We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Galen Sylk. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Galen below.
Hi Galen, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I get my resilience from my parents. They have taught me so much about perseverance, courage, and patience. They prepared me for tough situations and really helped shape the strong and independent person I have become today. Despite facing different challenges, they always provided unwavering support. I learned different lessons from my mother than I did from my father, and often they taught me together. Thanks to the support that they provided, overcoming challenges was something I felt and continue to feel capable of. Obstacles that arise are just another mountain to climb as opposed to a block in my path. I learned to take positive steps forward and it has been so beneficial. I changed careers early on, going from an attorney to now working in social media, in just a few years. The support that my parents provided helped me maintain my resilience as I learned how to navigate new fields, new places, and an entirely different world. This support has translated into helping me learn how to provide support for others. It has taught me how to be a good friend, daughter, aunt, and sister. It has given me the strength and confidence to bring others together. This resilience has led me to the most rewarding career of my life: helping advocate for shelter animals.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I currently work in social media for an incredible company called The Mutt Dog. We sell different types of apparel and merchandise and donate a proceed of the portions to shelters in the country in need. My primary role is working with shelters to organize events, promote adoptable animals through social media, and eventually work with shelters as part of our future nonprofit organization. It is one of the most rewarding jobs I have ever had and I have never been so thrilled and thankful. In my free time, you can find me at local dog shelters hanging out with shelter dogs. I am a foster dog mom, avid shelter volunteer, and hiking leader. I adore all animals, but I am a big dog lover. There are so many dogs in need in this country, and so many shelters are full of sweet, adoring animals just waiting for their forever home. If every person in the country fostered or adopted a shelter animal – the world would be a better place! I am very passionate about animal rescue. I started working with Soul Dog Rescue as a foster and also shelter volunteer. After spending time at the shelter, it became clear that the dogs needed more socialization and more help getting outdoors. Every month, I lead “Rescue Dog Walks” with the shelter to take the shelter dogs out for a walk in the fresh air. It has helped so much, with adoptions and more volunteers signing up thanks to these walks. They have helped so many dogs learn to walk on leash more comfortably, and most importantly, learn how to accept love and care from humans. At The Mutt Dog, we focus on promoting shelter animals and providing shelters with a resource that they can lean on when in need. We have so many exciting things coming up in the next year – and we are so excited to share it with the world!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
If I had to pick three qualities/skills that were the most impactful in my journey, I would say: patience, the ability to observe thoughtfully, and courage. When it comes to patience, this is something that took me quite a while to learn. In my personal life, I was usually the most impatient person. I was the one in a rush or always late or forgot something. I have learned to slow down and take one step at a time. Let me rephrase – I am still learning. I think I will be learning and honing this skill for the rest of my life. Patience is truly a virtue and one that doesn’t come easily. One of the main things that taught me this was fostering. Bringing in new foster puppies into your home is challenging. It entails quite a few sleepless nights, lots of cleaning supplies, and lots of deep breaths. I cannot even count, nor do I want to think, about the number of hours I have spent of my life just watching and staring intently at a dog just begging the lord that they poop. Patience is hard-fought, and not easily won, and is a constant battle. I believe that staying as mindful as possible and staying “in the moment” really helps with this. Patience has been the most impactful for me because of how much it has helped and how many doors it has opened that would have otherwise been closed because of my inability to slow down.
Observing others is a really important skill for anyone involved in public events or outings. I work very hard at each of my events to stay very vigilant throughout the entire time. For example, when hosting hiking meetups, oftentimes some people know each other and walk together, perhaps leaving some people who did not know anyone off by themselves. I paid very close attention to this. If I was involved in another conversation, and I noticed that someone in our group was not, I would do everything to involve that person. I would think back to their Instagram page, and look at their dog to find any similarities or commonalities between that person and another person in the group and start a conversation about it. It is hard to do this while involved in other conversations and managing the group at the same time, but it is such an important thing and skill to develop. Making sure everyone around me is comfortable and happy is my main focus at all times, but I also try to show that I am focusing on whomever I am chatting with! The main skill is multitasking! Multitasking in thinking and conversing, while hiking and walking multiple dogs. Half of it came naturally, half with practice.
Courage is a skill that I am still working on, much like patience. There are so many different scenarios and situations that require different levels of courage. Some situations are as simple as walking out of the front door in my pajamas to take the dog out knowing I am going to be seen and not caring. Other situations entail speaking in front of the camera, or large groups of people. Or being involved in interviews! It requires a level of confidence to get to that place where you can be courageous enough to Do the thing you Want to do. Courage has helped me so much. The support of my family and friends helps me stay courageous and helps me continue on to help others. Having courage can make such a big impact, not only for oneself but for those around us as well. Just like bringing strangers into conversations to have them get to know each other takes a certain ability. I try very hard to be patient, observant, and confident enough to encourage and lift up those people around me. It is something I care about very deeply.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
“You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense” by Charles Bukowski played an important role when I was growing up. He is a sinic, pretty negative, and was a known alcoholic. His poems are unnatural and do not follow the “typical” meter and rhythm, leaving out a rhyme scheme we were all taught that poets were supposed to follow. Some of his poems made me laugh, cry, or question my existence. Two parts really stuck out to me: the title of the book and the poem “No Help For That”. The title was so curious to me because I always felt like we were taught that we needed a partner always, whether a best friend or lover and that being alone was frowned upon. The title of this book made me feel like it was ok to be alone, and it is. I have learned so much to maintain my independence, and I think back to this time randomly when I am being asked about whether it bothers me to be alone. I am usually surrounded by at least 1 dog at any given time, so I never feel truly alone anyway! All jokes aside, this did have an impact on me because Bukowski basically said, “Who the f* cares” and it let me laugh at it too. I first learned about Bukowski from reading another book, “Beautiful Creatures” by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. I did a deep dive and read all of his books after that. The one I noted above is my favorite, and the poem I mentioned is my favorite poem, written out below. This poem speaks to why I like the title of the book itself and why I feel like it has been impactful. I think we all know this “place” that Bukowski refers to, but we refuse to acknowledge it because feeling ‘alone’ can make people feel isolated, sad, and unwanted. To me, Bukowski is saying this, that we know there are these places that each of us have, these places in our hearts and souls that remain empty. These places that we cannot fill because we do not know what we need to fill them, what we are ‘supposed’ to want. what society wants us to want. In those high moments, those euphoric experiences, the “best” and the “greatest times”, this place can make itself known. I certainly know I am not alone in feeling these places exist. Knowing this and feeling this, having Bukowski say this, and write an entire book on it! This impacted me so much and my ability to overcome so much once I reminded myself that I actually am not alone, at all.
“There is a place in the heat that
will never be filled
a space
and even during the
best moments
and
the greatest times
we will know it
we will know it
more than ever
there is a place in the heart that
will never be filled
and
we will wait
and wait
in that space.”
Contact Info:
- Website: www.baxtersmountain.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/baxtersmountain
Image Credits
I took all of the images
