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Vicki Link

@vickilink

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Free-Range Nana & Obstacle Overcomer
- Nature Ventures + Clean Eats for fuel 🥑
- Sugar Rehab Coach 🧁🙂
- Contemplative Thinker 📚

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Some People leave a very big hole…

Four years ago today, my little brother Matt—the youngest of the four of us and the only boy—was suddenly gone.

I never thought he’d go first.

Maybe we just assume our siblings will always be somewhere in the landscape of our lives. They know the old stories. The family weirdness. The inside jokes nobody else would understand.

And nobody could make me laugh like Matt.

I’m probably the more serious one of the four of us, but I definitely got my sense of humor from my dad and Matt. Matt could take something I was taking WAY too seriously and have me laughing in about 30 seconds.

He was ridiculously funny. Musical. A terrific writer. Articulate. Smart times ten.

But what I loved most was that he was humble.

All that talent and intelligence, and not an arrogant bone in him.

He was our sunbeam.

And when life got hard in my own little family, he could also be an anchor. He had a special connection with my son and could reach him in ways very few people could.

Four years later, my sisters and I are still telling Matt stories. Still laughing. Still missing the youngest one who was supposed to grow old with us.

I don’t think we ever really “finish” losing someone like this.

We just keep discovering all the places they still live.

In stories.
In music.
In old texts and emails.
In some completely ridiculous moment when I think:

Ohhhh, Matt would have had something to say about THIS. 😂

The texture of a good life.

Humor. Wit. Goodness. Honor. Integrity. And underneath all of it, humility.

Four years later, I still don’t have a profound conclusion.

I just miss my brother.

And I’m so grateful this funny, brilliant, good-hearted human being was ours.

Irreplaceable.

❤️ Matt by @vickilink

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2 months ago

My favorite noise-canceling headphones…

Every one of us will hit a dark place at some point. The world is not Disneyland. Even when life looks good, it won’t stay easy forever…

Money helps with a lot of problems, but it doesn’t fix everything. I have seen very rich people who are very sad. And very poor people who are full of peace and joy. So maybe happiness is not what we are told it is…

A while ago I read a book called Holy Silence. It gave me 12 kinds of quiet to practice and became my oxygen. My blueprint.

1. Quiet mouth
2. Quiet body
3. Quiet eyes and ears
4. Quiet pictures in my head
5. Quiet old memories
6. Quiet talking about others
7. Quiet big feelings
8. Quiet heart
9. Quiet mean voice to myself
10. Quiet judging others
11. Quiet trying to control everything
12. Quiet deep inside — just be and listen

When I practiced them, the noise stopped. The feeling of being pulled in 20 directions stopped. I started to rewire how I want to live.

I don’t have it all figured out. And yes, I need money like everyone does. I want more than I have.
But this quiet showed me what matters more. It gave me peace when I had no peace.

If you’re in a dark place — try 5 minutes of quiet in the trees. No phone. Just breathe. You might hear your own calm place inside again by @vickilink

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2 months ago

For a while this past year, I nearly lost my voice. But work and life still called me to show up — cheerfully, supportively — so I did, as best I could. .

“And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” — John Muir

That was the truest part. I kept returning to the woods, and the woods kept returning me to myself. On mornings like this one, with the mist in the redwoods and the ferns soft at my feet, I didn’t have to explain or project or be strong. I could just breathe.

I honestly think I wouldn’t have made it through without that.

Grateful for the trees, and for all of you who listened even when I could barely speak. 🌲 by @vickilink

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3 months ago

He’s stocking the pantry. I’m standing here, staring at him in awe. We both have important work to do. 😅🌲 by @vickilink

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12 days ago

Having a stare down this morning. I think he won! by @vickilink

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15 days ago

Some moments deserve a replay.

This 24 seconds at Emerald Bay is my favorite little refuel. When I’m running low, I hit play, watch the waterfalls, and remember just how beautiful this world can be.

#emeraldbaylaketahoe, #natureisbeautiful, #joyisfuel by @vickilink

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19 days ago

Happy belated birthday with my honey. Magical afternoon at the Redwood Tree Grove in Occidental, CA and ending at a funky, fun Mexican outdoor restaurant with the authentic stuff. Rare day with just the two of us. 🙏🏻🎉🎂 by @vickilink

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a month ago

“If the creator has a purpose in equipping us with a neck, he surely would have meant for us to stick it out.” Arthur Koestler

Well, this beauty certainly understood the assignment. 🤩

Stick your neck out.

Say the thing that needs saying.
Try what keeps tugging at you.
Stand where the water is moving and trust your own footing.

Sometimes courage simply looks like one brave step onto a slippery rock—with slightly ridiculous yellow feet.

PS Caught this snowy egret beauty on my AM walk near my childhood home. Unusual blissed day. 🤩 by @vickilink

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a month ago

Heard a clip from Tony Robbins today while scrolling, and I had to ponder a minute.

The gist?

“Raise your standards, not just your goals. We live according to our standards. And taking the easy path won’t give us that inner pride we’re looking for.”

Hmm.

I’ve been thinking about this as a seasoned entrepreneur. Redirecting doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Sometimes it’s what happens when you’ve been around long enough to ask better questions.

I ask a lot of questions. I think a lot. I’m honest to a fault, which is not always the easy path. Ha.

But here’s what I keep coming back to: What if the next step is raising the daily standard?

Turning a few shoulds into musts.

I should move becomes I must move my bod today.

I should eat better becomes I must give my bod better fuel today.

I should start that thing becomes I must begin, even though I don’t feel ready.

And if you’re worn out, that must might be a need for deep rest. Raising your standards includes how you treat yourself!

There’s something about doing a little difficult thing on purpose. Keeping a promise to yourself. Following through on something that matters.

You can begin to rebuild that quiet inner pride.

Not loud. Just real.

What’s one ‘should’ you might turn into a ‘must’ this week? 😊

PS Thought you might enjoy seeing the bloom I encountered while moving my bod this AM, when I didn’t feel like it. 😅 by @vickilink

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2 months ago

RIP Wendell Berry (August 5, 1934 - August 31, 2026)

The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry

“When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”

P.S. What a deep and beautifully rooted life he lived. He reminded us to love the land, live with care, and never mistake noise for wisdom. Rest now in the grace of the world, Wendell Berry. by @vickilink

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2 months ago

Always make time for awe…

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.

— Albert Einstein by @vickilink

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2 months ago

Put Down the Mud. Pick Up the Lantern.

“We’re all just walking each other home.”
— Ram Dass

I love those words.

But honestly?

We’re not always very good at it.

We judge stories we don’t know the half of.
We look through our own little window and think we can see the whole house.

We take sides. Keep little tallies in our heads. And before long, we’re slinging mud at people whose stories we barely understand.

I’ve been a Jesus follower for a long time. Long enough to see plenty of strange mud—even in the church. Cruelty and goodness all mixed together.

That has never sat right with me—even when I was young.

Jesus talked about the log in our own eye while we’re pointing at the speck in somebody else’s. (Matthew 7)

Maybe sometimes that log is mud.

Caked on so thick I can’t see straight—while I’m worried about the smudge on somebody else.

I don’t think he said this to shame us. I think he knew we’d all get mud in our eyes sometimes.

Walking someone home isn’t dragging them down my road.

Sometimes it means quieting my reaction. Listening longer than I want to. Saying what’s true without being cruel.

And remembering I have blind spots too.

Plenty of them.

I’m still rebellious enough to believe kindness really matters.

That love should actually look like something.

Today, though, my lantern is tired.

So I’m sitting beside it. Resting.

Maybe if we put down the mud for a while, we could help one another find our way home.

P.S. Another birthday is just a few days away, and the little life reviews have begun.

It’s been quite a year, privately.

Thank you to those who have been walking beside me through it. by @vickilink

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2 months ago