I find this page along with any bio section of any given platform very daunting. Because it challenges me to put seemingly my whole life and everything there is to know about me into a confined space. It usually leaves me overwhelmed and then I resort to leaving the space blank. But this blog is meant to challenge me and help me change my habits (the smallest/non-life threatening ones seem to be the hardest to break).

So I will start off with my name. My name is Nicole Danae Goff and I am 28 years old and I live in beautiful Durango, Colorado. I was born on September 12^th, 1996. I grew up on a peach farm in Palisade, Colorado where I was fortunate enough to be able to go in my back yard and pick fresh fruit and veggies at any point in my day. This is something about my childhood that I do not take lightly and that I am exceedingly grateful for. This is where I grew up with my family; my Dad-Brent, my Mom-Kim, my Sister-Deanne, and my Brother-James.

My childhood consisted of a lot of walking, biking and longboarding to the gas station up the street with friends. A lot of lemonade stands, a lot of working in the orchard, a lot of time in front of the TV, a lot of time with animals, a lot of time playing in the pool, dancing in front of the big mirror in my parent’s room, painting and drawing, and church. Some fun facts about my childhood are that I placed 5^th in the state for marbles when I was in the 1^st or 2^nd grade. I still have the trophy and plaque. I used to play marbles with my friend Kyle and we were pretty good from what I remember. And yes I am talking about the game marbles with the big circle and the X of marbles in the middle that you have to shoot strategically with your own marble. I was also crowned peach princess when I was in either the 3^rd or 4^th grade, in which I still have the dress and tiara for. I have a few memories of my childhood but a strange fact about me is, is that I do not remember a lot of it. I would say the majority. So whenever I talk about my childhood or adolescence and don’t have a certain time frame for things or specific age that it happened with, or a lot of memories to talk about, that is why! A lot of it is blank in between the few memories that I do have.

During adolescent years I went to Palisade High School. I played lacrosse for Grand Junction Hisgh School due to mine not being large enough to have one of their own yet. I was a little bit of a rebel child and got into mischief often. I made lifelong friends during these years and still are in contact with a lot of them to this day.

As for my early adult years I lived in my hometown until 2021, where I left my old life behind. In this blog you will see me say "old life" as I feel that it is one of the truest forms of death and rebirth in my life thus far. Before then, I graduated from Colorado Mesa University, where I majored in Sociology and minored in History. I worked for a real estate agency as a receptionist while I got my degree and made another group of lifelong friends in this stage of my life.  When I had left Grand Junction I lived in Fort Collins, CO for a short period of time. Then Helena, Montana for a while and then packed the U-Haul again and moved back down to Colorado. The more time I had spent in Durango, the further it became apparent that this was forever home.

I have many passions that light my soul on fire. My favorite thing to do that is very obvious to anyone who sees me do it, is to dance. I love to dance and it is the thing that brings me most joy in life thus far. I can dance for hours and really get into it. When I am comfortable in a space, I won’t hold back and you’ll see me go absolutely feral. Whenever I am dancing to music I love, you’ll see me have the brightest smile on my face. I love painting and drawing. I love watching movies and finding new music. I really like a variety of genre’s and I feel like they all have a time and a place. I love animals, so spending time with any animal in any capacity is quite enjoyable for me. I love paddleboarding, my soul feels most restful while doing so. I love nature. Alongside of dancing, nature is what gets me most hype in life. When I see a pretty scenery it can stop me dead in my tracks a lot of the time, where I need to get out of the car and just breathe it in. I was riding in the car with my best friend, her partner at the time and his 4yo daughter and I turned to her and said "Girl, we are about to witness some pretty ass country on this drive!!" and she uncannily replies with "Are you gonna cry again?" I cry sometimes when I see really pretty things ok?!

I love the mountains. Anywhere that has mountains is the place for me, and Durango has been perfect in that sense. My drive to work every day fills my eyes with the prettiest of views, that I drink up every chance that I get. I just feel most full when there are mountains around me. If you spend enough time with me, you’ll notice when I see a really pretty thing in nature it will make me beam(or cry) with happiness. I actually have friends call me often to say "Stop what your doing, and go look at the sky right now!" or stop the car for me when they can tell something is really grabbing ahold of me scenery wise. I love mountains, rainbows, sunrises, sunsets, the ocean, all wildlife in general but especially moose and robins, mushrooms, clouds, and trees. This makes it to where I love camping, fishing, picnicking, laying on a blanket watching the clouds or stars, walks and hikes. Anything outside really. I love all things pretty in general.  I love pretty humans, I love beautiful moments, I love pretty film and art, and pretty clothes! Clothing has been something that I have really gotten quite passionate about since leaving my old life behind. Finding my personal style has really given me a lot of joy and comfort in presenting myself. I love to dress and look pretty as much as I can, it gives me the confidence when walking around day to day. I love my fur babies. And I love my people. I listened to a podcast a few days ago that said “100% of us will be on the receiving end of unhealthy relationship behaviors. And 100% of us will do unhealthy things in relationships, it’s a part of being human”. And this rings true for me. I will never claim to be perfect in terms of love, in fact I am far from it. I have made a lot of mistakes, lost myself a couple times, hurt people, and been in that role of doing unhealthy relationship things. But one thing I do know is that I have this capability inside me to love someone the best they’ve ever been loved. And I really do enjoy it. I enjoy showing people love, loving them in ways that will help them feel it the most. I have been told by many people that I am one of the most observant people that they have ever met. I try to be as observant and remember as much as I can with the people that I care for deeply because I have this theory that the deeper I understand them, the deeper and the better I can love them. So, my people and loving them to the best of my capabilities are a big part of my passion in life too.

Lastly I would say that I am very passionate about my spiritual journey and spiritual health. My spiritual awakening and journey has been the only thing EVER, that has helped with my mental illness. It is a topic that I am very passionate about because it has saved my life and continues to do so time and time again.

I think the things I try my best to do in this life are: to become the best possible version of myself that I can, to become who this world needs me to be, to never stop growing, to never stop learning, and to be accepting of who I am and who others are - unconditionally.

This is a good baseline to start from, of what there is to know about me. I look forward to diving deeper into these topics with all of you, and I thank you for taking the time to read.

All of my love,

Nicole