think about what your own character looks like.

Happy adventuring,
Sierra

The YouTube Video

If you’d prefer to watch this as a video, please watch my Youtube video!

Please note that I am aware of the sound issues/quality. This was posted as a - just stop overthinking it and get it published so you can move on to your next quest - sort of thing.

This article is going to a mishmash of quest related thoughts and creations. What you will find in this article this week:

• Some thoughts about some of my upcoming quests in August

• A quest suggestion for you based on my TO-DOngeons & Dragons quest

• A couple of polls because I would love your thoughts on some things related to my Substack

• Some thoughts about my new questboard

• A new draft of my professional bio (because why not)

Sierra’s Upcoming Quests for August 2026:

Gen Con

Thanks to an amazing person (thank you, Kirsten!), I have the opportunity and incentive to go to Gen Con for the first time. I am going with an exhibitor pass, and I have it on my quest log to dive much further into preparation this week (I know it’s a bit late for that, but still — I’m balancing a bunch; I’ll get to it when I get to it, and it’s so much information to sift through). Overall though, I am very very excited.

What is Gen Con? I think the website explains it best:

For over 55 years Gen Con has been the largest and longest-running gaming convention in North America. Founded in 1967 by Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax, Gen Con now attracts tens of thousands of attendees from around the world to Indianapolis for The Best Four Days in Gaming™.

So a gathering place of my favorite types of people… people like me — highly ambitious neurodivergent nerds. In many ways, they are my target audience.

I am going to Gen Con with a quest in mind. The quest to answer these three main questions:

1. How the heck does Gen Con actually work, and would I want to do the whole thing next year? If so, at what aspirational level? (Attendee? Exhibitor for Questify Your Life? Performer? Something else entirely?)

2. Can I use this opportunity to discuss some of my more nerdy offerings with my ideal customers — with Adventurers? If so, what information can I get that would be helpful for me to receive so I can better help them?

3. Can I actually remember to take photos and videos of this experience? For social media purposes, yes. But more importantly, to capture at least one memory of something that made me delighted or joyful.

Clown Camp

I’ve had so much fun getting to tell people that I am going to Clown Camp. A summer camp from Tuesday to Sunday. I will get to learn all about the business and art of clownery with 99 other clown campers and all of the amazing instructors. All in the a summer camp atmosphere that including a fire pit, crafts, a good friend, and a lake.

You may be wondering, “Why? Do you want to be a clown?”

Yes and no. I love what I do and what I am building. Yet, the skills related to clownery are incredible beneficial for every part of my business, from the nerdy quest side of my business, to my public speaking, and even my advocacy work. My hope is that by spending more time and learning from people who are having a fun and joyful time within themselves, that I can remind myself that:

Yes, things are serious and exhausting, but I don’t always have to be.

Watkins Glen TEDx

Want to know what’s as fun or more fun than saying “I’m going to Clown Camp next month!”? Getting to say, “The week after Clown Camp I am flying to New York to Watkins Glen to give my first TEDx talk!”

I’ll be speaking about how disability and neurodiversity discussions need to be included in DEI conversations, especially now that DEI is under attack (the title is still a work in progress)

I am, however, worried about what to wear. And I will worry about that for the next several weeks, and then I’ll likely just dress up my character the same way as I almost always do when I am presenting or teaching. Thin black turtleneck, velvet teal blazer, black pants, belt with gold belt buckle, teal flats, hair down and curled, black winged eyeliner, and a dark lip. But who knows, maybe I’ll find something when shopping over the next few weeks and I decide to go a different route.

Either way, I hope that room has good AC.

TO-DOngeons & Dragons: Rogue

I’ve recently started a new side quest. I created this because I want to make progress on some of the miscellaneous quests that are just sitting in my quest log. But to make it more fun, I’ve created a list of DnD races, classes, and backgrounds, and I’ve written those out on small pieces of paper that I pull out of a jar at the beginning of the week. (Or whenever I remember).

Themes list in case you are interested: Human; High Elf; Wood Elf; Dark Elf; Dwarf; Halfling; Dragonborn; Gnome; Half-Elf; Half-Orc; Tiefling; Aasimar; Air Genasi; Earth Genasi; Fire Genasi; Water Genasi; Tabaxi; Goblin; Fairy; Artificer; Barbarian; Bard; Cleric; Druid; Fighter; Monk; Paladin; Ranger; Rogue; Sorcerer; Warlock; Wizard; Artisan; Charlatan; Entertainer; Farmer; Guard; Guide; Hermit; Laborer; Noble; Pilgrim; Sage; Sailor; Soldier; Wayfarer

Last week I pulled out two themes with the intention of choosing between them, following the one that I felt more inspired by, and putting the other one back in the jar.

I pulled out “Wood Elf” and “Rogue.” Wood Elf felt right for me. I have some yard work I’ve been putting off, a hike with a friend that I wanted to finish planning, and I could make a phone call or two while taking a long walk.

But… last week was so hot, and the smoke from the northern fires was too much to go outside.

So, I pivoted to Rogue. According to DnD Beyond’s Wiki on Rogues: “Rogues rely on skill, stealth, and their foes’ vulnerabilities to get the upper hand in any situation.”

So, inspired by the concept of a rogue, I decided that I would spend several hours pretending that I was sneakily helping a future version of me as I dealt with small tasks that hadn’t yet been under prioritizing. What could I do that would make tomorrow’s version of me feel a little bit better?

So, here’s a list of many of the things I did, in case it inspires you to do something similar:

• Cleaned out some of my draft emails

• Filled my printer with more printer paper

• Requested a quote for radon mitigation

• Made a (admittedly too ambitious) social media plan for the following week

• Made a handy list of phone numbers and scripts that I needed for the following day

• Updated my business phone number

• Cleaned the inside and the filter of my dishwasher

• Cleaned my microwave

• Make a seasoning blend for easy roasted vegetables

• Update some documentation for a grant I applied for

• Took out most of the craft supplies I would need for the upcoming terrain build for my Dungeons & Dragons campaign

Sometimes I have to get creative with the way I get things done. But it was successful since I was productive and had a good time. Besides, the tactic just needed to be useful, not perfect.

Choose Your Own Adventure: A few polls related to my Substack presence

This final poll is for paid subscribers only. Thank you for supporting me and my work. I appreciate you beyond what words can communicate. I am working on figuring out a way to show my appreciation to my paid subscribers and would love your input on it.

Ever Want To Make A Questboard?

In this Instagram Reel, I share a bit about my questboard. For those who don’t watch it, though, the goal is to have a tangible place to document progress, while also being able to shut it and put it aside as I work on going on my quests and enjoying this adventure. I’ve found that a tri-fold board and collage materials work really well for that. Kind of like a video game quest menu — open it up to see what I am working towards, shut it as I adventure, and open it up again to see how much progress I’ve made. The collaging also helps me slow down and appreciate the accomplishments I’ve attained as I quest.

My New Bio (Draft)

I’ve been overthinking my professional bio. Over the past year or so, I’ve continued to tweak it, yet for a while it felt very backwards-focused, rather than looking ahead. Like more of the focus was on what I have done as a way to show status, rather than on what I am doing and building. So, here is my current draft.

Sierra Grandy identifies most as an adventurer. Her main quest is as a professional speaker on neurodiversity, disability, and mental health recovery, helping workplaces and communities build more inclusive, effective, and accessible teams. Sierra is also the founder of Questify Your Life, a storytelling studio and creative guild,w here she helps other adventurers, through her various offers. Including the Adventure Party (her gamified coaching program), executive coaching built for neurodivergent professionals, and her work as a professional Game Master for corporate team-building RPGs (similar to Dungeons & Dragons, but highlighting skills related to psychological safety in the workplace).

Additionally, Sierra is an avid volunteer, advocate, and advisor in her community. She is a licensed attorney in the state of Minnesota, and occasionally practices pro bono through some of her favorite organizations. She serves with leadership roles within the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the Minnesota State Advisory Council on Mental Health, and the Minnesota Disability Bar Association. Additionally, Sierra is an active member of the Neurodiversity Coalition of America.

I am open to your thoughts, but overall, I am just glad I pulled some words together that make me feel like I am making progress with the vision of what I am creating with my speaking business and with Questify Your Life.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading! I appreciate you!

Whatever quest you are on, I am proud of you for going on it.

With pizzazz,

Sierra

We meet our hero sitting at a coffee shop, reflecting on the past six weeks or so.

So many wonderful quests quickly completed with limited time to process or celebrate.

So, that’s what she is doing now.

The first week of June 2026 started with multiple advisory council meetings, two galas, and multiple events with friends. Wonderful experiences that made her start questioning, what quests does she want to be prioritizing.

And she began noticing that her personal creations, such as her Substack, became unanticipatedly underprioritized. Body-doubling on Zoom started to feel like a chore.

It was ongoingly hard to be present, when her HP & mana felt like they were quickly being drained. But, not because the work or opportunities were undesired. Rather, quite the opposite, the quests that became open to our hero are numerous and wonderful.

Hard to say no to things when almost everything feels like a “hell, yeah.”

Our hero thought she had the social capacity for all of that, but by the time the week ended she was on a plane to Colorado. And she was exhausted before the week even began.

Yet, she pulled through. Mostly because the opportunity to teach the leadership team of the entire state of Colorado’s Public Defenders was a quest she wanted to give everything she could to. Plus, seeing some family, staying in a resort town, and going to an after party with new friends was great for the plot and very fulfilling.

“I’ll take some time to recover when I get back home”, she told herself on the plane ride home.

The next day she gave everything to cleaning up her homebase, answering her piled up scrolls (emails), and catching up a bit on slept.

The following day she connected with (Side Quest Idea: Check out Bridgette’s Substack!) about executive coaching for neurodivergent individuals and got invited to the Neurodiversity Coalition of America’s Board Retreat in New Orleans scheduled for the end of June. Yet again, two opportunities that made her go “hell, yes.”

Following that meeting she drove to her hometown to help her dad with a garage sale.

She knows that garage sales are exhausting. Yet, this one took even more out of her as she supported her dad, her brother, and herself as they went through items from her mom. And while it had been more than two years since her mother’s passing, the flood of memories, plus navigating passive aggressive family communication from extended family members, left our hero longingly grasping for her energy.

Still, it was worth doing to spend time with family. Something she knows not to take for granted.

After she helped close the garage sale on that Saturday, she headed home to go to a fun punk rock puppet show with friends.

And that’s when forced recovery came into play. Or as she likes to label it — Gremlin’s turn. Physically and mentally exhausted, with not enough self-care, she had to choose. Either, go to the show with her friends or give her ticket away and do very little throughout the night.

At least she likes to think she had a choice, but at that level of exhaustion, her body made the choice for her as her chronic pain started to spike. A consequence of doing too much, without time to recover. So she used her skills and stayed in.

The next day, Sunday, she spent many hours playing video games with her husband, who had spent the previous week preparing to finally be sent to the Middle East for work. He was supposed to be over there already with the 9 month timer started, but the uncertainty of the world, caused him to be away for several additional months. The distance is hard, but our hero knows that she would not be able to prioritize all of her quests the way she does, if it wasn’t for her partner.

After they closed the game, she gently cleaned the house to prepare for the next day.

She started the next work week with normal day of work (sitting in front of her computer, trying to get things done), plus running a session of Dungeons & Dragons in the evening.

The following day, on a Tuesday, her grandparents came to help her with some house tasks and to take her to a doctor appointment to get an injection for one of her medical conditions. After her grandma brought her back home she quickly packed for her flight the next day, and then slept for many hours to cope with the injection and the general exhaustion.

The following day she boarded a red eye flight to Orlando Florida. She traveled to SHRM26 — the largest HR conference in the world with over 20,000 people in attendance — to teach about Neurodiversity in the Workplace. SHRM26 was very fun, yet the amount of people made it extra overwhelming.

She held a “Brain Date” with other individuals interested in neurodiversity and then walked around the enormous exhibitor hall collecting cards of people who hire speakers, grabbing chip clips for her kitchen, keeping an eye out for interesting corporately sponsored fidget toys, and turning down any pen that was offer to her —with the exception of AskJAN.org, she took whatever merch she could for her favorite website. That evening she was so exhausted that it was hard to leave her room to figure out what to eat for dinner, so for the first time in her life she ordered room service.

The following day was her performance day. She curled her hair and put on her speaking outfit. Overall, her presentation went well, if you ignore the two emergency sirens that went off in the middle of the presentation that caused confusion about whether the room would need to evacuate. It didn’t.

As she walked out of the room where she presented, she noticed a SHRM volunteer handing out wristbands for a special event. She took one and joined the line, and to her pleasant surprise the line was to watch Jame Marsden speak (He did very well).

That evening, she had a choice she need to make. Either go to Universal Studios, for a SHRM after-hours event, or opt in for a game night instead. She decided that Blood On The Clocktower would be the better choice for her capacity, and she was right. Not only did she have a great time, she also made new connections with other adventurers that excited her.

She skipped the final day keynote — Oprah (maybe you’ve heard of her) — because she didn’t want to deal with the crowds. Instead she took the beginning of the day slowly and that afternoon she met up with a friend and advocate who lives in Florida. Those two worked together to figure out a what the final leg of her advisory council quests would be, with a goal of being done with her many advisory council quests by the end of January 2027.

She returned home around 2am on the 3rd Saturday of the month. That days she ran some errands and went for a hike with a friend.

That Sunday, Father’s day, followed with a barbecue at her dad’s place to celebrate him and the family.

The next several days (Monday - Thursday) were packed with scrolls (emails) and meetings.

But on Friday she jumped (walked) on a plane to go to New Orleans for the weekend with and to spend time planning the first annual NeuroJustice Summit 2026, a virtual event on October 9, 10, & 11 (tickets are available here). So our hero has another quest added to her questlog, to fly to New Orleans again for the live-streamed event in October. She’s just happy to get to spend so many time around so many other professionals in the neurodiversity space.

That week flew by. They went to a burlesque show, amazing restaurants, the event space for the summer, a cute brunch spot, and a craft market. But the best part was getting to know Bridgette and Charisma more.

She got home late on Sunday and on Monday her work week began again. Yet, this time, most of her mornings (her most productive time) was spent playing video games with her husband. Something, she is incredibility grateful to have the flexibility to do. She also got to run another session of Dungeons and Dragons for her friends (it went well, though they are bringing along way too many NPCs and our hero needs to practice doing more character voices).

Her speaking event of the week was for the South East Minnesota, Adult Mental Health Initiative where she talked about mental health recovery and advisory councils. It went well and she will be forever grateful to those who highlight her story to advocate for broader system changes.

She also hired a new social media virtual assistant, (who is fabulous) and started the process of figuring out how to best utilize her as a sidekick.

The Fourth of July was fun, since she got to spend times with friends and was home by the time the fireworks started (too loud and smokey).

Last week she got to speak to two law firms, both about Neurodiversity in the legal field. She had the honored of presenting solo about the topic to MacArthur Justice and was on a panel for Dorsey & Whitney’s disability related ERG, with other members of the Minnesota Disability Bar Association.

On Wednesday, she took a mini solo road trip to visit a friend, another Adventurer, to spend time body-doubling, hanging out, and to meet her friend’s new baby.

And she work on a variety of small, yet worthy, quest objectives throughout the week as she works on reprioritizing what quests she wants to do in the future.

That brings us to today, Sunday.

Our Adventurer woke up extra early to play video games with her husband (it’s his first ever play through of Baldur’s Gate 3). Then she got ready for the swelteringly hot day (she really needs to prioritize getting better summer gear).

The day moves on as she drove to Bumbling Fools Mead (new location unlocked) to take an RPG Improv class with Amy Vorpahl (a professional Dungeons & Dragon’s player with a career that our hero is very very impressed by). Our hero learned a lot, and more importantly she had fun.

Which brings us to now. In the coffee shop. Finishing her Substack article and accepting her opportunity to give a TEDx talk in August, as she waits for a silly clown class. A class she is taking with some friends in anticipation of going to clown camp in August.

The world is serious, but it is not expected for us Adventurers to always be.

Some concluding notes (in 1st person this time)

Going through these past 6 weeks of quests was incredibly helpful in alleviating my guilt of being exhausted and feeling “behind” on my creative and business prioritizes. It’s made me realize how important it is for me to spend the next few weeks reviewing my quest log and prioritizing my quests, because if I don’t then I will get distracted by all of the other opportunities that are popping up in my life. Something I am so grateful for.

On the whole, I am well. And it feels so odd to be doing well right now.

Yes, because I was doing some many amazing quests last month, I will take a while to recover and bring my pain and sensory sensitives back under control. Yet, I got to go to three states, connect with countless amazing people, make a difference in people’s lives, play video games with my spouse, and spend time with my family and friends.

Yes, the love of my life is half the world away from me with an 8 hour time difference. But, now that I know where he is and how long he will be there, it will be easier to get into a routine. Plus, playing video games with him is very very fulfilling and is restorative to me when I am exhausted.

Yes, my financial situation is not as stable as I’d like it because I haven’t been prioritizing grinding away at my business as much as I feel like I should be. But, I have enough in the bank account for this quarter, I get health insurance from my husband, and I have time flexibility to deal with my disabilities.

Yes, my home-care, lawn-care, and errands, have piled up immensely. But, I have a safe and stable home and allies I can call on if it gets to a problematic level.

Yes, the Dragons are visibility attacking, and generational infrastructure is being torn down every day. Yet, I do want I can with the advisory councils, public education, nonprofit newsletter creation, pro bono work, and more. I am trying to do something about it, and if I always feel like I need to be fighting Dragons, then I miss out of recovery, connection, play, creation, fun, and joy. If I am always focused on what is broken, I won’t be able to build what I want to build to make my work sustainable.

Things are going well, and I’m so grateful for every ally and opportunity that has allowed me to live my life this way.

Thank you all,

With gratitude,

Sierra

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None of this is possible without the organizers, event planners, audience members, and supporters who make space for this work. Thank you. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to go on this quest, share my story, or provide education about the topics I care so deeply about.

Here is a round-up of my April and May speaking events — quests I am incredibly proud of. I’ve also included one from earlier in the year that deserves a belated shout-out!

• NAMICon26 — May 29, 2026. I flew to Atlanta for this year's NAMICon, where I joined fellow executive team members of the National Alliance on Mental Illness’s (NAMI's) Peer Leadership Council to present From Lived Experience to Leadership: Cultivating Sustainable Peer Leadership. We explored what it means to show up for your community using your own lived experience as a foundation.

• NEWH North Central (The Hospitality Network) — May 19, 2026. I had the privilege of teaching hospitality designers about neurodiversity in a customized session called Stronger Teams, Better Guest Experiences: Understanding Neurodiversity. The conversations that followed were fantastic. Including a lively debate about whether hotels should have signature scents (probably not; more likely to drive people away than draw them in), the rise of quiet spaces, and the importance of self-advocacy in the workplace.

• Crisis Intervention Training in Cottage Grove, MN — May 18, 2026. I've lost count of how many times I've shared my mental health recovery story through NAMI Minnesota's In Our Own Voice program, and I am grateful every single time. I show up to these Crisis Intervention Trainings to remind first responders that they see the rock bottom of someone's story, and that with their compassion, the people they help may find a second chance and someday begin their recovery journey.

• SE Regional Mental Health Conference — May 7, 2026. After tabling for the day (teal tablecloth and fun business cards, naturally), I served as the closing keynote presenter. My talk, Mental Health Recovery: Leading From Lived Experience, explored SAMHSA's working definition of recovery, “a process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential,” alongside my own stories of living with a serious mental health condition and other disabilities and the systems and people that got me to where I am today.

• Minnesota Cycling Association’s 2026 Coaching Summit — April 25, 2026. I presented the Minnesota Department of Human Services' Changing the Narrative on Suicide and Mental Health training. I've been certified in this presentation for a while but don't get to deliver it often, so it was wonderful to return to it and have such rich conversations during the Q&A.

• Minnesota’s Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, 2026 Stepping Up Breakfast — April 23rd. Alongside two other panelists and with the wonderful Judge Frank facilitating, I shared my mental health recovery journey and how working in the legal field shaped it. All part of a panel called Stories of Recovery.

  

• Spring Legal Well-Being Summit for the Colorado Office of Attorney Professional Excellence — April 14, 2026. I flew to Colorado for an amazing opportunity to teach about Neurodiversity in the Legal Field to a room full of legal professionals who care as deeply about well-being in the legal field as I do.

• Faculty Workshop at Mitchell Hamline Law School — April 10, 2026. I taught faculty about neurodiversity in a two-part session: a 30-minute Neurodiversity 101 to establish shared language and definitions, followed by a panel called Neurodiversity in Law School featuring a neurodivergent faculty member, a student, and local neurodivergent legal professionals.

• Understanding Minds, Transforming Care: A Mental Health and Neurodiversity Conference at Southwest Minnesota State University — April 9, 2026. This was NAMI Minnesota's first conference to blend neurodiversity and mental health conversations, so I did the same in my breakout session, A Journey of Mental Health Recovery and Neurodivergence. I combined the most requested elements of my Neurodiversity in the Workplace presentation with my Mental Health Recovery presentation, shaped for that audience.

• Ogletree Deakins — February & March 2026. I did not post enough about this while it was happening, so I am rectifying that now. I had the wonderful opportunity to provide neurodiversity workshops to this law firm across two months. It began with a firm-wide presentation on Neurodiversity in the Workplace: Strategies for Effective Collaboration and Success, followed the next month by two separate 60-minute informal Q&A-style conversations — one for attorneys and leadership, and one for business professionals and staff. Huge thanks to the event planner who helped make it all happen.

Sometimes I feel like I am not making enough progress on my main quest. But taking inventory of the opportunities I’ve had helps me take the time to be grateful for what I have and who I have had the opportunity to help. I am working on balancing my main quest with my Dragon Quests (more on those in this article), and various side quests: building my Guild, launching my Gamified Group Coaching program, going to clown camp, and so much more.

If you would like to support my main quest or learn more about one of the topics I speak on, feel free to comment below. And if you or someone you know is looking for a speaker, I would love to be considered. You can find more information and reach me at SierraGrandy.com.

And whatever quest you are on, I am proud of you for going on it.

With gratitude,

Sierra

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I’ve been thinking a lot about the tools of body doubling and co-working.

Some of my most productive work sessions happen on a video call where someone else is also just working. We’re not talking. We’re not collaborating. We’re just there. Together. Each doing our own thing.

And it works very well for me.

If you’ve ever needed someone to sit with you while you cleaned your apartment, or texted a friend “okay, I’m doing [this task], text me in 30 minutes,” or even just put on a YouTube video of a stranger studying at a library, you already know what I’m talking about.

So, What Is Body Doubling and Co-Working Anyways?

Body doubling is when another person’s presence, either physical or virtual, helps you start and stay with a task you’d like to be doing. It’s a productivity strategy that has gained popularity in ADHD and neurodivergent communities.

Co-working is very similar, and I do use the terms interchangeably. But you are co-working when you are working in the same space as others on independent tasks. Co-working is often a tool in self-employment situations.

But it’s not accountability in the traditional sense. Typically, nobody is checking your work or asking for a progress report (though sometimes I wish they did).

For a lot of neurodivergent people, especially those of us with ADHD and/or autism, body doubling can be a really great tool to help get things done with less friction, especially if you can also make it fun.

For me, I do this by asking friends to come over or jump on a Zoom call, livestream on Twitch’s Co-Working space, and I used to pay for a service to have someone help me a couple of times a week with body doubling and accountability.

It’s A Good Tool To Have In Your Toolbox

Sooooo… I wrote a lot of this article during a live-stream co-working session. I haven’t posted on Substack in over a month, and I started to feel bad about that. I have so many drafts at 80% done, but that last 20% keeps getting in the way. And every time I was ready to finish one of those drafts, I’d get distracted by emails, or advisory council stuff, or tidying my house.

Anything but finishing.

So I used a co-working live stream to get this done. Finish it. Review it. Make a couple of graphics. Schedule it to be published this week.

I bring this up because oftentimes I overcomplicate my support needs and my goals (which isn’t a bad thing necessarily, since gamifying my life is typically really helpful for me). But I often fall into the obstacle of waiting until I have the perfect – the “finished” system – before I actually take action and do what I’ve been telling myself I would do for months. Especially when it comes to things that primarily benefit me.

And one very useful tool is co-working. Often, what I actually need is just someone to sit with me while I wade through the mess I’ve made.

And I do the same for my friends. For example, I spent a large part of last Friday in a laundromat with my friend as she got caught up on her laundry while I wrote a new social media plan for the summer.

Quest Suggestions For You

Here are some ways to practice utilizing the tool of body doubling/co-working in your own life:

The Virtual Co-work Quest:

Schedule a 30–90 minute video call with a friend, colleague, or fellow Adventurer. Jump on the call, tell each other what you plan on working on during the call, mute yourself and put some music on, do the work, check in at the end, and celebrate what you each got done.

The Cozy In-Person Co-working Quest:

Take your quest objectives to a coffee shop, library, or cozy co-working space and do your quest objective there. Let the presence of other people doing their own things inspire and motivate you.

Additional suggestions for you:

• Pick a spot you’ve been curious about and make it a “map exploration” side quest

• Invite someone to join you, even if you’re both just attempting to clear out your email inboxes

The Accountability Checkpoint Quest:

Text a friend when you’re starting a task. Text them when you finish. That’s the whole quest.

Additional suggestions for you:

• Create a small group chat (no more than 5 people!) specifically for “I’m doing the thing” check-ins

The Explore Co-Working Live Streams Quest:

Jump onto your favorite live stream platform and look up co-working options. For example, Twitch has an entire category for “Co-working & Studying.” You can also often watch live stream recordings on YouTube.

How do I know this? Because I’ve recently started co-working live on Twitch, and I have gotten so much done. Even if I only stream to 1 or 2 people at a time.

You can drop in whenever, work on your own quest objectives, talk to me during the breaks if you want, and put your current tasks on screen if that interests you. It’s just a shared space to get things done.

I am still experimenting with my schedule, but here’s the schedule for the end of May and the beginning of June: (*subject to change*)

• Tues, May 26 at 3pm-5pm CT

• Mon, June 1 at 10:30am-12:30pm CT (Had to cancel due to a last-minute appt)

• Tues, June 2 at 10:30am-12:30pm CT

• Wed, June 3 at 10:30am-12:30pm CT

• Wed, June 10 at 10am-1pm CT

• Mon, June 15 at 1pm-3pm CT

• Tues, June 16 at 10am-1pm

You can find me live at https://www.twitch.tv/questifyyourlife — feel free to follow so you get notified when I go live.

Conclusion

You have many tools at your disposal on your adventures. Have fun finding them.

And whatever quest you are on, I am proud of you for going on it.

With pizzazz,

Sierra

Want more quests in your inbox?

If you’re not already subscribed, this is your sign. New articles delivered to you when I manage to write them (which I’m working on making more consistent, I promise).

Subscribe now

Want to support the quest directly?

I recently set up a Ko-fi, and if you feel called to buy me a coffee (or just send some Reward Points my way), I would be so grateful. Every contribution helps me keep creating free content, showing up to live streams, and doing the advocacy work that matters to me.

Support me on Ko-fi —ko-fi.com/questifyyourlife

No pressure at all! Your time and attention in this community are already a gift. Thank you for being here.

She has stuff to do. People to get back to. Emails that have sat in her inbox like letters that deserve an answer but have been deprioritized because of length, topic, or general energy level.

Yesterday, a friend asked, “How are you doing?” and without thinking, our hero answered, “Worse than I think I am.”

Which may be true. Her main companion, her husband, is gone for a year-long work trip. She knew she relied on him to split the effort of a lot of things, but when she went to a concert this past week, it finally sank in that he won’t be around for the rest of 2026. And while she has more friends than she could ask for, they aren’t him.

This past week also marked the 7th anniversary of the beginning of her mental health recovery journey. So she’s been reflecting on these past years with amusement and awe.

Flashback to Seven Years Ago

Let’s move over to first person for the next sections.

Seven years ago, I was starting to grasp that I did not have to live in the cave of life-threatening depression I had grown so accustomed to. With a lot of effort, luck, and resources, I was able to see a tunnel out, and I slowly started to climb out of the cave.

I stopped wanting to rage-quit life. I started to dream again.

After years of hospitalizations, electroconvulsive therapy (modern-day shock therapy), and multiple college dropouts, dreaming felt like a frivolous act. I had been in and out of hospitals since I was 11 years old. Significant mental health struggles had littered my backstory for so long that I assumed they were my story, and in many way it is a key part of my story. But it’s my backstory, not the whole story.

I thought I was going to be unwell and merely surviving for the rest of my life. Hopeless. Helpless. In so much physical and mental anguish that I couldn’t imagine living long enough to accomplish anything I would admire.

At the time, I didn’t know what mental health recovery actually was. My favorite definition of recovery describes it as “a process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.” I wasn’t chasing that. I didn’t even know that that was the quest I was trying to start. I was just trying to stay in the game.

But that’s the thing about backstories — you don’t always know you’re ending one until you’re already walking into something new.

The Following Chapters

If you had told me ten years ago what the next seven years would contain, I would have laughed at you.

I went back to school, got my Psychology degree with an Economics minor. I started to volunteer with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) by facilitating mental health support groups.

Then I applied to and went to law school, one of the most expensive and difficult quests of my life. I’ve become a peer leader, a mediator, an advocate. I’ve shared my story in nationally bestselling books. I did the work to get a tax law master’s degree.

I passed the bar exam.

I built a business I love. I’ve spoken at 100+ engagements and traveled the country doing work I believe in.

I got married, and we moved into a house of our own.

Even now… it all still feels like a dream.

But it wasn’t easy going. I live a dramatic life. I often joke that my life is like a CW drama. Always something happening to add to the plot.

A while back, a TikTok I posted about passing the bar exam went semi-viral. Some of the comments said things like “this is what happens when you don’t give up.”

I find that amusing, because I give up often.

I’ve abandoned countless quests. I called off my first engagement in 2023. I stepped away from a congressional campaign only months in. I turned down an offer to be a tax attorney. I left a job as a social security attorney after three weeks. And more.

Here’s what I’ve learned: knowing when to abandon a quest is a skill, not a failure. Sometimes I learn more from walking away than from pushing through. The goal was never to complete every quest on the board. The goal was to keep playing.

My Current Game

Stats that went way up: Storytelling. Confidence. Audacity. Presenting. Creativity. Advocacy. Civic engagement.

Stats still actively leveling: Content creation. Relaxation. Setting boundaries with myself so I don’t over-give my time.

That last one is the hardest. The capacity to do good things can become its own trap. Saying yes because you can is not the same as saying yes because you should. I’ll likely be learning the difference for the rest of my life.

One of the most unexpected upgrades of the past seven years has been my network. I didn’t understand how important it would be to have deep connections with people doing similar work — or work that lights me up. I’ve developed friendships and mentorships I never could have anticipated at Year 0. I’m currently building something to honor some of those individuals – the Questify Your Life Creative Guild.

One Of My Current Quests: Harmony

Right now, I’m on the quest to find harmony between the adventurous yet heavy aspects of my life and the delightful aspects of my life

I’ve been thinking about the word harmony since my podcast episode with Chryssie Whitehead & Kirsten Wrinkle. During that discussion, perhaps in the recorded version or in the moments before or after, Kirsten mentioned that she aims for harmony, not balance. Balance implies equal weight, like everything should sit level on a scale. That’s not how I experience life, and I don’t think it’s how most of us do. Harmony is different. Harmony is instruments playing at different volumes, sometimes dissonant, sometimes soaring, but together creating something that holds.

In practice, that looks like staying plugged into the real weight of the world, the terrors, the grief, the work that needs doing, while also carving out deliberate space for friends, for art, for storytelling, for play. Both are necessary. And since I have the privilege of flexibility – of a values-based and self-directed life – I intend to practice living it unapologetically while still trying to leave things better than I found them.

Some days I do this well. Most days it’s a work in progress.

What I Want You to Take Away

Mental health recovery, much like a quest, is a journey, not a destination. There is no final boss that, once defeated, means you’re done. There are harder days and lighter ones. There are quests you’ll complete and quests you’ll wisely abandon. There are companions you won’t expect and milestones that will feel like dreams even after they’re real.

You are worth continuing to try for. You are worth showing up for. The world is better with you participating in it.

I am glad I am still alive. I take every day as a gift — even the ones I spend sitting alone in an airport, writing into the sunrise, not totally sure where this is going.

Maybe that’s enough.

Whatever quest you are on, I am proud of you for going on it.

With warmth,

Sierra

I hope this message finds you well and that 2026 has been treating you kindly. I’m writing this at the end of March, which somehow arrived before I fully registered that February was over.

The first three months of this year were full of adventures and quests, both personally and professionally.

On the personal side: I navigated a major health insurance change at the start of the year (stressful, to say the least), got married in early February, and then watched my partner deploy about two months later. We’ve known that the deployment was coming, but with current events, the stress is higher than I expected and prepared for. So, it’s been a season of changes, and I’m still finding my footing in some of them, but they are good for the plot, so I’ll get through them just fine.

Professionally, my speaking and consulting business has been flourishing. Over the past few months I spoke at law firms and high schools, led workshops and conference sessions, facilitated some conversations I was nervous about, and presented for audiences that felt like home. Looking back, I’m proud of what got done, especially given everything happening in the background.

So, I wanted to take a moment to share all of that with you, and to give you a peek at some of my quests that I am working on.

As always, thank you for being here. Whatever quest you’re on, I’m proud of you for going on it.

Level 4 Objectives

For level 4 of my Business Quest, my main objectives were (from The Business Quest—Level 3):

• Publish those five other YouTube videos, and then chill on my desire to make YouTube content for my business: I did post “those five other Youtube videos,” but I did not chill on my desire to make Youtube content for my business. I didn’t create many more videos, but I have learned additional skills and have done some work on my anxiety around long-form content. I am working on publishing more in Q2 and aiming to do so in a more playful way.

• Hire a personal assistant to help me manage all of my quests: I had a lovely virtual assistant for the last leg of 2025, but after she switched careers, I took a break. I am currently in the process of getting a new VA. I should be getting a new VA by the middle of April and then I’ll start the process of exploring options for a business coach. (I want to keep working on building my business adventuring party.)

• Continue my volunteer work with the NAMI Peer Leadership Council, the Minnesota State Advisory Council on Mental Health, and the Minnesota Disability Bar Association. Success! I was even elected as the Vice Chair of the Minnesota State Advisory Council on Mental Health

• Help more Pro Bono clients. Haven’t had much time to take on new Pro Bono clients, but I have had successes with the clients that I do have.

• Start wrapping up some of my small quests to make more room for campaigning: As you know, I ended my quest to run for Congress, so no more campaigning for me. At least, no more political campaigning. Dungeons and Dragons campaign? Yes, please. Gamified Life Coaching campaign? Launching very soon. Helping on other’s political campaigns? Yes, but that’s a Q3 quest.

Level 5 Quests

For level 5 of my Business Quest, my main quests are designed to build some harmony between expansion and restoration. I’ve gotten too close to burnout too many times in the last two years not to learn my lesson and build something more sustainable.

While some of these quests are outside the scope of my “business,” I find that it’s easier to blend them all together. Besides, most of the time, my service and brand are so interconnected with me as a person that rest, self-care, and personal priorities end up being related to my business too.

• The quest to expand and systematize my speaking and consulting business. This is primary. I’m continuing to work on clarifying my offers and prices, building better assets (a speaker’s reel is finally happening), and sharing more of this work online.

• The quest to build and expand Questify Your Life: A Multimedia Storytelling Studio & Creative Guild. More on this in a moment… but the studio, the Guild, the coaching, the content. It’s all slowly being built, and I am so proud of that.

• The quest to heal from and prevent burnout. Rebuilding my self-care team. Leveling up my home base slowly. Getting more consistent with my daily quests. Treating rest like the necessary gameplay mechanic it is.

• The quest to prioritize connection with the people I adore. Game nights. Dungeons and Dragons nights. Time with my family. Celebrating my friends’ wins with them. Side quests that have nothing to do with productivity — for example, I just started an improv class!

• The quest to make a positive impact in my world (with better personal boundaries). My advocacy work matters deeply to me. But this quarter, I’m reviewing everything, setting finish lines, and deciding what I can do well versus what I should hand off. Dragon-fighting is more effective when I’m not already exhausted.

What’s New at Questify Your Life

The Guild is opening soon!

The Questify Your Life Creative Guild is something I’ve been building for a while, and it’s time to make it real. Want to see what I’ve built so far and to learn more about The Guild — check out the website.

The Campaign (Gamified Group Coaching) is coming — in July.

The Campaign is a 10-week, gamified group coaching experience inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, but no prior knowledge of the game is required. You’ll join a small Adventure Party (up to six adventurers) pursuing similar goals. Together, we will move through five story-driven levels to create momentum through accountability, skill-building, reflection, play, and community support.

The investment for the full 10-week campaign is $550.

The waitlist is open now. Click here to learn more and join the waitlist.

The quest to create more consistent content...

I’m committing to showing up here more regularly this season. That means weekly Substack articles, weekly YouTube videos, and testing out coworking livestreams where you can actually watch me work through quests in real time.

I’m treating this like a quest, not a promise, especially since I know that creativity and content are among the first things that I deprioritize when I am busy. But I care deeply about creating, and I find that it is typically very fulfilling. I hope that by the end of Quarter 2, I can celebrate with you about my success in creating more for my lil’ corner of the internet.

Conclusion

Thank you to everyone who has joined me on my journey. I appreciate you so much!

Whatever quest you’re on, I’m rooting for you.

With gratitude,

Sierra

Life has been – busy. Obstacles have shifted my priorities, but I am working on getting back to regular creative Questify Your Life ventures that fill my cup, including my Substack articles!

Today, I’d like to share a new episode of my Podcast with you.

PS: This episode includes multiple mentions of mental health conditions and mental health crises. If you are struggling or in crisis, please contact your local crisis line or call/text 988 in the United States. For additional support and education, visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness at nami.org.

Creating Your Own Quest to Support Causes You Care About

There are moments in life when the weight of quest obstacles seem like they may break you.

And you’re left with a choice: Do you collapse under the weight of it? Or do you turn it into a quest?

In the second guest episode of the Questify Your Life podcast, I virtually sat down with Chryssie Whitehead and Kirsten Wrinkle, the creators of In My Own Little Corner, to talk about what it means to build something meaningful out of personal pain — and how to create your own quest in support of causes you deeply care about.

Watch the full episode here:

This episode explores:

• How personal experiences with mental health can evolve into public advocacy

• The emotional courage required to speak openly about stigma

• What it takes to build something sustainable around a cause

• The tension between vulnerability and storytelling

• How to begin, even when you don’t feel “ready”

As someone who shares my own mental health recovery story as a form of perspective-shifting work and advocacy, this conversation felt like sitting around a fire with fellow adventurers comparing quest logs.

One theme that kept resurfacing in our discussion:

You don’t need to be the most qualified person in the room to start something meaningful.

Rather, you just need to be brave enough to begin, and you need to build a team that believes in the quest that you are building.

Learn more about Chryssie Whitehead & Kirsten Wrinkle’s work here:

• In My Own Little Corner: https://imolc.com/

• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/IMOLCTheShow/

• Chryssie Whitehead: https://www.chryssiewhitehead.com/

For more ideas on creating your own quest to support a cause you care about, please check out my previous articles about Dragon-fighting:

• How I use gamification to step into an identity of “Dragon-slayer”

• The Quest To Find Balance While The Dragons Are Attacking

If you’ve got a quest idea or opportunity that I may be a good support member for and/or if you have a podcast guest suggestion, I’d love to hear about it: sierra@questifyyourlife.com

You can find all things Questify Your Life here: https://linktr.ee/QuestifyYourLife

And if you want more articles like this, subscribe to the Substack:

Subscribe now

Whatever quest you are on, I am proud of you for going on it.

Until next time.

With pizzazz,

Sierra

So far, 2026 has been a lot.

So I’d like to encourage you to do some small quests to get you out of your head and into your world.

Below are ten simple quest suggestions, each one designed to be low-pressure, playful, and doable even on tough days.

1. Try a Dice Game

A dice game is a simple way to generate momentum when you feel stuck. You can create a short menu of small quest objectives and let the dice decide what you’ll do next.

I created a list of 12 small quest objectives that I wanted to get done; each objective could be completed in about 10 minutes or less. I rolled a d12 (12-sided die) and did whichever number came up. If I didn’t feel like doing that exact task, I just picked another one. Productive procrastination is still progress, and this helps me move through task paralysis.

Additional suggestions for you:

• Roll a die to choose which hobby to do tonight

• Make a 1–4 list of meals and roll to choose dinner

• Create a 1–6 list of quick chores and roll for your next Home Base Quest objective

2. Substitute Screen Time With a Future-Self Quest Objective

Swap a little bit of your usual scrolling time for something that your future self will genuinely appreciate.

For me, this looked like organizing my new office, while pretending it was a like mini-game where you wash a dog or restore an old item. I find that organizing and cleaning can be very enjoyable and restorative when I think of it like a game.

Additional suggestions for you:

• Go for a walk for 30 minutes instead of doom-scrolling

• Organize one shelf in your closet

• Answer that email you’ve been procrastinating (you know the one)

3. Organize Your Quest Objectives (Your To-Do List)

How many to-do list items are you holding onto that are no longer serving you?

For me, I started to update my “quest boards.” I have multiple bulletin boards that I stick my quest objectives on. But I’ve recently moved into a bigger office, so I get to expand my quest boards. I am working on designing a new system that has my daily/weekly quests, personal quests, business quests, skill trees, and rewards. I pin tasks to them like a Skyrim-style quest log, and I also put important deadlines into my Google Calendar.

Additional suggestions for you:

• Do a quick objective brain dump. Write all of your thoughts out on paper. No need to categorize it yet, just get it out of your head

• Write a physical to-do list

• Ask a friend to help you sort priorities

4. Make Plans With People You Care About

For me, this looked like getting caught up on scheduling my Dungeons & Dragons games, setting up my February Thursday theme nights, and making plans to meet the baby my friends just had.

Additional suggestions for you:

• Schedule coffee with someone you miss

• Plan a date night with your partner

• Schedule a video call with an old friend

5. Go on a Rejection Quest

A rejection quest is when you ask for an opportunity with the aim of getting rejected. If you do get rejected, you have completed the quest and get a reward; if you did not get rejected, you failed the quest. (Hopefully, then you have gotten the opportunity you wanted). For more about Rejection Quests, please see this article.

For me, that looked like sending speaking proposals and emails related to the speaking side of my business.

Additional suggestions for you:

• Apply for a grant or fellowship

• Pitch yourself to a podcast

• Invite somebody new over to your place to hangout

6. Identify The Dragon You Are Fighting

A “Dragon” in this context is a social injustice that feels too hard to fight on your own. Something that is always looming and you are fearful of. A system in place that hurts you or the ones you love. For more information on Dragons, please check out this newsletter or this one.

What is the one big social injustice that you are most affected by right now? Maybe it’s ICE in your neighborhoods, or racism, or classism, a democracy issue, etc. The list can go on and on. Obviously, you are likely impacted by many, but it is helpful to choose one and learn the skills to make a big impact there and help those around you who are leaders in the fight against other dragons.

The main Dragon that I am fighting is related to ableism. This looks like being on multiple mental health and disability communities, teaching about mental health in high schools, teaching about neurodiversity in the workplace, and so much more. If you want to learn more about the work I am doing, please visit my website at SierraGrandy.com.

Additional suggestions for you:

• What organizations are you already a part of? Can you become more active there?

• Is there a way for you to share resources and information online safely?

• Are there mutual aid programs in your neighborhood that you could be a part of?

7. Make Something Deliberately Complicated (For Fun)

Sometimes the quickest route is not the most joyful one. Adding playful complexity can help turn a boring task into a more novel and interesting one.

For me, I made a game out of my to-do list. Using dice, whiteboards, and a point system. This allowed me to more easily get into a flow without overthinking each individual task.

Additional suggestions for you:

• Put extra intention into your outfit by dressing up as if you were a video game character.

• Turn cooking into a “recipe challenge.” (I like to try to make meals as if I were on Chopped.)

• Gamify cleaning with timers, levels, or treasure rewards

8. Clean Up Your Drafts

We all have digital clutter. This quest is to clear out your drafts, whether they’re emails, videos, or half-written notes. You are not aiming for perfect; you are aiming for this organization to be useful.

For me, this looked like emptying my email drafts, deleting or posting many of my TikTok drafts, updating my Substack drafts, and organizing my LinkedIn drafts.
I even turned unsubscribing from emails into a timed mini-game.

Additional suggestions for you:

• Delete or finish your old email drafts

• Sort through your photo or note app

• Post or toss your social media drafts

9. Explore Your Map

The other day I visited a new-to-me local coffee shop and it changed the trajectory of my day. Witnessing the barista single-handedly manage the shop, take orders, make the drinks, and make every person who came in feel seen reminded me of how simple community based activities are worthy of prioritization. It made me feel like my mindfulness skill was enhanced all day.

Additional suggestions for you:

• Don’t have time or energy to go on an outside adventure today? Consider making a list of local places you’d like to visit — parks, local restaurants (bonus points if you make a reservation), coffee shops, community centers, art shops, etc.

• Take a walk on a new trail

• Find a new-to-you local charity to volunteer, donate food, or donate money to.

10. Return to a Childhood Comfort

When life becomes overwhelming, returning to childhood joys can offer grounding, comfort, and simple pleasure.

The other day, I had to take a sick day, so I spent time watching Buffy and playing Pokémon, which was so helpful because it prevented me from doom-scrolling through the day.

Additional suggestions for you:

• Revisit an old video game

• Pick up a childhood craft

• Reread a book you loved

Conclusion

Your quests do not have to be big, dramatic, or life-changing. They can just be doable, whimsical, and a tiny bit magical.

Whatever your quest ends up looking like, Adventurer, I am proud of you for going on it.

This article is an opportunity and invitation to celebrate. Yes, the world feels like it has gone bonkers, and the priority is and should be fighting Dragons, especially those that are actively killing and harming people in our communities. The dragon analogy is explained here. And – since two things can be true at the same time – life also goes on.

This past weekend, my partner and I got married!

I tend to do things in a bit of an unconventional way, and this quest was no different.

Basically, it was a speedrun in planning an event to get married. The goal was not to plan a wedding, but rather a house party with some signatures on a piece of paper.

With that said, I was still dramatic about the whole thing. I mean, what good is a quest like this if I am not going to have some fun with the prep and the event?

Objectives included:

• Create the Partiful invite for the Sunday night event about 10 days before the event itself.

• Grab my old wedding dress from the first time we tried to get married (that’s a long story). Have a friend assist me in cutting the bottom of the dress up and adding adornments in my favorite colors.

• Order some Chipotle catering for the event.

• Enlist a good friend who became an online ordained minister while we were in law school to help with the paperwork.

• Prep the house to be full of friends to celebrate the event.

Thank you to all of the ways my friends showed up for us during this. From photos to cake, many of my friends volunteered to help out in roles that they saw a need for. And thank you to my amazing partner for – well – everything.

Maybe you are asking yourself, why no family? Because this was a manageable-sized house party, not a wedding. We reserved the right to have an actual wedding someday in the future, but for now, I am just glad that this quest has come to a close (and that I have health insurance again).

Side quest option for you!

If you feel called to do so, I would love it if you would comment about something that you are celebrating, passionate about, or grateful for. I’d like to be able to celebrate that with you in a similar way to you getting to celebrate this with me.

Whatever quest you are on, I am proud of you for going on it.

With care,
Sierra

I don’t know about you, but the world is heavy right now. When I get asked, “How are you doing?” I instinctively go “good.” Followed by a “the horrors persist, but so do we.”

Over the past few weeks, my social media feeds have been mirroring what I have been feeling inside, which makes sense as I live in Minnesota. Online and in community-based conversations, I keep seeing the question of “am I doing enough?” followed by “what should I even be doing?” and the sentiment of how am I supposed to just keep going on in the world as if nothing is happening.

On one of these social media videos, I commented:

Right now my plan (oversimplified): grieve in the morning, take action in the afternoon/after work, build community and find small pockets of joy in the evening.

This mentality is taken from the work of activists and advocates during the AIDS crisis. As attributed to Dan Savage:

During the darkest days of the AIDS crisis, we buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon, and we danced all night. The dance kept us in the fight because it was the dance we were fighting for. It didn’t look like we were going to win then and we did. It doesn’t feel like we’re going to win now but we could. Keep fighting, keep dancing.

Yet, the feeling of allowing myself to feel joy still does, at times, cause extreme anxiety. And, sharing frivolous, joyful, or celebratory things in my life online has become very difficult due to the fear of getting shamed online for “not getting it” or being “tone deaf.” (Side note, if you are the type of person to label someone “tone deaf online, I would recommend choosing a less ablist word — like “insentive.” I recommend checking out the APA Inclusive Language Guide if that is of interest to you.)

This is further exacerbated by the fact that many people, myself included, use social media to sell goods and services. And often, our income is connected to our social media presence and reputation.

I don’t want my entire lil’ corner of the internet to feel like it must be primarily reactionary to the terrors of the world. And it doesn’t have to be.

I recognize that the “Dragons” are very real. But we also need to find a balance between fighting Dragons and also finding times to enjoy life — through connection, community, art, lovely dinners, etc.

I’d like to turn my comment above into a quest for you, followed by explanations of what that looked like in my life lately.

But please know that I’ve built my business and my life around the flexibility of time and energy to navigate my disabilities and do as much Dragon fighting as I can. (PS, if you are a part of a company or organization that hires speakers, consultants, or workshop facilitators and you’d like those around you to learn more about neurodiversity, disability, and/or mental health recovery, please send them my website at SierraGrandy.com).

The Quest To Find Balance While The Dragons Are Attacking

A flexible and ongoing quest that recognizes that we are in this for the long haul, and must build sustainable and proactive practices for the challenges that are ahead. Those who have been regularly and generationally attacked by Dragons throughout their history know that this quest is a journey, not a destination.

Objective #1: Identify what it means for you to grieve and what you can do to set that down for a while so you can take action and take care of yourself.

For me, I find it helpful to recognize that I am regularly cycling through the 5 stages of grief due to the current circumstances in the United States. Not ever in any predictable order, unfortunately. The denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance are a part of my daily life now.

So, this is the time when I doomscroll, read and listen to the news, and give myself the time to feel bad.

I recommend setting a timer for this time – an environmental trigger that reminds you to do something else next. Putting your grief down temporarily does not mean that it doesn’t exist or that you don’t care. This is a practiced skill, one that I am not always the most skilled at, but it is worth trying and doing imperfectly.

Then I pivot to something that can take up most of my attention. Like a meeting, a workout, a work task, cleaning the kitchen, making a meal, or watching a funny long-form video. Anything to get some momentum to cope with the heavy feelings while getting prepared to focus on something I can control.

Objective #2: Identify what actions you are going to take.

For more information about the Dragon analogy and tips for fighting Dragons, please check out this Substack article.

Tip: Focus on your strengths and accommodate your weaknesses.

For example, among other actions, last week I:

• Taught about mental health basics and suicide prevention for three health classes in a high school and for a high school robotics team.

• Participated in the “Outreach to Cultural Diversity Workgroup” from the Minnesota State Advisory Council on Mental Health, where we discussed upcoming legislative recommendations that will be sent directly to the Minnesota governor and legislative body.

• Led the January Engagement & Education Committee meeting with the Minnesota Disability Bar Association.

• Continued my work for a pro bono client to help her attempt to resolve a tax issue that she’s been dealing with for years.

• Co-Led the National Alliance on Mental Illness’ Peer Leadership Council “Leadership and Advisory Skill Building” meeting, teaching skills related to leadership and advising for mental health advocates across the country.

• Taught about “Working with Anxiety and Depression” in the legal field for the Chicago Bar Association’s Wellbeing and Mindfulness Meeting.

• Co-planned an upcoming panel of judges and attorneys talking about the substance use and/or mental health recovery journeys.

• Connected a mental health organization with the opportunity to host an educational class taught by two attorneys for families wanting to learn about their rights related to grade school disability

• Drafted the Minnesota Disability Bar Association’s newsletter, where I shared community resources and opportunities.

• Secured an opportunity to teach public defenders about neurodiversity in early February.

• Continued event planning activities for a congressional candidate.

• Created educational content to share on LinkedIn about some of the misconceptions about autism & ADHD

• Created educational content for Tiktok about Minnesota Precinct Caucuses on February 3rd.

I know that my list can seem overwhelming, but please know that I do not expect anyone – myself included – to perform to that extent every week.

Just choose one thing that you will do today and do it – share information, protest, create and share relevant art, donate blood, take care of a friend’s kid while they go to a doctor’s appointment, apply for an advisory council, etc.

Imagine that this is like a video game skill. You may be starting at a skill level 1, but small, manageable actions consistently will grow your skill level and open up new opportunities down the road.

Objective #3: Identify what building community and finding small pockets of joy means to you.

This objective is equally important to the other two. For those of us who are privileged enough to do so, we must build community and find small pockets of joy to remind us about what we are fighting for.

• Crafting and writing for upcoming Dungeons & Dragons games.

• Sent out invites for my Drop-in Thursday Theme Nights: On the Thursday nights that I don’t have a speaking engagement, I have drop-in theme nights. Previous themes have been admin night, craft night, and writing night.

• Experimented with creating video/digital art again.

• Continued crafting an updated quest board in my new office.

• Finished Percy Jackson Season 2 – a show that was fun to watch and didn’t take itself too seriously.

• Wrote and sent a letter to my sister via snail mail.

• Celebrated my 31st birthday with my partner (free birthday meal at Red Robin!).

• Met my friend’s newborn for the first time.

• Started a new book that a friend excitedly gave me to read (Dungeon Crawler Carl).

Objective #4: Mindfully practice the first three objectives and adjust your tactics as new information and opportunities present themselves.

Whatever quest you are on, I am proud of you for going on it.

Until next time,

Sierra

But last week, the Dragons attacked my community again when an ICE agent killed a woman, Renee Good.

I am not here to discuss whether or not it was murder; that is for our judicial branch to determine. But how it went down is wrong, and the ICE invasion of Minnesota that followed is significantly affecting my neighbors and me.

So let’s stick with the theme of Dragons and the discussions following all this tragedy and terror.

Let’s pretend that this was a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. You are simply a citizen in this world. Doing everything you can to survive and find the pockets of joy and creativity that make life worth living. But you know there are Dragons, and you know sometimes they come after people like you. Those who live on the margins or speak truth to power.

Then one day, right before your eyes–right before everyone’s eyes–a Dragon attacks and kills someone in your community.

The aftermath of a Dragon’s attacks should be community mourning and rebuilding. But instead, this time around, the Wealth-hoarders – those who profit off the violence of the Dragons – blame the deceased. They treat her as if she were the problem. As if her participating in her community was a crime worthy of death.

And further, the Wealth-hoarders tell everyone that what they think they saw (with their own eyes) was wrong.

They lie without a care. And they don’t even try to pretend like they aren’t lying.

And some people just accept the Wealth-hoarder’s words as truth.

The system was built on a social contract and an agreed-upon series of laws built on decorum and precedent. And that system has been eroding for generations.

And now the core of the desire to find mutual understanding seems to be gone.

Right now, the Wealth-hoarders have the power. But not all of it. We have the numbers, we have the heroes, and we have the hope.

This current battle is just beginning, but the work to fight the Dragons and the Wealth-hoarders has been going on for generations.

And that work can inspire and educate us on what to do next. This will look different for each Adventurer, but often comes in the form of mutual and community aid, organizing events, information gathering, and monetary donations.

Want to help those in Minnesota/Minneapolis who have been affected directly/indirectly? Here are just a few suggestions. (This was a hard list to make because of how many wonderful organizations are stepping up to help their community.)

• Stand With Minnesota: Support Minnesotans defending their communities from ICE

• The Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association has a list of organizations that they recommend donating to.

• Youthlink: YouthLink serves young people ages 16-24 experiencing or at risk of homelessness in the Twin Cities, MN

• Bathani Community Center: A multi-service organization that delivers a comprehensive range of community-oriented, culturally tailored services and programming in an environment of dignity and respect.

We get to choose what’s next for us. What future do we want to see built?

It is not enough to just hate what is happening right now; we need to work together to figure out where we want to go. And we need to put in the effort to communicate that to each other and put the effort into making it happen.

Because if we don’t work together and find an alternative path and destination through the upcoming struggle, then they get to make the rules.

We deserve better than this. Better politicians, better systems, better media, better information. And we can work together towards those very important goals. But please remember that we can still hold people accountable for their misdeeds without villainizing them to the point of dehumanizing them.

If you like the Dragon analogy, I’d recommend checking out the discussion on Dragons and advocacy work I had with last year. You can find the YouTube video of that discussion here.

Whatever quest you are on, I am proud of you for going on it.

Sierra

Well, this is not that.

This is the longer and messier version. I like to think of it like it’s an overview of my 2025 quest log.

Quarter 1: January – March

Let’s begin with Quarter 1.

I turned 30 on January 19, 2025. The next day, the 47th president of the United States of America was inaugurated.

Regardless of your political affiliation, you likely know that early 2025 brought a significant shift in the national political atmosphere. Among many other changes that affected the way we use the rule of law in this country, we saw executive orders related to the discontinuation and stigmatization of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. For me, the initial impact of these orders was immediately noticeable. Contract negotiations were paused and business conversations changed tone. Opportunities that once felt semi-stable suddenly felt very fragile.

On paper, I was about six months into running my business full-time. Yet, I was still in the learning everything the hard way phase of my business.

At the same time, I was (and still am) deeply involved in leadership and advocacy work, including through the National Alliance on Mental Illness Peer Leadership Council, the Minnesota State Advisory Council on Mental Health, and the Minnesota Disability Bar Association. All involved in these spaces had to adjust to the changing political landscape.

At home, the uncertainty compounded as my partner received a long-awaited start date for a new job he had been working toward for over a year. He put in his notice and left his previous role — only for that new job to be thrown into limbo due to the federal hiring freeze.

That’s when the financial fear started to take its toll. Some of my contracts were being called off due to DEI concerns, and speaking inquiries slowed. So, I started applying for attorney jobs again out of fear that my dream job was going to collapse, and I wouldn’t have the financial stability to brave through the storm.

Thankfully, I still had some work doing the speaking that I love to do. For example, I flew to Missouri for a speaking engagement at Lindenwood University.

Towards the end of Q1, I accepted a job as a Social Security and Disability attorney with a firm that focused on helping disabled young adults and their families navigate the SSI/SSDI system. I hoped that this opportunity would allow me to use my strengths and skills to help people in my community while providing me with a sturdier foundation. My employer and I agreed that I could continue to do some of my speaking engagements and multiple leadership roles, as long as I prioritized my legal work, which I happily agreed to.

Quarter 2: April – June

I started Quarter 2 as an SSI/SSDI attorney.

Almost immediately, I began burning out.

Spending my days highlighting the weaknesses and ignoring the strengths of young adults whose stories mirrored my own to get them on SSI/SSDI benefits triggered me. I spent so much time building a business where I could use my story and struggles to advocate that we all focus on our strengths while accommodating our weaknesses — yet here I was spending the hours of my day job doing the exact opposite.

Plus, going through their medical charts and remembering all of the same things that were said about me at their age… like that I would never hold a job and that I was lacking in so many basic ways.

Heartbreaking.

I was good at the job. But I knew that it was unsustainable to continue, especially since the person who was training me was also leaving soon. By stepping away from the position when I did, the firm could train an additional employee with the assistance of the trainer. They filled the spot within 48 hours.

So, after just under a month, I quit.

Around the same time, public rhetoric around disability continued to escalate. For example, do you remember when RFK Jr. stated that kids with autism would “never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date.” This was yet another reminder of how the national conversation around disability still frames disabled individuals as disposable.

Since I was no longer practicing law as a job, I took the step to try to practice pro bono more often and got involved with the Volunteer Lawyers Network.

My speaking work slowly began to stabilize again. Including a wonderful experience where I flew to Traverse City, Michigan, to deliver a keynote at an annual summer conference.

I also started to take my desire to get involved in politics more seriously. I threw my hat in the ring to be a potential candidate for House Representative of Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District.

A choice that felt urgent and necessary, especially after the assassination of Minnesota House Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the attempted assassination of Minnesota Senator John Hoffman and his family.

A week after the tragic news of the assassination, I attended my first Forum to explore the possibility of running for Congress. I felt like we deserved better representatives, so why not try someone different? I mean, I’m qualified — attorney, advocate, public speaker, etc.

I received positive feedback about my performance at the first Forum and decided that I would give it a shot.

Quarter 3: July – September

Quarter 3 was the most externally visible part of my year, and one of the most internally complicated.

I flew to San Diego to speak at the largest HR conference in the world on neurodiversity in the Workplace; the same conference where President Joe Biden spoke.

I formally began running for Congress: FEC paperwork filed, logo designed, campaign officially launched.

I road-tripped to Texas with a friend to buy a car with air conditioning. Running for Congress in July in a 15-year-old car with no air conditioning — sweaty. The road trip was one of my highlights of the year.

Also, my partner and I started house hunting, driven by the desire to live in the district I was running in. (I had previously moved out of the district for school purposes.) We put in our first offer. It was denied. (A blessing in hindsight.)

I flew to Montreal as a plenary speaker for an Association for Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA) conference. This prompted me to try on the label of “international speaker” for a while. While technically accurate, I did drop it for now.

I spoke at the 8th Annual Mental Health Awareness Day at the Minnesota State Fair, an event that I helped put together.

I took the leap and hired a part-time virtual assistant, because I can not do everything alone.

The Congressional Campaign (Sierra Grandy for Minnesota) moved forward with my attendance at the 2nd Forum. The anonymous feedback showed that I was one of the top contenders. For example, “it should be between Doug and Sierra at this point. The rest are frankly, rubbish.”

But throughout all of the working as an attorney, then going back to building a business, and juggling the campaign, plus all of my community leadership positions, my body started to turn against me.

I talk a lot about disability, but it’s still hard when my disability disables me. My pain increased, and I needed to go back on muscle relaxers to navigate it. Plus, I started to experience symptoms that mimicked colon cancer and underwent a colonoscopy — the results showed that it was stress-related — but it’s never fun to have a cancer scare.

The day before my colonoscopy, a hate video about me surfaced online; a reminder about how even my well-meaning thoughts could be purposefully misunderstood and used against me. And that video would just be the tip of the iceberg, as I knew that the more successful my campaign became, the more unsafe and lied about I would become.

I also learned that my partner would likely be getting stationed out of the country in 2026. So he would not be around to support me in my political efforts.

So after weeks of fighting burnout, increased pain, and hard conversations, I called off my congressional campaign. I am grateful for the experience, and I have no intentions of returning to politics anytime soon.

House hunting also continued, this time in and around the Twin Cities. Surprisingly, there were more affordable first homes in the cities. We had an offer accepted in Minneapolis… and then walked away after discovering major foundation issues that had been purposefully (and poorly) concealed.

Quarter 4: October – December

Quarter 4 opened with yet another plot twist: the longest government shutdown in US history, which left my partner furloughed.

The silverlineing though, is that we found a house in Saint Paul, Minnesota that fit what we desired and more. We put in an offer that same day we toured it, and closed just before Halloween. (Toured, offer accepted, multiple inspections, closed on a house, and did the majority of moving in all within the government shutdown.)

We were even able to have a Halloween party with our friends to celebrate. Another highlight of my year.

Work picked up in intensity, with between one and three presentations a week early in the quarter.

I started volunteering as an event planner for a Congressional Candidate.

I presented for AJEI, teaching appellate judges from across the country about neurodiversity.

I filmed my first podcast episode with a guest — thank you, ! Listen to the Podcast on Youtube or Spotify.

Behind the scenes, I’ve begun reorganizing my business into Questify Your Life: A Multimedia Storytelling Studio & Creative Guild.

The goal is to integrate my Adventure Strategist & Sidekick services, speaking, media creation, and future guild expansion into one coherent lil’ corner of the internet. With a quest to refresh the full website and media channels, the plan is to be completed by the end of Q1 2026.

And to close off this already wild year, I got the Christmas flu and laid in bed for much of my Christmas break.

This year, I had to learn the lesson of “just because you can doesn’t mean you should” over and over again. Will I ever truly learn?

But I look forward to seeing what next year’s quests bring to me.

Whatever quests you are on, I am proud of you for going on them.

Sierra

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That I should rest more.

And maybe there is something to that advice. But I’ve often had a difficult time “resting.”

I get fidgety and bored. Sitting in the underwhelm of my own making tends to make things worse, not better.

Plus, I do get enough sleep most of the time. And I live with disabilities that contribute to a general increase in fatigue. I could sleep for twelve hours every night and still not feel rested.

But sleep is just one aspect of rest.

And intellectually, I’ve known this for a while. Still, it’s gotten to that point in the winter… during the influx of holidays, end-of-year responsibilities, and the beginning of a new year… where I can feel a need for an additional layer of rest in between work, relationships, and fighting Dragons.

So.

Welcome to this week’s quest:

The Quest to Rest.

What is rest?

Let’s start with the basics. What is rest, if it’s not just sleeping?

Oxford Languages defines rest as:

to cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength.

I like to think of rest as the restoration of my energy, physical capacity, and attention— or, in Quest terms, restoring my HP and mana.

The framework that has helped me most comes from Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, a physician, researcher, and speaker, and the author of Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity. In her TEDxAtlanta talk, she explains that there are seven different types of rest, not just sleep.

Those seven types are:

• Physical rest

• Mental rest

• Emotional rest

• Social rest

• Sensory rest

• Creative rest

• Spiritual rest

This reframing matters; it explains why so many of us feel exhausted even when we’re technically “doing everything right.”

So that leads us to this week’s quest.

Every day this week, I aimed to incorporate one of the types of rest into my day to practice relaxing and resting. I am assuming that rest — just like almost everything in our lives — is a practiced skill.

I haven’t given as much thought to “what do I find restorative” as I’d like to admit. I am typically pretty good at self-care, but I do typically default to playing life with my reserved energy pretty low.

So let’s see what we can do.

Worth noting: I did not complete this quest seven days in a row. It was inconsistent and imperfect. As always, I am aiming for useful and not perfect, so the imperfections made it all the more worthwhile.

The Seven Types of Rest (and What They Looked Like for Me)

Physical Rest:

Physical rest includes both passive and active forms. Passive physical rest is sleep and napping. Active physical rest involves gentle, restorative movement that helps the body recover without depletion. This will be different for everyone, but can include stretching, yoga, massage, or slow walks.

For my quest, I aimed to find things that were restorative and repeatable.

Passive rest, like sleeping in when needed, is useful for me, but I wanted to know other options, too.

Experimenting with stretching, yoga, dancing around the house, and going for walks in the middle of the day was enlightening. These practices are useful, and I will be trying to take more breaks to do them throughout the day.

Previously, I would find myself often overthinking active physical rest. Because I feel like when I go to exercise, I need to have enough time to also shower and get ready for the day, so that false belief has previously limited my ability to explore active physical rest as an option. During my quest, I found that I could do short bursts of activity without breaking a sweat or needing to reorganize my entire schedule around it.

Mental Rest:

Mental rest is taking breaks from constant thinking, problem-solving, stimulation, and forced focus. This may include mindfulness practices, journaling, brain-dumping tasks onto a piece of paper, stepping away from screens, or practicing pausing your internal monologue for a moment.

Things that I found restorative for my mind throughout this quest:

• Journaling when I found myself trying to force my focus and failing.

• Listening to stories like Dungeons & Dragons podcasts to shut my brain off temporarily; this also gave me the ability to step away from mindlessly scrolling on my phone.

• Making lists. There’s something about planning that allows me to take a step away from what’s actually going on and instead gives an opportunity to get excited for the future.

Emotional Rest

Emotional rest means taking a break from the emotional demands that we face every day and giving ourselves time to process our feelings without managing, performing, or minimizing our emotions for others. This may look like taking breaks from demanding relationships, journaling, upholding boundaries, saying no, practicing radical acceptance, practicing loving-kindness, talking to a friend, or watching/listening to something that makes you feel good.

For me, it was really hard to determine the difference between emotional rest and intellectualizing my emotions. I find myself overthinking what I am feeling instead of actually feeling my feelings sometimes.

Again, listening to stories like Dungeons & Dragons podcasts was helpful. Also, taking the time to identify where my boundaries are on uncompensated work and saying no more often were effective tools for emotional rest. Occasionally, I practice loving-kindness meditations (I just go on YouTube and find a new one each time), and that is also emotionally restorative.

Social Rest

Social rest is about balancing connection with the need to recharge your social battery. This may look like assessing which relationships energize you versus drain you, scheduling intentional solitude days/evenings, or scheduling low-energy social events.

For my quest, I found that giving myself grace for not returning messages immediately was helpful and eased some of my social stress.

Setting up my social events in advance so I know that I will have plenty of social opportunities, and also can plan for time alone, is helpful. Using a website or an app like Partiful to schedule events has been a good addition to my toolbox.

Plus, using an app like Focus Friend to shut down my phone temporarily is effective as a tool. It gives me an incentive so that I don’t feel the need to be checking my notifications again and again and again. 

Sensory Rest

Sensory rest means taking a break from the overload of constant sensory stimulation, which can be caused by bright lights, screens, noise, and smells. Sensory rest could include closing your eyes, wearing sunglasses, dimming or shutting off the lights, putting your electronics aside for a while, wearing noise-cancelling headphones, or enjoying something soft or tasty.

Sensory rest is the type of rest that I am most experienced with since I have so many sensory-based disabilities. That looked like shutting off the lights, putting on noise-canceling headphones, putting on comfy clothes, and creating something tasty (most often this was some sort of apple juice-based mocktail).

Creative Rest

Creative rest is a break from creating and instead an opportunity to intentionally direct our focus towards surrounding ourselves with inspiration. This can allow our minds to explore new ideas. Creative rest comes from exposure to beauty, inspiration, nature, art, or anything that refuels your sense of wonder.

At first, I took “Creative Rest” to mean taking a step away from creating and instead consuming. But I did not find that to be restorative in the way I hoped it would be. Instead, I found that going on a solo adventure out into the community was restorative. I also found that participating in repetitive art — that flow you get once you know what you are doing in a project without having to think — was restorative. For this quest, craft-based activities were my go-to, like creating things to put in my scrapbook.

Spiritual Rest

Spiritual rest involves reconnecting with meaning, purpose, and something larger than yourself. This can be religious, philosophical, nature-based, or values-driven. For example, this could look like prayer, ritual, meditation, reading, going for a walk in nature, or volunteering.

I’m not a super religious person, but I do find that there is a benefit from taking time to find spiritual practices to connect with community and to connect with something larger than yourself.

For me, this looked like going for a walk and seeing the season — the very cold and wintry season — outside. I also listened to meditations/stories before bed, my favorite throughout this quest were from the creator “Michelle’s Sanctuary Stories for Sleep.” I really liked her “Witches Cottage” stories.

Final Thoughts

This quest was a welcomed experiment in finding strategies that are restorative for me. This encouraged me to think about my habits and reprioritize rest as a practiced skill that deserves its own skill tree.

And as always, whatever quest you are on – I am proud of you for going on it.

With pizzazz,

Sierra

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And I am making progress. Questify Your Life (the Podcast) is now live on Spotify.

Technically, I started a podcast months ago, but that has been merely me reading my Substack articles. Which is fun… but not the typical podcast format that I admire.

My first podcast guest is , a transgender advocate, author, public speaker, and the creator of the Substack, . (I highly recommend checking his work out!)

I enjoyed our conversation immensely. We covered the topic of Dragons and Dragon Quests (if you want to know more about the concept of Dragons as applied here, please visit this article or listen to the podcast below!) As well as taking care of ourselves while being an advocate, plus so much more.

Fighting Dragons with : Sustainable Advocacy Tips in An Uncertain World (Video/Podcast)

If you are or know someone who would make a great guest on Questify Your Life (the Podcast), please reach out to me here on Substack or send an email to Sierra@QuestifyYourLife.com.

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This is primarily for three reasons:

1. I want to share the information I think is important or interesting to more people. I’ve found that those people can most easily be reached through online content.

2. I need to market my business, especially the professional speaker side of things.

3. I want to continue expanding my platforms to benefit the start of my creative guild next year.

One of the parts of this quest that has been more difficult for me has been creating YouTube videos. I prefer long-form content, but I get stuck in my own head about my skills related to filming and editing.

But I know that I am not aiming for perfect, I am aiming for useful. The more content I create and release, the more my skill level will increase.

So, I’d like to show you one of my newest videos. I hope you like it:

The quest to teach you about neurodiversity | What is neurodiversity? (Video)

A few weeks ago, I created and facilitated an event for a Wellness Skill Building meeting for mental health advocates. Specifically, I shared what I called “The Wellness Reset Quest.”

One of the participants messaged me at the end of the event, “Thank you, this was great! Actually got reminded I’m doing better than I had given myself credit for.”

Since it seems like the quest was helpful for some of them, maybe it could be helpful to you as well.

So welcome to The Wellness Reset Quest!

The point of this quest is to assess our current levels of wellness. This isn’t about perfection. You won’t aim for ten perfect “10”s. Instead, our aim is doable and useful.

The 8 Dimensions of Wellness

To begin, let’s do a quick reminder of what the “8 Dimensions of Wellness” are, as this quest draws inspiration from the work of those who have created and studied those dimensions.

The 8 Dimensions of Wellness are “dimensions” (categories) of wellbeing that are interconnected and contribute to one’s wellness.

For more information about these dimensions and for further examples of “mini-tasks/objectives,” I would recommend checking out SAMHSA’s document on “Creating A Healthier Life: A Step-By-Step Guide To Wellness.”

The Quest

There are 10 categories that we will assess today. The 8 Dimensions of Wellness and 2 more — creative/fun and advocacy/community engagement — that I’ve added to highlight the importance of both of those categories.

The steps for this quest are as follows:

1. For each category. Rate where you are on a 1-10 scale.

2. Write why you put that score.

3. Identify where you’d like to be.

4. Write 1-5 mini tasks/objectives that you could do to help you on your way towards increasing your score by 1.

This quest is best explained by doing, so I’ve included my own answers underneath each prompt. I do this quest about once a year, and I almost always do it in a notebook, as attached here. (Though I’ve also typed them below for accessibility and formatting purposes.)

1. Physical Wellness: Caring for your body through movement, rest, sleep, and nutrition.

Again, the steps for this quest are as follows:

1. For each category. Rate where you are on a 1-10 scale.

   1. For me, under physical wellness, I rated myself a 5.

2. Write why you put that score.

   1. “Soy & Dairy. Limited movement. Staying up late.”

3. Identify where you’d like to be.

   1. 7

4. Write 1-5 mini tasks that you could do to help you on your way towards increasing your score by 1.

   1. “Slow down on the soy and dairy.”

   2. “Practice strength training. (add new weights to reward list?)”

   3. “Create a calm and short night ritual w/o electronics.”

2. Emotional Wellness: Managing feelings, self-compassion, and resilience.

1. Rate where you are on a 1-10 scale.

   1. 4

2. Write why you put that score.

   1. “State of politics/the world. Many transitions. Grieving. Overwhelm.”

3. Identify where you’d like to be.

   1. 7

4. Write 1-5 mini tasks that you could do to help you on your way towards increasing your score by 1.

   1. “Slow down and breathe.”

   2. “Less social media.”

   3. “Therapy.”

   4. “Gratitude.”

   5. “Use the skills I already have.”

3. Social (Relational) Wellness: Healthy relationships, communication, and community belonging.

1. Rate where you are on a 1-10 scale.

   1. 6

2. Write why you put that score.

   1. “Good group of friends. Good relationship with family.”

3. Identify where you’d like to be.

   1. 8

4. Write 1-5 mini tasks that you could do to help you on your way towards increasing your score by 1.

   1. “Stop flaking.”

   2. “Answer messages quicker”

   3. “Schedule more fun events for the year.”

4. Intellectual Wellness: Curiosity, comprehension, lifelong learning.

1. Rate where you are on a 1-10 scale.

   1. 8

2. Write why you put that score.

   1. “Two grad degrees. Regular reader and writer. Educator.”

3. Identify where you’d like to be.

   1. 8

4. If I wanted to get to 9. (Which I don’t need to, I’m very content with 8.)

   1. “Join a group of a class that is frivolous and fun.”

5. Occupational/Vocational Wellness: Fulfillment, balance, and alignment between work and values.

1. Rate where you are on a 1-10 scale.

   1. 6

2. Write why you put that score.

   1. “Get to do what I love. In a state of reorganization.”

3. Identify where you’d like to be.

   1. 8

4. Write 1-5 mini tasks that you could do to help you on your way towards increasing your score by 1.

   1. “More consistent on marketing/social media.”

   2. “Redo websites with current offers.”

   3. “Share more of the things that I am grateful for.”

   4. “Write more often.”

6. Environmental Wellness: Surroundings that support safety, calm, and health.

I split up my “Environmental Wellness” into two categories. “Home Base” is for my home and physical environment. “Cyber Space” is my digital home — my lil corner of the internet.

6.1. Home Base Environmental Wellness.

1. Rate where you are on a 1-10 scale.

   1. 5

2. Write why you put that score.

   1. “Preparing to move. Redoing systems.”

3. Identify where you’d like to be.

   1. 8

4. Write 1-5 mini tasks that you could do to help you on your way towards increasing your score by 1.

   1. “Be mindful about packing.”

   2. “Celebrate the milestone of getting a house.”

   3. “Ask friends for help.”

6.2. Cyber Space Environmental Wellness.

1. Rate where you are on a 1-10 scale.

   1. 5

2. Write why you put that score.

   1. “Many half-created systems. Mindless consumption. Limited creation and curation.”

3. Identify where you’d like to be.

   1. 7

4. Write 1-5 mini tasks that you could do to help you on your way towards increasing your score by 1.

   1. “Work with my assistant to streamline systems.”

   2. “Create more and consume less.”

   3. “Let the expectation of perfect or of using only one system go.”

7. Financial Wellness: Security, budgeting, mindful spending.

1. Rate where you are on a 1-10 scale.

   1. 5

2. Write why you put that score.

   1. “Inconsistent income as a business owner. Increased expenses.”

3. Identify where you’d like to be.

   1. 8

4. Write 1-5 mini tasks that you could do to help you on your way towards increasing your score by 1.

   1. “Finish and publish my digital download offer.”

   2. “Marketing my speaking offers more regularly.”

   3. “Create a budget (a better budget.)”

8. Spiritual/ Meaning Wellness: Sense of purpose, alignment with values, connection to something greater.

1. Rate where you are on a 1-10 scale.

   1. 7

2. Write why you put that score.

   1. “Been leaning into faith more. Spending time in nature and being grateful for what I’ve been gifted and what I’ve built.”

3. Identify where you’d like to be.

   1. 7

4. If I wanted to get to 7. (Which I don’t need to, I’m very content with 7.)

   1. “Find a place of worship that feels right to me.”

9. Creative/Play: Engaging in joyful, imaginative, or artistic activities that restore energy.

1. Rate where you are on a 1-10 scale.

   1. 7

2. Write why you put that score.

   1. “Been creating and playing more. Making more quests, art, and videos.”

3. Identify where you’d like to be.

   1. 8

4. Write 1-5 mini tasks that you could do to help you on your way towards increasing your score by 1.

   1. “Create a practice where I create and play more daily.”

   2. “Share my creations more often.”

10. Advocacy/Contribution: Standing for something beyond yourself; giving back.

1. Rate where you are on a 1-10 scale.

   1. 7

2. Write why you put that score.

   1. “I do a lot. Speaking, councils, pro bono, campaign support, ect.”

3. Identify where you’d like to be.

   1. 8

4. Write 1-5 mini tasks that you could do to help you on your way towards increasing your score by 1.

   1. “Sa no more often. Getting too close to overwhelmed.”

   2. “Less clients and more clinics.”

   3. “Ask for help more often.”

Conclusion

As I said above, I like to do this about once a year. And then I add the small objectives to my current Character and “Simple But Not Easy” quests. I typically like to start with doing just one or two of the mini-tasks/objectives a week and then build from there.

The goal is to make small sustainable changes that move us towards progress. Optimization is often a trap.

Make sure to reward yourself too — even if it’s just a brief moment of gratitude — you took this time to do something for yourself, and that is a lovely thing to do.

Whatever quest you are on, I am proud of you for going on it.

Sierra

Hello Adventurers,

Gun violence feels like it’s been in the news nonstop.

Death.

Tragedy.

Division.

Just over three months ago, on Saturday, June 14th, Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman was assassinated along with her husband Mark Hortman and their dog, Gilbert. Additionally, the assassin attempted to assassinate Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman, his wife Yvette, and their daughter Hope.

I’ve thought about this event almost every day since, but I’ve been at a loss for words about it. Every time I think about it, I feel terror. Which makes sense. It was an act of domestic terrorism.

I didn’t know any of the victims personally, but I am one degree of separation from them. I learned about the assassination on LinkedIn, from a connection who knew Melissa and Mark Hortman well.

I live in Minnesota. I am active in the mental health advocacy community. When the assassination happened, I was working on launching my own Congressional campaign, and I had been procrastinating reaching out to both Representative Hortman and Senator Hoffman.

For weeks, my thought process was: “I’m just going to wait until I have my FEC paperwork and website launched before I bother any of the state DFL with questions.”

I hesitated to share about this tragedy because I was concerned that I would come across as if I were trying to make this tragedy about me and my former campaign. Yet, I understand that this has very little to do with me.

Then the Annunciation Catholic Church shooting happened on August 27, 2025. Yet another tragedy. More death.

And again, I felt the need to comment on it, but I didn’t, because my words could not come out in a way that felt like they held much value to the conversation at the time.

Both of these tragedies were so close to home, literally, and I didn’t know how to publicly address these feelings in a way that could be useful.

And now another tragedy, with the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a prominent right-wing influencer, one whom I disagreed with on almost everything. Many of his takes were rooted in ableist, racist, transphobic, and sexist rhetoric that were incredibly divisive.

But that’s the cost of the Freedom of Speech: Disagreement. Repulsion.

Not death.

All of this is just compounding terror.

Culturally, we keep getting hit with vicarious and secondary trauma.

So where do we — I — go from here?

I don’t know.

But, to keep on theme for this newsletter and also as a way to deal with my own emotions on the topic, I took the beautiful statement by the children of Melissa and Mark Hortman from June and made their suggestions on how to honor the memory of Mark and Melissa into side quests that you could go on.

Side Quest: Plant a tree

Your side quest (if you choose to accept it): Plant a tree.

You could work on this quest with a group of friends, or you could go solo and buy, plant, and nurture a tree by yourself.

It’s best to choose a native species suited to your location.

If you need help getting started, you can check out the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Tree Planting Guide. This guide walks you through how to choose the right tree and prep the site to give your sapling the best chance to thrive.

This side quest’s rewards include the satisfaction that you contributed to cleaner air, shade for future adventurers, and a more beautiful world.

Side Quest: Visit a local park and make use of the amenities

Your side quest (if you choose to accept it): Visit a local park and use its amenities.

It’s always better to go on this type of adventure with friends, so reach out to some people you care about and schedule a time to go adventuring around a local park.

Take time to be mindful and in the moment. Maybe notice something beautiful.

And make sure to make use of the amenities, for example: try a bike trail, walk a new path, or bring your kids to one of the playgrounds in your location. If you want to try one of the bike trails, but don’t have a bike and are in or near Minneapolis, this webpage can help you with the how-to on renting a bike.

Side Quest: Pet a dog

Your side quest (if you choose to accept it): Pet a dog.

This one is pretty self-explanatory, so I’ll just highlight what the statement said: “A golden retriever is ideal, but any will do.”

The Hortman’s dog, Gilbert, was also shot multiple times in the heinous attack and had to be put down. Reports claim that Gilbert was a loving and faithful golden retriever.

So, to honor Gilbert and the Hortmans, pet as many dogs as you can on this side quest.

Side Quest: Share humor with people you love

Your side quest (if you choose to accept it): Share humor with the people you love.

As it is said, humor is the best medicine. Laughter builds connection and eases tension. So when possible, be silly. Be goofy.

Choose joy. Choose fun.

Even if it is just for a little bit, you are allowed to feel nice things in the terrors of this world. You do not have to sit in the struggle without reprieve.

Sending a funny meme or a short clip of your favorite comedian to a friend can help you both through tough times.

Side Quest: Bake and share

Your side quest (if you choose to accept it): Bake and share something yummy.

After heavy events, including loss or upheaval, it can be hard to know what to do with our hands or our hearts.

Baking can be a quiet, gentle way to create comfort. The smell, the warmth, and the act of sharing something you made.

Take a few moments to create something yummy and cozy for yourself and others.

Don’t know where to start? My favorite recipe website is Pick Up Limes, so perhaps browsing through that site can help inspire someting within you.

Side Quest: Try a new hobby

Your side quest (if you choose to accept it): Try a new hobby.

This side quest is quite open-ended and easily achievable. Pick up something you’ve been meaning to try out, a new craft, sport, or game, and enjoy being a beginner again.

For me, this has looked like making scrapbook-themed videos of my day, playing a new video game, and trying my hand at writing fictional stories.

It’s nice to get away from the noise of the world sometimes, and just be.

Side Quest: Stand up for what you believe in

Your side quest (if you choose to accept it): Stand up for what you believe in.

Your voice matters. Heroes are often just ordinary people who choose to act in accordance with their values anyway.

For me, this looks like volunteering regularly, helping out in mutual aid requests, and spending time helping on political campaigns.

This quest may not be easy, but it matters. Even a small act of resistance can ripple outward.

Standing up for what you believe in is an act of hope. Hope that we can make it through hard times. That we can do hard things. And hope… hope is a practiced skill.

Conclusion

To finish this newsletter, I’d like to highlight the ending of the statement:

Hope and resilience are the enemy of fear. Our parents lived their lives with immense dedication to their fellow humans. This tragedy must become a moment for us to come together. Hold your loved ones a little closer. Love your neighbors. Treat each other with kindness and respect. The best way to honor our parents' memory is to do something, whether big or small, to make our community just a little better for someone else.

Whatever quest you are on, I am proud of you for going on it.

With gratitude,

Sierra

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After a couple of whirlwind months running to be the next U.S. House Representative for Minnesota’s 6th District, I need to take a step back from this campaign.

I started this quest with determination, fueled by the belief that we deserve better. Better leaders who care deeply about affordability, accessibility, and community. And in many ways, the adventure has been everything I imagined: full of new allies, being a part of important conversations, and moments of growth. But somewhere along the way, I pushed my character too hard, and my Mana and HP are not able to sustain me. The result?

Burnout.

Or at least, getting very very close to burnout. Kind of like when your car’s gas light is on and you are broke.

I just need to slow down and reconsider my options.

So, despite my best efforts to prevent it, unforeseen circumstances and my own underestimated stamina for endless large events caught up with me.

I must withdraw from the Congressional race and go back to the imaginary “base camp” — the tutorial.

The Quest Log

I kept an Adventure Log of sorts for documenting my journeys during my days navigating the Campaign and my work life. These are not all of the objectives and events I completed, but I wanted to include many of them here.

So, here are a few of the highlights:

• June 21 – The CD6 Blaine Forum. My first public appearance and discussion as a potential Congressional Candidate.

• July 15 – My formal announcement online.

• July 26 - Disability Pride Event!

• August 9 – Minnesota Bluegrass Festival in Richmond. My main quest was to see friends, but along the way, I had side quests full of meaningful conversations about how we deserve better.

• August 10 – One of my Remote Volunteer Planning Events.

• August 12–15 – A string of events, from “Pizza in the Park” with the Minnesota Disability Bar Association to the North Metro DFL Picnic, the relaunch of the Cass County Local Mental Health Advisory Council, and a Neurodiversity In The Workplace training in Wilmar, Minnesota. Plus, campaigning at Game Fair.

• August 16–20 – The adventure continued: DFL State Fair training, Working Families Picnic, board games with friends, sharing my mental health recovery story with first responders, helping my sister with her new daycare business, writing the emcee script for the State Fair’s Mental Health Awareness event, and diving into cultural diversity work through the State Advisory Council on Mental Health.

These days were full, meaningful, and, if I’m honest, exhausting.

What Went Wrong?

Every adventurer knows that sometimes you walk into a Boss Battle, but your skills and levels are not what they need to be to complete the task. Sometimes you enter too soon without enough healing potions or companions at your side.

Looking back, I realize I overestimated my stats in some key areas.

Fear. I thought I had good control of my fear and anxiety, but after the recent political assassinations here in Minnesota, I became more anxious about my safety and privacy than I expected. Being a young woman in politics means trolls, AI fakes, and hate comments are going to show up; ironically, this is a sign that you’re doing something right. But I didn’t realize how much anxiety I would be wading through as I braced for that impact. It impacted my social media posts, my fundraising emails, and even the way I did my nails (no more teal, only pink).

Physical health challenges. Mid-quest, I had some health issues pop up that required a procedure. Nothing life-threatening, but enough to throw me for a loop. The constant stress, plus trying to heal while keeping the campaign moving, on top of dealing with my chronic pain increasing in intensity, was unsustainable.

Sensory needs and executive functioning. Living with autism and ADHD, I underestimated how the campaign trail would affect me. I thought that I could accommodate myself well enough to do what I needed to do to make progress on my campaign. Typically, at conferences, I usually have a clear role (speaking, teaching, leading). Campaigning was different though, the loud festivals and fairs, with the anxiety of not being quite sure how to communicate my message to people drained me. Add with my executive functioning struggles, like deciding what events to attend, what to pack, and how to prioritize who to talk to, felt like rolling low on every single skill check.

Asking for help (and money). I thought I had leveled up enough in delegation, but I was wrong. People offered to help, but I didn’t have the systems or bandwidth to delegate effectively, and the quest log filled up faster than I could clear it.

Personal finances and relationships. Running a small business to pay bills and student loans, maintaining relationships, and running a campaign all at once was too much for one adventurer. I didn’t have the financial stability to personally sustain a campaign of this size, and the stress bled into other areas of life.

Would I Ever Try Again?

Yes. Just because I had to retreat from this “dungeon” — this quest — doesn’t mean I’m done trying to make a difference in the lives around me. If I were to try to take on a large Congressional campaign again, I’d want to have more campaign experience, more allies in my party from the beginning, and better habits in place.

I’m hopeful that the candidate I choose to support in CD6 will flip the seat in 2026. I’ll likely lend my skills as a strategist, organizer, or storyteller on someone else’s political campaign for a while, that way I can build experience points.

Would I ever run again myself? Probably. Maybe for a smaller seat someday. Maybe for Congress again in 2030 if the dice roll that way. Because despite how hard this has been, I still believe that MN District 6 DESERVES BETTER!

And one way or another, I want to keep working to make that future real.

What Comes Next

Though I’m withdrawing from this quest, my Congressional campaign, my other quests have not ended.

I will continue with my quests and objectives related to speaking, teaching, and advocacy on mental health recovery, disability, and neurodiversity. That’s work I’ve been skilling up for years now, and it’s where I can make the biggest difference in my life.

I’ll also be leaning more into the art and craft of Questify Your Life. I’d like to find ways to feel comfortable being a bit more goofy and fun, creating the brand into something bigger than myself.

I know that there is a demand for more products and services that create opportunities to turn everyday challenges into adventures and quests. I’d love to be the person sharing tools and tactics to help others do that with me. Maybe this will look like skilling up my content creation skill tree. Maybe I’ll prioritize creating digital and physical products.

I do not need to know right now. I just need to slow down and find my footing again.

And don’t worry, this isn’t the end of my political story. If anything, it’s just a very dramatic beginning.

After a much-needed period of recovery, I’ll be back in 2026 to help someone else in CD6 flip the district.

In the meantime, I encourage you to keep engaging with the other dedicated candidates running, to do that, I recommend checking out the CD6 DFL Candidate Forums.

Whatever quest you are on, I am proud of you for going on it.

With care,

Sierra

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