Lindsay Landry

In May 2025, my family and I were on one of our many trips to Louisiana to visit our extended family. Most of our trips are spent at my parents or in-laws homes just getting to spend quality time together that you don't get when you live 1000 miles away, but on this particular trip we went on an outing to Treefrog Adventure Park. This is a ropes course where you're literally clipped in and navigate several sections with varying levels of difficulty in three different sections of the park - once you start one section, you pretty much need to see that section through. There were 10 people (6 adults and 4 kids) in our party ranging in ages 75 to 6 - from the start, my 75-year-old dad decided this was not an adventure he needed to go on. My 71-year-old mom got the harness on and then remembered she was afraid of heights and better not so she didn't "ruin it for the rest of us". One by one, family members either started the course and backed out or completed one section and decided that was enough. In the end only 5 of us completed the entire course. It was scary and challenging, but in the end, I wanted to complete it to show my kids, and myself, that I'm brave, I can finish things, and that the feeling you get from preserving and accomplishing something is priceless. This story is the literal example that helped me to create my brain tattoo, "Clipped in and ready for adventure", but to me, it's not just about completing a ropes course - which was pretty cool and badass - it's representative of something bigger, my sobriety. When I did the ropes course, I had just celebrated one year of sobriety and that decision to remove alcohol from my life (clipped in) and experience a life where I am fully present, knowing what I want, how I feel, and excited for what I can experience next (ready for adventure). It represents my mindset and how I approach life now - life still gets super life-y and rawdogging life is hard, but it's a hard I'd choose over and over again, for the peace, contentment, and joy I've found. I've rediscovered what I actually like to do, started learning to say "no", and said yes to adventures along the way that wouldn't have been possible with a drink in my hand.