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Welcome to Destiny. Now here's your
host, Cliff Dunning. Hey, how

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are you welcome. Come on in
and have a seat, let's talk.

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You might have noticed that those of
you in the United States, we celebrated

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the Spring Forward or otherwise known as
Daylight Savings time. That was on Sunday

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the tenth. So the days are
longer, and I'll tell you where I

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like that time of year. I
can go hiking, I can get out,

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my day's over, I can put
my walking shoes on, my hiking

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boots on, and I can hit
the trails, get the fresh air.

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And I gotta tell you, it's
been a struggle to get out the last

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couple of months, really up to
the end of November right until now.

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It's been so inconsistent here in northern
California because we've had this this rain,

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and if you're in higher elevations,
we've had snow, in serious snow,

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and you know this atmospheric river stuff. Everyone's like, oh, yeah,

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I don't worry about it, but
I mean when it rains, it soaks

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and soaks the soil to the point
where it's muddy, and you got you

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know, rolling hills that are sliding. Yeah, landslides and even Los Angeles,

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the barren desert that Los Angeles is
has been suffering from the heavy rains.

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So getting out has been a challenge. And I'm really really happy to

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welcome in daylight savings times because it's
really really critical that I get out.

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I mean, I have a treadmill, I have a stationary bike, I

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have freeways, but nothing beats the
healing nature, the healing effects of being

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in nature, and I really love
it. Now we got a few days

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to go. Spring officially starts March
nineteenth, spring Equinox, and that's really

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powerful energy. And I think I
mentioned this before. Every seasonal change,

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I'll do a three to five day
fast. That's a lot for some people,

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but for me, I've kind of
conditioned myself. Three days is cool.

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If I'm really detoxing heavily that I'll
try to loosen it up and say,

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no, that's enough. Three days
is more than I want to do,

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or I don't feel good and I
need to stop. I try to

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do five days if I can.
I do a cleanse, I do a

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cleans to prepare for the season,
and that's just my thing. But getting

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out in nature with the spring period
is huge. And the theme on today's

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program is getting out and hiking,
getting out and connecting with nature. And

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why do we want to do that. Our ancestors did it quite regularly because

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they were connected to nature. They
built their homes from wood, or they

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lived in caves or here in northern
California there's huge redwood trees that were cut

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out and they lived inside the trees, which is kind of weird, but

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you should see some of these trees. They're massive. So it's really critical

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that we reset, that we heal
from the winter. Winter's slumber. Winter

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is sleeping early because it's you know, it gets dark early. We you

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know, we don't do as much. We're more contemplative now. Spring means

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growth. Regrow, start your planning, flowers, vegetables, fruit, put

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your gardens in. It's the time
to begin growing. And for humans,

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it's the time to connect, it's
the time to heal, it's the time

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to contemplate. And my guest today
has written a book on hiking and processing,

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and she you'll hear this in this
interview. She actually processed a tremendous

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amount of trauma and physical pain and
she got a pretty scary diagnosis and processed

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that and actually began her healing by
being out in nature. Now we don't

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really know what the properties are of
being in nature, being and green and

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walking and breathing the air, you
know. And it doesn't necessarily have to

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be a national park. It doesn't
have to be a park at all.

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It can be getting out and walking
around the block. Many of you live

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in rural areas where there's not a
sidewalk, so that's great. So you

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get your feet on the ground,
on the dirt, on the sand,

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whatever, and you're walking. But
it doesn't have to Like I said,

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it doesn't have to be a park. It can be walking around the block,

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walking around two or three blocks,
getting you know, your heart rate

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up a little bit, maybe walking
for twenty thirty minutes sometimes more, just

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to reconnect, just to get kickstart
your connection and the healing modality. Now

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I've spoken about this forever, and
you guys know, if you've been listening,

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that I find great benefit in hiking
a few times a week thirty minutes

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or more. Sometimes it's a little
bit longer because the trail, you know,

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is longer than you come back,
or you circle, whatever type of

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trail it is. But it's really
critical to being nature in any form.

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And it doesn't mean I mean I'm
in the city, but you know,

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I live in a place where there's
parks and there's acreage where you can just

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connect. There's no asphalt, there's
no cement, it's just you and mother

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nature. And this is critical,
critical for healing. So today's program is

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Hiking Your Feelings, Blazing a Trail
to Self Love, and my guest is

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author Sidney Williams. I love hiking. You guys know it. I talk

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about it as much as possible.
What do I I mean? I hike

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here in northern California because we have
some killer hiking trails, and some of

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them are world class. But I
hike because I want to decompress and I

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need to kind of wipe the day, clean, my mind, clean of

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the day's activities. And so hiking
has always been even though the weather has

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been bashed recently, hiking has been
really critical. My guest today has written

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a book on the topic called Hiking
Your Feelings, Blazing the Trail to Self

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Love. And what I like about
this book and the reason we have the

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author on is she talks about her
life, the trials and tribulations of relationships,

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so forth and so on, and
not really focusing enough on her wellness.

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And we're gonna talk about we're gonna
hear from her today exactly what happened

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my guest today. And the author
for the book is Sidney Williams, who

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is the founder of Hiking My Feelings, a nonprofit dedicated to the healing power

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of nature, and she has about
fifteen plus years of marketing and she's also

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a former competitive skydiver. Well,
we got to hear about that. Sidney.

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Welcome to Destiny. Great to have
you, Thanks for having me,

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clev Good morning. All right,
tell me what skydiving is all about.

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How I mean it's competitive skydiving mean
that there's a bullet, a big bullet

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ring or something you've got to dive
into the ring, and that's the competition

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or what for some folks. Yes, competitive skydiving has multiple disciplines, but

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the one that I practiced was called
four way formation skydiving. And in that

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case, the way the competition works
is there's four people in the air and

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a videographer that flies above you,
and there's a series of pictures. Leg

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We might do like a three hundred
and sixty degree turn, and then we

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might go touch some other people in
the sky, and each one of those

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pictures is a point. So at
the end of thirty five seconds, whoever

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gets the most points wins, and
that's how competitive skydiving works. Wait a

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minute. Okay, you're in the
air and you're collecting points. Is there

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a judge flying with you who's going
okay, one two, three, four

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five sixty seven. We have a
videographer that flies with you when you're a

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competitive skydiver. So when you land
from the jump, then your videographer goes

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and turns the video into the judges
who then watch the video. They don't

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have to be up there. They're
just like one two three, four five

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six. Yeah, exactly like you
said. But the videographer turns in the

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video and then the round gets scored
from there. So you were rocking that

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for a lot of long time.
So I mean, obviously jumping out of

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a plane that's exhilarating as hell,
a little more than I would consider doing.

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Uh, But I mean that you
did it for fifteen years. So

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what were you some kind of a
local champion or is it like competition that

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is rated And you're like, how
we're the best in California. Or mean,

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when you say competition, what is
it? What's the competition? Yeah?

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So I was a competitive scout ever
for four years from twenty ten to

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twenty fourteen. And the way it
works is it just happens that you're jumping

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out of airplanes people. Yeah,
man, it's it was. It was

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like it was the best thing in
my entire life and at the same time

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led me into just a ton of
tragedy, like mentally taxing, yes,

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physically taxing to some degree, yes. But to answer your original question,

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I received several medals at the local
and regional level here in southern California,

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and I yeah, and I competed
at the national level in twenty thirteen.

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And there's also the World Meet where
after each country has their own version of

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a national competition, and the best
two teams from each country in each discipline

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represent their country at the World Meet, which happens I believe every two years.

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Okay, you hinted at some tragedies
where some people hurt or some people

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not there are parents, is not
open? Was it that kind of hurt

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fatalities? Yeah, a combination.
In the four years that I was skydiving,

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twenty three of my friends passed away. So oh, of the yeah,

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three of those were veterans who took
their own lives, which, as

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I'm sure everybody's pretty well versed by
now, I think the recent statistic is

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one in twenty or twenty twenty.
On average, twenty veterans take their own

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lives in this country. So yeah, so three of my veteran friends who

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took their own lives. One was
just a horrific motorcycle accident on one of

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the freeways here in southern California,
and the rest of the people were skydiving

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fatalities or base jumping fatalities. And
base jumping is where you're jumping off of

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a bridge or an antenna or a
building or a cliff, and skydiving is

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human powered flight out of an airplane. So the those two activities being the

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things that took people the most frequently
for me and really at the end of

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the day, for anybody listening,
Like, overall, in skydiving, on

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average, there's maybe twenty five fatalities
a year in the United States, and

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that's across the millions of tandem skydives
that are made. When people are jumping

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with an instructor attached to their back. But also the folks that I lost

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weren't because of equipment malfunctions. Weren't
because they didn't open their parachute in time.

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Most of the people that I knew
that passed away were flying at the

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cutting edge of the sport, so
they were pushing their equipment's capabilities, they

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were pushing their own skill sets.
And with skydiving you have two parachutes,

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so there's a little bit more margin
for error. But with base jumping,

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if your parachute fails, that's it. What's base jumping is it's just one

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parachute and shorter jumps or something.
Yeah, one parachute and shorter jumps.

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So you're jumping from a fixed object
rather than a moving airplane. So you

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could jump from a tall building,
a water tower, a cliff, a

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bridge, you name it. If
it's this is like, it's a name

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for it. Something's sports like that
killer sports, but extreme sports, extreme

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sports? Yeah, is that what
that is? That is one of the

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most extreme for sure. Yes,
twenty three friends passed away. I mean

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in your book you talk about carrying
around trauma. That would be a traumatic

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you know, even if they're casual
friends. To lose them as a group,

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as somebody as part of a team
would be devastating. Yeah. Well,

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and I mean if you think about
the average person, right like before

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I started dripping out of planes,
one fatality, one sudden loss, one

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tragic ending to a life is a
lot to overcome as the person on the

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surviving side of that, as the
loved one who didn't die, but to

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stack twenty three in four years,
like the when I share this story of

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like I just envisioned that chapter of
my life. I was kind of like

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a boxer with their hands tied behind
their back, just getting punched in the

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face over and over. Like life
just ca giving me challenges and it was

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a really it was a really chaotic
time to learn, not how to do

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it right, Like when when I
was in that chapter of my life,

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Like my my go to coping mechanisms
were eating whatever I could find or drinking

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my feelings. So that was how
we coped as a as a community was

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like we can't. It's it's difficult
in the skydiving and based jumping community to

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like I think, to really give
those losses serious contemplation and consideration in the

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same way that we do for folks
that pass outside of extreme sports, because

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if we acknowledge that it happened to
our friends, and most of these people

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that passed away in that four year
time span were extremely talented athletes, So

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it's really it's really difficult to sit
with that and say, well, if

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the best in the sport can die
this way, myself is just an average

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Joe or Jean or whatever could probably
definitely fall to the same fate. And

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I think that that's probably one of
the reasons why the go to way to

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cope. As soon as we heard
out that somebody had passed, round up

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the troops, go to the liquor
store and get ready to party, because

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we have to honor life rather than
mourning death when we're skydiving or else,

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we're not able to like mentally stay
in the game and be safe ourselves.

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At least that was the case.
A great way to process either no,

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no, you're pushing it deeper and
getting high and party as kind of a

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morning or what I guess, kind
of a mini wakes we yeah, oh

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it memorializing somebody was that The factor
that I eventually got you out was the

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fact that you had so many people
that were passing or did you kind of

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grow out of diving? What was
the factor on that. The majority of

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it was losing so many friends in
sequential order, Like it got to the

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point back in twenty fourteen, like
at the beginning of the year, one

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of my friends that was a US
Army veteran took his own life, and

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then my uncle had passed away,
not from skydiving, but from brain cancer.

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And then in August of that same
year, one of my best friends,

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Adam, died on a bass jump. So it was like January was

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tough because we lost Chris, and
then May my uncle passed, and then

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August Adam passed, and I was
just like, I can't do this anymore.

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But ultimately the straw that broke the
camel's back was the way that I

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had chosen to cope and by taking
a break from jumping when all of my

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friends it felt like every time I
woke up, somebody knew was dying.

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When I stopped jumping to just kind
of take a break for myself, get

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my head wrapped around the losses.
My boss at the skydiving center where I

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was working and training, who was
also on my skydiving team, and my

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skydiving coach. So like I trusted
this man in the sky with my life.

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He signed my paychecks and he was
a friend. He was arrested on

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several felony accounts for sexually assaulting a
young woman under the fourteen Actually she was

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a girl. That's not a woman, that is a child, and that

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was that was the end of it
for me. I was like, I

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can't be here. At the time, I was running events, pr and

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marketing at the skydiving center, and
I was like, I can't be involved

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in cleaning up this like this,
this doesn't have anything to do with my

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job description. So I retired at
the end of twenty fourteen and haven't been

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back in the sky since. So
you quit the competitive skydiving, you move

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into marketing, but you hadn't really
resolved And this is the interesting part of

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your book. You have you hadn't
resolved this trauma, and you had these

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kind of strange and not really great
lifestyle habits, eating whatever you want,

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perhaps drinking too much. And at
some point you're working and you discover you

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have diabetes. How devastating is that? Talk about that by that discovery?

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Yeah, well, I mean at
first, so like in the initial moments

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after receiving the diagnosis, So I
was in the car, not the best

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place to receive a chronic illness diagnosis
in the car driving to the San Diego

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International Airport to pick up a friend, So like driving in traffic stressful enough,

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going to the airport stressful enough that
coupled with a chronic illness diagnosis received

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via telephone while doing all of that
was a lot. And my first thought

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was like, Okay, don't wreck
the car, right because like I'm trying,

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I'm trying to like wiggle into the
curb side pickup to get my friend

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and also like talking to my doctor. And also because at the time,

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all I knew was the stigma around
the disease and I was thirty one years

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old when I was diagnosed, I
was like, why is this happening to

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me? Like I just I all
I knew was like the stereotypes about what

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kinds of people get diabetes, and
I was like, well, why me,

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Like what's going on with that?
And it was it was a really

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it was shocking. But then as
I learned how to manage the disease and

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I started to navigate living life with
it and making some radical lifestyle changes.

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It wasn't surprising like it was,
but it wasn't because once I understood what

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contributes to a type two diabetes diagnosis, it was like, oh, yeah,

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that tracks like I haven't been taking
good care of myself at all.

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So that makes sense. I get
it. Would you say that at that

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time of your life you kind of
write about it. It's in the early

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parts of your book. You are
just kind of disconnected from your body.

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It's like you're walking around and you're
kind of like eating whatever, you know,

240
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maybe carrying a little too much weight, maybe not getting enough rest.

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Just not really good thought provoking lifestyle, right, that's correct, Yeah,

242
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talk about it. Yeah, I
mean it was just like when I got

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that diagnosis. So in the book, I'm sharing the story, like the

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timeline is falling two hikes that I
did across Catalina Island. So the first

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hike was in twenty sixteen, the
diagnosis came nine months after that first hike,

246
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and then the second hike was in
twenty eighteen. So like sandwiched in

247
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between two of the most transformative experiences
of my life period, let alone Outdoors

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comes this like smack to the face. And while everything you just said is

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true. I wasn't taking good care
of myself. I was carrying a lot

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of extra weight. The thing that
was most interesting to me about it was

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because I had gone on that first
hike in twenty sixteen, and because I

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had done it with no training,
and because I had done it with no

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experience, my capacity to stick to
it on that trail kind of set me

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up for success. I actually,
I would say definitely set me up for

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success with managing this diagnosis, because
when we're out in the back country,

256
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much like when we're out in life, like if something hard comes up,

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like what are you gonna do?
Just sit down and pout and never move

258
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again. No, we got to
keep putting one foot in front of the

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other. And the most beautiful thing
about the diabetes diagnosis, as it pertains

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to when this happened, in what
chapter of my life, and what had

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set me up for success to manage
this disease. That first hike in twenty

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sixteen was one of the most difficult
things I've ever done physically. And obviously

263
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we've been talking about skydiving. I
was also a competitive or I was a

264
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Division one athlete in college on the
women's rowing team at the University of Kansas.

265
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I dabbled in all the sports and
activities growing up, so I was

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always some semblance of athletic. But
in the years leading up to that first

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hike in twenty sixteen, I had
put on a ton of weight and I

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didn't recognize the body I was in. And when I went to go shopping

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to get all of the gear that
I needed to go have a safe and

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successful trip in a backpacking environment,
I was just flabbergasted by the fact that

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every single size of clothes that I
tried on that I had worn my entire

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life, none of it fit like
I had been shopping in years. Oh

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my god. So I was just
I had no idea, but for for

274
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whatever reason and and I had.
I have been a yo yo dieter my

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entire life. I've always been up
until this chapter of my life. Now

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I've got it all dialed in.
But the first thirty years of my life,

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I was like, Oh, let's
try a new diet, let's do

278
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these diet pills, let's not eat
stuff, let's eat all the things.

279
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Like I tried all the things,
and what happened every time was every time

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that I tried to get my health
under control or take positive action towards some

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kind of health outcome I was looking
for. It was always rooted in how

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I looked and vanity and like I
gotta lose twenty pounds so I can go

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00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:47.000
look super cute on stage for this
speaking engagement or whatever the motivation was.

284
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And for whatever reason, on that
backpacking trip in twenty sixteen, when I

285
00:23:51.079 --> 00:23:53.000
didn't recognize the body I was in
when I was buying the biggest clothes I've

286
00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:57.599
ever bought, I was like,
Okay, I don't know what happened here

287
00:23:59.160 --> 00:24:00.839
with all of this this body,
all this extra weight. I'm caring,

288
00:24:02.200 --> 00:24:06.359
but I'm curious, like what would
be possible from this point moving forward?

289
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I just honored my inner athlete,
and it was in that framing of like,

290
00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:14.240
how can I tap back into that
division one mindset I had? How

291
00:24:14.319 --> 00:24:19.319
can I tap into this spirit of
competitive skydiving, which is a very mentally

292
00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:26.359
taxing experience. How can I tap
into those things to set myself up for

293
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success on this hike? And by
doing that, I was able to just

294
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keep putting one foot in front of
the other. I realized, like,

295
00:24:33.160 --> 00:24:37.440
Okay, I know that I'm not
getting as far on this trail as I

296
00:24:37.480 --> 00:24:40.759
want to. I recognize that I'm
in really bad shape. I did not

297
00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:45.839
condition my body for this experience.
But what I know to be true is

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00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:48.279
that I love how I feel when
I'm out here, and I want to

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do more of it. So in
the framing of what is possible if I

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honor my inner athlete is what set
me up for success in managing the diabetes.

301
00:24:56.839 --> 00:25:03.440
I'm interested in this first high.
Your husband suggested it. You weren't

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00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:08.759
in hiking shape and Catalina. I
haven't hiked on Catalina Island before, but

303
00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:15.440
it looks pretty flat. But still
it's a long walk, a long hike.

304
00:25:15.559 --> 00:25:18.400
So what was his motivation? It's
like, we're gonna break you out

305
00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:23.119
of your slump. Were you feeling
depressed? I mean, he was the

306
00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:29.519
motivating factor for that first hike.
Well I think about that, Yeah,

307
00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:33.440
yeah, I mean for the first
hike when we realized one. I had

308
00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:38.039
been in client services for several years. That had been my career, between

309
00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:42.720
marketing, communications, working at PR
firms, working on brand side. I

310
00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:48.799
had been in client services and prioritizing
client needs over my own for my entirety

311
00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:52.200
of my career. Leading up to
that point, and where I was in

312
00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:57.480
my lifespan, in my career at
that time, was this agency that I

313
00:25:57.519 --> 00:26:02.079
was working with, in particular,
had the entire business shut down between Christmas

314
00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:06.400
and New Year's. And for anybody
listening that's in any kind of like job

315
00:26:06.440 --> 00:26:10.319
where you get paid time off,
especially if you're in client services, we've

316
00:26:10.359 --> 00:26:14.920
all been on vacation checking emails right
Like we're like, Oh, I'm on

317
00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:18.599
vacation, but I'm not because I'm
doing work. That wasn't going to happen

318
00:26:18.680 --> 00:26:22.359
for me on this trip because the
entire agency was closed between Christmas and New

319
00:26:22.440 --> 00:26:26.119
Year's. So knowing that I could
be all the way offline and it didn't

320
00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:30.839
need to be like semi accessible as
I used to have to be on vacation,

321
00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:33.279
I was like, I want to
get off the grid. And the

322
00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:37.079
year before, my husband and I
had done like a little road trip around

323
00:26:37.160 --> 00:26:41.200
southern California and kind of up into
the Bay Area and then back down,

324
00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:44.759
just camping at different parks around the
area, and I was like, I

325
00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:48.960
really enjoyed how I felt when I
got back from that trip, just spending

326
00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:51.680
time out in the woods. And
my husband grew up in New Hampshire and

327
00:26:51.720 --> 00:26:55.039
he recommended that we go backpacking.
So it was his idea to get off

328
00:26:55.079 --> 00:26:59.599
the grid, to go and find
something close to us. And fortunately we

329
00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:03.359
were living in San Diego at the
time and the uh Trans Catalina Trail,

330
00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:07.400
which is off the coast of Los
Angeles, California, was a short drive

331
00:27:07.400 --> 00:27:11.839
and a short ferry right away.
Playing by plane or a multi day trip

332
00:27:11.880 --> 00:27:15.759
to get to where we wanted to
get. It was nearby. It was

333
00:27:15.400 --> 00:27:19.559
remote enough for us to get the
experience of being in the back country.

334
00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:26.680
And to circle back to your original
point. You haven't hiked on Catalina and

335
00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:30.880
I'm about to tell you it ain't
flat, sir, like it is it

336
00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:33.920
is it gilly, because I mean
you have of it and the pitches,

337
00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:37.359
yeah, coast look pretty flat.
I mean yeah, flat flat, but

338
00:27:38.200 --> 00:27:42.480
so ups and downs. Yeah,
So to put it into context for like

339
00:27:42.519 --> 00:27:45.880
folks that are you know, from
the American West, where we're talking about

340
00:27:45.880 --> 00:27:49.799
like fourteen thousand foot mountains and that's
the challenge. Yeah. The highest point

341
00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:53.759
on Catalina Island is Silver Peak and
that's eighteen hundred feet, right. Yeah,

342
00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:59.640
So it's not you're not going to
get the massive five thousand foot elevation

343
00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:03.200
game in one shot, as you
might in the Sierras. But here's the

344
00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:07.559
thing. There's no coverage whatsoever,
no shade on this trail save for like

345
00:28:07.640 --> 00:28:12.119
maybe two or three places on the
entire trail. And the trail builder,

346
00:28:12.200 --> 00:28:19.319
Kevin Ryan, it's the Transcattlina trail
is a combination of the access roads on

347
00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:22.480
the island, so dirt roads that
get you from one side of the island

348
00:28:22.519 --> 00:28:26.079
to the other, and single track
and the single track that's on the island.

349
00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:32.279
He fashioned it after bison tracks,
so like where the bison on the

350
00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:37.519
island roam with their four legs and
all their power and not worrying about blisters

351
00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:41.839
or hiking boots or backpacks. Like, that's where the trail goes. So

352
00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:45.240
Kevin was like, yeah, uh, if I just follow this little line

353
00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:47.839
here, yep, yep, that's
where the bison walk, Let's build a

354
00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:52.599
trail here. So it's it's on
paper, you're one hundred percent right.

355
00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:55.279
Like if you look at the elevation
profile for the trans Catalana trail, you're

356
00:28:55.319 --> 00:28:57.079
like, this is easy. I
got this. You get out there and

357
00:28:57.119 --> 00:29:02.880
it's like anything above sixty five degrees
in sunny and you're sweating like it's July

358
00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:07.039
and it's just it's hot. There's
no shade and it's it's a doozy.

359
00:29:07.240 --> 00:29:15.279
It really you did it from you
did it from outboarding from the ferry and

360
00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:19.440
so it's like, what twenty six
miles? The whole trail is twenty something

361
00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:26.240
miles, right, So are you
doing this in landing and back to two

362
00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:30.880
Harbors? Okay, so what is
the So you stayed what was it like

363
00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:34.680
three days that you were there or
something. Our first time we did five

364
00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:38.759
days. So yeah, and we
took a day off at Little Harbor,

365
00:29:40.200 --> 00:29:42.200
mostly because we had to in order
to get the reservation. That's the other

366
00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:48.000
thing about the trans Catalania Trail.
It's very different from other backpacking experiences in

367
00:29:48.039 --> 00:29:52.200
California and that each camp site you
have to reserve it. So it's not

368
00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:55.160
like you're walking on the Pacific Crest
Trail and then you're like, you know

369
00:29:55.200 --> 00:29:56.759
what, I've hiked ten miles today, I'm tired. I like to pull

370
00:29:56.799 --> 00:30:00.039
over and set up camp on the
trans a lanea trail. You have to

371
00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:04.279
sleep at the designated camp sites,
so oh interesting, Okay, Yeah,

372
00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:07.799
so it's a really great first backpacking
trip in that regard. And that not

373
00:30:07.880 --> 00:30:11.960
because it's easy, because it's not, like I already mentioned, but it

374
00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:15.839
takes a lot of the what ifs
out. So for anybody that's looking for

375
00:30:15.880 --> 00:30:18.680
a first backpacking trip, assuming that
you can hike that many miles in that

376
00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:22.720
many sequential days, you don't have
to really worry about like finding water.

377
00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:26.440
There's water provided at every camp site. Cool. You don't have to worry

378
00:30:26.440 --> 00:30:29.880
about where you set up camp Like
I mentioned, Like the camp sites are

379
00:30:29.880 --> 00:30:33.039
predetermined and you have to reserve the
camp sites. That's your version of a

380
00:30:33.039 --> 00:30:36.240
permit. So there's not like a
lottery for permits or anything. Yeah,

381
00:30:36.279 --> 00:30:40.079
but the reservation's open on January first, and you have to reserve it in

382
00:30:40.200 --> 00:30:42.279
order to be able to hike that
So I gotta ask you this, Sydney.

383
00:30:42.839 --> 00:30:48.599
You talk about collecting and buying all
your equipment, you haven't hiked before.

384
00:30:48.200 --> 00:30:52.920
How heavy was your pack when you
started? Uh? I was ringing

385
00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:56.359
in close to thirty thirty five pounds, And for somebody who hasn't used a

386
00:30:56.440 --> 00:31:02.680
pack before, that must have been
a burden After a while. I mean

387
00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:06.720
like I was like barely successfully carrying
the weight that was living on my body,

388
00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:08.599
let alone my pals. Yeah,
it was, it was. It

389
00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:11.559
was a doozy. So you're must
have been taking a lot of breaks to

390
00:31:11.559 --> 00:31:17.079
get that pack off your back,
Yes, sir, I was okay.

391
00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:22.200
So you take five days and you're
back. You're up in your back,

392
00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:30.440
obviously, you're you're you're challenged for
a lot of this hike. What came

393
00:31:30.519 --> 00:31:37.240
through for you though, that you
find is important about hiking in the outdoors.

394
00:31:37.279 --> 00:31:41.319
Obviously you have your husband. That's
kind of cool. It's nice to

395
00:31:41.400 --> 00:31:47.519
have some your you know, your
your relationship, your lover with you to

396
00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:51.640
kind of catch up on stuff,
especially if you're always gone you're working.

397
00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:56.960
But other than that, why what
was it about the hight that really you

398
00:31:56.039 --> 00:32:01.160
felt was transformative? I'll tell tell
you what. Between the two there were

399
00:32:01.160 --> 00:32:05.319
two really big takeaways. I would
say. On the first hike in twenty

400
00:32:05.400 --> 00:32:09.880
sixteen, it was so intensely physical
because I hadn't trained, because I wasn't

401
00:32:10.519 --> 00:32:15.960
experienced at backpacking. It was so
deeply physical that all I could think about

402
00:32:16.039 --> 00:32:20.839
was like what I was feeling in
my body, And for that, in

403
00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:23.039
and of itself, was a transformational
experience because like you said, I had

404
00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:27.759
been living kind of outside of my
body for a long time, and to

405
00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:35.079
be so in it and so aware
of every pinch and pain and bruise and

406
00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:42.759
blister was a very h not overwhelming
experience, but a new experience that I

407
00:32:42.839 --> 00:32:46.519
hadn't had that much awareness of my
body in such a positive light too,

408
00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:52.799
Because it was so deeply intensely physical, I very easily could have slid down

409
00:32:53.039 --> 00:32:58.400
like a very tempting path of like
berating myself or judging myself, or or

410
00:32:58.519 --> 00:33:02.319
chastising myself for not being in better
shape and trying to do this deeply physical

411
00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:06.920
thing. But for whatever reason I
didn't. So the first trip, while

412
00:33:06.920 --> 00:33:10.559
deeply physical and I never really got
into like the emotional benefits of hiking on

413
00:33:10.559 --> 00:33:15.559
that first trip, what I did
realize was this has radically changed my relationship

414
00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:20.000
with my body. Like I mentioned
before, on that first hike, I

415
00:33:20.039 --> 00:33:22.559
didn't recognize the body that I was
living in because I had just been trying

416
00:33:22.559 --> 00:33:27.440
to deal for so long and I
wasn't dealing well. And then on the

417
00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:31.279
second hike in twenty sixteen with that
or in twenty eighteen with that diabetes diagnosis

418
00:33:31.319 --> 00:33:35.799
in the middle. So if the
first hike was like the most physically challenging

419
00:33:35.799 --> 00:33:38.519
thing I've ever done, and that
was beneficial in reminding me that like wow,

420
00:33:38.599 --> 00:33:42.160
like look at what is possible.
Like I might not have finished this

421
00:33:42.240 --> 00:33:45.119
trail the first time, but I
gave it everything I got and I got

422
00:33:45.160 --> 00:33:50.119
pretty far. That was really cool. Then the diabetes diagnosis kind of set

423
00:33:50.160 --> 00:33:54.880
me up for success on that became
hiking became like my primary activity and my

424
00:33:54.920 --> 00:34:00.559
training plan for managing diabetes. For
the sheer fact that and I knew that

425
00:34:00.599 --> 00:34:04.279
I was going out for a hike, I didn't want to eat like crap

426
00:34:04.279 --> 00:34:07.199
the night before because I wanted to
wake up and feel good. I was

427
00:34:07.519 --> 00:34:10.800
getting outside, getting fresh air,
getting that vitamin D from the sun that

428
00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:15.159
we all need to be able to
be happy, healthy humans. And I

429
00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:21.119
was losing a tremendous amount of weight
between the first hike and the second hike,

430
00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:22.519
so that diabetes diagnosis. By the
time I got on the trail the

431
00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:27.960
second time, I had lost like
sixty pounds I was training, I had

432
00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:34.960
six zero six zero. Yeah.
Yeah, So I really let hiking kind

433
00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:38.639
of be the guiding force in both
my diabetes management plan but also also in

434
00:34:38.679 --> 00:34:43.239
how I mentally manage my mental health. And so in twenty eighteen, on

435
00:34:43.280 --> 00:34:46.119
that second hike, my question going
into it was like, Okay, on

436
00:34:46.199 --> 00:34:50.760
the first hike, it was really
really hard for all the reasons already mentioned.

437
00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:54.079
Then I got diagnosed with diabetes,
and in the process of diabetes management,

438
00:34:54.159 --> 00:34:59.800
I had discovered that because I wanted
to be a good diabetes patient,

439
00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:02.440
couldn't keep doing the things that I
used to do to cope. So I

440
00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:07.000
couldn't keep drinking a bottle of wine
to myself after work. I couldn't keep

441
00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:09.639
eating Ben and Jerry's for breakfast when
I was sad and I was asking myself,

442
00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:13.400
like I realized on the top of
this mountain outside of San Diego while

443
00:35:13.440 --> 00:35:15.079
I was training for the Trans Catalina
Trail the second time, I was like,

444
00:35:15.159 --> 00:35:19.760
oh, like, I've been hiking
my feelings instead of eating or drinking

445
00:35:19.800 --> 00:35:22.400
them, and that's kind of just
how like it was just a phrase that

446
00:35:22.480 --> 00:35:24.719
came to my head and I was
like, oh, well, yay me,

447
00:35:25.039 --> 00:35:30.760
Like that's a healthier way to cope
certainly, but also it got me

448
00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:34.360
thinking like why was I eating and
drinking my feelings to begin with, and

449
00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:37.800
what would be possible if the hike
itself wasn't the hard part on that second

450
00:35:37.800 --> 00:35:40.679
trip, right, because if I
had gotten all the benefits that I had

451
00:35:40.719 --> 00:35:45.920
gotten extremely out of shape, no
training, no conditioning, no knowledge on

452
00:35:45.199 --> 00:35:51.280
as to how to enjoy this experience, no experience having done anything like that

453
00:35:51.280 --> 00:35:54.519
before. In twenty sixteen, what
was available to me now that I could

454
00:35:54.679 --> 00:36:00.000
hike multiple days in a row because
I did do that trip in the world

455
00:36:00.039 --> 00:36:01.519
or shape I've ever been in,
Like, what else is possible for me

456
00:36:01.559 --> 00:36:05.840
out here? Yeah, that's fascinating. In twenty eighteen was the trip where

457
00:36:05.960 --> 00:36:08.559
I got to understand why hiking was
the thing that was helping me heal more

458
00:36:08.599 --> 00:36:12.280
than anything else I had tried.
And the rest of I want to talk

459
00:36:12.280 --> 00:36:17.119
about that. I want to talk
about the two year span. Something happened

460
00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:24.320
the first time on Catalina Island that
woke you to the benefits of hiking,

461
00:36:24.360 --> 00:36:32.119
But more than just the benefits physically, talk about the training or perhaps exercise

462
00:36:32.199 --> 00:36:37.880
routine that you developed prior to the
second trip. And I mean, there's

463
00:36:37.960 --> 00:36:43.199
sixty pounds, there's a lot of
weight to lose, and so you're really

464
00:36:43.320 --> 00:36:46.719
changing your not only your life,
your physical body, but your mental body.

465
00:36:47.159 --> 00:36:54.840
So talk about why the hike was
important. I mean the training and

466
00:36:55.280 --> 00:37:00.400
what you did. Did you hike
once a week for an hour? Did

467
00:37:00.440 --> 00:37:04.760
you hike a couple of times a
week around the block? What type of

468
00:37:04.840 --> 00:37:07.440
hiking we're are we talking about?
Yeah? Well, and this is this

469
00:37:07.480 --> 00:37:10.639
is one of my favorite parts of
this story because I started gangbusters, right,

470
00:37:10.679 --> 00:37:13.719
I was like, you know what
I'm gonna do, go backpacking,

471
00:37:13.840 --> 00:37:16.679
no experience whatsoever. I'm just gonna
backpack because I got this, and I

472
00:37:16.760 --> 00:37:20.480
did to some extent. But then
I got home and I was like,

473
00:37:20.559 --> 00:37:22.920
well, I can't just go backpacking
every day, right, Like I need

474
00:37:22.960 --> 00:37:24.920
to get into some kind of routine. And after I got diagnosed with type

475
00:37:24.920 --> 00:37:29.360
two diabetes, my doctor was like, hey, if you walk at least

476
00:37:29.400 --> 00:37:31.840
fifteen minutes a day, three to
five days a week, you're gonna you're

477
00:37:31.880 --> 00:37:36.320
gonna beat this. Like it is
possible. We've caught it early enough in

478
00:37:36.360 --> 00:37:40.400
the development of the disease that it
is possible for this to be a manageable

479
00:37:40.440 --> 00:37:43.920
thing for you. And I was
like, oh, okay, So I

480
00:37:43.960 --> 00:37:49.000
just started walking around my neighborhood like
granted, got nine months prior I had

481
00:37:49.039 --> 00:37:52.280
just gone and done a multi day
backpacking trip but then I couldn't walk right

482
00:37:52.559 --> 00:37:55.039
for a couple of weeks because I
didn't train, like and my legs had

483
00:37:55.039 --> 00:37:59.239
to heal and my blisters had to
heal. So I was like, maybe

484
00:37:59.280 --> 00:38:02.119
instead of going like full bore right
out the gate, let's develop a plan.

485
00:38:02.199 --> 00:38:06.199
So I literally just started walking around
the neighborhood. Like I would wake

486
00:38:06.280 --> 00:38:09.199
up and there was this canyon like
this, like and by canyon, I

487
00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:12.320
mean I feel like when I say
that, people are like, oh,

488
00:38:12.360 --> 00:38:14.920
she lives by the Grand Canyon.
No, So like it's you know,

489
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:16.400
like when you go on a road
and there's like a big dip and the

490
00:38:16.400 --> 00:38:19.960
way back up is enough to make
you feel like you're on a roller coaster.

491
00:38:20.360 --> 00:38:22.679
Like that's the kind of hill that
I used to walk in my neighborhood.

492
00:38:22.679 --> 00:38:27.159
So it's not like some big massive
thing San Diego or to make yeah,

493
00:38:27.280 --> 00:38:30.519
San Diego, but so I call
it the hill of Death. It's

494
00:38:30.559 --> 00:38:31.960
not actually that big, but at
the time it felt like it. And

495
00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:36.360
so I would wake up and like
before, I wouldn't scroll, like I

496
00:38:36.360 --> 00:38:39.159
wouldn't go scrolling through social media.
I wouldn't check my email and start responding

497
00:38:39.159 --> 00:38:44.840
to clients right away, like my
my mornings were mine, jumping into work

498
00:38:44.920 --> 00:38:47.760
or whatever the world needed for me. It was just me and the sounds

499
00:38:47.800 --> 00:38:52.440
of my neighborhood and the cute little
critters that live along the route that I

500
00:38:52.519 --> 00:38:55.159
was walking, Like I got to
go meet all the cute neighborhood dogs and

501
00:38:55.199 --> 00:39:00.719
like hear the birds, and it
was just a neighborhood walk. And it

502
00:39:00.960 --> 00:39:04.119
was that simple. And that's one
of the biggest points that I try to

503
00:39:04.159 --> 00:39:07.199
make. It's called hiking your Feelings. My organization is called Hiking My Feelings.

504
00:39:07.199 --> 00:39:12.559
But hiking is really a small part
of what we do, and it's

505
00:39:13.159 --> 00:39:17.920
a hike doesn't have a definition,
at least not in our world. We're

506
00:39:17.920 --> 00:39:23.039
going to take a short commercial break
to allow our sponsors to identify themselves,

507
00:39:23.679 --> 00:39:30.360
and we will be right back with
my guest today, Sidney Williams discussing her

508
00:39:30.400 --> 00:40:10.119
new book, Hiking Your Feelings.
We'll be right back. My guest today

509
00:40:10.159 --> 00:40:15.079
is Sydney Williams, who has written
a new book called Hiking Your Feelings,

510
00:40:15.119 --> 00:40:22.880
in which she describes her own transformation
from trauma and a really serious diagnosis and

511
00:40:23.039 --> 00:40:30.760
her transformation by hiking and getting out
in nature. I use the word hike

512
00:40:30.840 --> 00:40:36.360
a lot. But you can hike
on a trail. It's more like walking.

513
00:40:36.920 --> 00:40:42.400
Some people might think of the word
hike like going up steep hills or

514
00:40:42.719 --> 00:40:45.840
really struggling or having to repel off
a cliff or so crazy, right,

515
00:40:46.199 --> 00:40:52.880
But walking outdoors at some kind of
a pace, getting the air, that's

516
00:40:52.920 --> 00:40:57.079
what we're talking about, right,
Yes, yeah, no matter if you're

517
00:40:57.119 --> 00:41:00.239
walking, you can do urban hiking. In fact, we hiked all way

518
00:41:00.280 --> 00:41:04.280
across the state of Michigan on an
urban trail. We hiked two hundred and

519
00:41:04.280 --> 00:41:08.079
twenty miles around Chicago, around the
city. That's hiking, Like hiking is

520
00:41:08.119 --> 00:41:12.840
walking. And my husband likes to
remind me that it's just walking, and

521
00:41:12.880 --> 00:41:15.039
we've been doing it with some degree
of success since we were toddlers. So

522
00:41:15.480 --> 00:41:19.000
for anybody listening, that's like,
oh man, hiking sounds like I need

523
00:41:19.039 --> 00:41:21.440
to get boots in a backpack and
I need to like get my map and

524
00:41:21.480 --> 00:41:24.199
a compass and really plan stuff out. Hiking is just walking outside, That's

525
00:41:24.199 --> 00:41:29.039
what I say, And it's and
it's the intent behind it. We're we're

526
00:41:29.079 --> 00:41:31.920
wandering, we're wondering, we're allowing
ourselves to be captivated by the magic that

527
00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:38.599
surrounds us. The spirit of hiking
and the physical activity of hiking sometimes get

528
00:41:38.679 --> 00:41:43.960
misconstrued, and the spirit is that
of an adventure and exploration, and the

529
00:41:44.079 --> 00:41:49.280
actual physical activity can be walking in
a city or walking in remote, rugged

530
00:41:49.320 --> 00:41:54.360
wilderness, or anything in between.
Why is it critical not to bring your

531
00:41:54.519 --> 00:42:02.199
phone if you can help it,
or be listening to music or be engaged

532
00:42:02.480 --> 00:42:07.639
with some media as you're walking.
I think, well, for me,

533
00:42:07.960 --> 00:42:10.599
uh, keep your phone, but
just tuck it away, because you want

534
00:42:10.599 --> 00:42:14.079
to have like a map, especially
if you're going somewhere and you don't you

535
00:42:14.119 --> 00:42:16.559
haven't been there before, like there. You do want to have some reference

536
00:42:16.559 --> 00:42:19.800
as to where you're going in a
way to get in touch with people.

537
00:42:20.199 --> 00:42:22.280
But what I say when I say
disconnect is like just tuck the phone in

538
00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:25.760
your backpack, tuck it in your
pocket, don't listen to audio books,

539
00:42:25.800 --> 00:42:30.239
skip the music, skip your favorite
podcast unless it's this one and this in

540
00:42:30.239 --> 00:42:35.440
that case, like take take this
episode, listen to Destiny even if you

541
00:42:35.480 --> 00:42:42.599
want to. That all being said, like the the the benefit of disconnecting

542
00:42:42.920 --> 00:42:45.400
is simply the awareness. And I
think that that's something that people are most

543
00:42:45.440 --> 00:42:51.079
scared of. They're scared of empty
space, they're scared of being alone with

544
00:42:51.119 --> 00:42:54.920
their thoughts. But that's where the
magic happens. Like if we if we

545
00:42:54.960 --> 00:42:59.760
really sit down and think about it, how long has it been since you've

546
00:42:59.800 --> 00:43:05.880
gone on at least an hour,
if not a day or multiple days without

547
00:43:06.039 --> 00:43:09.679
technology, without background noise, Like
we hear stuff all the time. Like

548
00:43:09.719 --> 00:43:15.400
really, the only time that we're
not being inundated with external stimuli is when

549
00:43:15.440 --> 00:43:17.079
we're sleeping, and even then,
like some of us sleep with noise machines.

550
00:43:17.119 --> 00:43:23.440
So like to be able to have
actual, dedicated, planned, intentional

551
00:43:23.519 --> 00:43:29.079
time away from all the things that
we use to distract ourselves. And not

552
00:43:29.119 --> 00:43:32.679
all distractions are negative either, by
the way, Like listening to educational programs

553
00:43:32.760 --> 00:43:37.880
is not a negative distraction, Like
listening to your favorite podcast is not damaging

554
00:43:37.920 --> 00:43:40.960
in the way that like chugging a
bottle of wine to yourself after work is

555
00:43:42.440 --> 00:43:46.920
some nights, But like to give
yourself separation from that and allowing yourself just

556
00:43:46.960 --> 00:43:51.159
to hear your own thoughts. How
thinks about that? A little more,

557
00:43:51.519 --> 00:43:58.239
go a little deeper, Sydney,
I relate my hikes too, And you

558
00:43:58.360 --> 00:44:02.920
used a great word intentionally clearing.
But what do you think happens when we

559
00:44:04.039 --> 00:44:08.719
do like say thirty minutes even twenty
minute walk or hike, and we're not

560
00:44:09.920 --> 00:44:16.159
having any interference from whatever technology we
carry. Well, if you give yourself

561
00:44:16.199 --> 00:44:20.800
the time and space away from the
technology that we carry, there's a couple

562
00:44:20.840 --> 00:44:23.000
things that are going to happen.
And the thing that happened most for me

563
00:44:23.800 --> 00:44:30.559
is this. When I tried to
heal from all the things that I've been

564
00:44:30.559 --> 00:44:35.360
through, from the friends passing from
trauma earlier in my life, from everyday

565
00:44:35.440 --> 00:44:39.119
struggles of being human, I would
I would deploy some kind of tactic,

566
00:44:39.199 --> 00:44:43.119
right, so I would like do
I would find a meditation or some journal

567
00:44:43.159 --> 00:44:45.519
prompts or some kind of exercise or
activity, or a self help book or

568
00:44:45.519 --> 00:44:50.280
whatever, and I'd try to do
these things and I'd be sitting there and

569
00:44:50.360 --> 00:44:53.559
i would be like meditating, and
then I'd have some memory come through my

570
00:44:53.639 --> 00:44:59.360
mind and just like send my nervous
system into complete dysregulation, some kind of

571
00:44:59.360 --> 00:45:02.599
flashback thing that I'm trying to heal
from, that I would shut down.

572
00:45:02.960 --> 00:45:08.039
And it wasn't until I started hiking
without the without the distractions that I have

573
00:45:08.119 --> 00:45:13.280
in everyday life, that I was
able to take that step one step further

574
00:45:13.800 --> 00:45:19.480
in that so I'm able to process
because and it wasn't until that second hike

575
00:45:19.519 --> 00:45:22.679
in twenty eighteen where I actually like
felt this happening in real time and it

576
00:45:22.719 --> 00:45:28.159
was like WHOA, Like this this
is the future of healing, right because

577
00:45:28.159 --> 00:45:30.880
I was like, wait a minute, Like, I'm I'm still processing,

578
00:45:30.920 --> 00:45:36.199
like the negative thoughts that go through
my head. I still feel disregulated,

579
00:45:36.239 --> 00:45:39.519
like I feel that fight or flight
response from that memory or from that flashback

580
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.519
happening in my body. But the
difference is when I'm doing this in motion,

581
00:45:44.679 --> 00:45:47.480
when I'm processing in motion, specifically
when I'm hiking, and even better,

582
00:45:47.519 --> 00:45:52.519
if I'm doing something difficult physically,
I have somewhere to put the energy.

583
00:45:52.760 --> 00:45:55.320
And that's the difference to be able
to stomp it out, to be

584
00:45:55.400 --> 00:45:59.760
able to cry in the middle of
the woods and not have anybody look at

585
00:45:59.760 --> 00:46:04.960
me or judge me like that.
That is the mechanism of hiking without distractions,

586
00:46:04.960 --> 00:46:09.880
that to heel through it. Exactly, you just made a You just

587
00:46:10.920 --> 00:46:15.679
gave me a kind of a lead
to the next question. It it's a

588
00:46:16.320 --> 00:46:22.199
and I hear what you're saying.
It's able you can actually process very deep

589
00:46:22.280 --> 00:46:27.639
trauma, and it kind of allowed
my experience, and I want to hear

590
00:46:27.679 --> 00:46:30.360
from about yours. But in my
experience, when I'm out there and I've

591
00:46:30.400 --> 00:46:36.599
had, you know, time,
maybe the first twenty thirty miss to take

592
00:46:36.639 --> 00:46:43.559
it all in, stuff comes up, and I've had situations where I've processed

593
00:46:43.559 --> 00:46:47.880
trauma and felt just a sigh of
relief. It's really weird. Talk about

594
00:46:49.039 --> 00:46:55.239
an example that if you can of
knowing that you've seen and felt that somebody's

595
00:46:55.320 --> 00:47:01.119
passing or traumatic experience and how it
came through and maybe was released, it's

596
00:47:01.199 --> 00:47:07.079
kind of like a natural therapy.
Nature's yeah therapy. Yeah. So I

597
00:47:07.199 --> 00:47:10.639
was. I was there on the
mountain doing the thing, healing from the

598
00:47:10.639 --> 00:47:15.599
things that had always stopped me before. And then I got to the top

599
00:47:15.719 --> 00:47:17.599
of where I was trying to get
to and I just like I threw my

600
00:47:17.800 --> 00:47:22.400
arms up because like my whole body
just felt like it was just like course,

601
00:47:22.519 --> 00:47:27.920
like energy, electricity was like coursing
through my veins and like the best

602
00:47:27.960 --> 00:47:30.119
way, like my body was just
like buzzin' and I would I just threw

603
00:47:30.159 --> 00:47:32.480
up my arms and I like just
kind of surrendered to the moment. I

604
00:47:32.519 --> 00:47:37.119
was like God, Universe, unicorns, whatever you believe in, Like what

605
00:47:37.639 --> 00:47:39.400
is happening here? Like I don't
I can't put my finger on it.

606
00:47:39.679 --> 00:47:44.599
I don't know exactly how to articulate
what I'm like feeling and experiencing here.

607
00:47:44.639 --> 00:47:47.480
But I know I felt this feeling
before, Like I know I have felt

608
00:47:47.480 --> 00:47:51.920
this good in this body in this
lifetime at some point. When was the

609
00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:53.639
last time I felt this good?
And so I just kind of sat with

610
00:47:53.719 --> 00:47:58.719
that and like I really like allowed
the feeling of feeling good to take over

611
00:47:58.760 --> 00:48:02.920
my body and just like everywhere,
out of every orifice, every pore,

612
00:48:04.079 --> 00:48:06.880
every cell of my being, I
was like, oh, this feels good.

613
00:48:07.159 --> 00:48:08.920
And then I started walking in and
I was like searching for the answer

614
00:48:09.000 --> 00:48:13.960
in my mind. I was like
where when how It's so familiar, but

615
00:48:14.000 --> 00:48:19.239
he had it's so different. And
I was walking down this really steep,

616
00:48:19.360 --> 00:48:25.039
like slippery Shaley rock pile that they
call a road on Catalina, and I

617
00:48:25.079 --> 00:48:29.559
was watching for my husband. He
was several several steps ahead of me,

618
00:48:29.599 --> 00:48:30.840
and I was like just making sure
that I was, you know, watching

619
00:48:30.840 --> 00:48:34.159
my step, and I picked up
my head to see where Barry was,

620
00:48:34.199 --> 00:48:37.000
and I kind of lost my footing
so like rejigger myself and I like get

621
00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:40.800
my feet planet and I take a
deep breath and I'm like, Okay,

622
00:48:40.840 --> 00:48:44.800
Williams, you got this. You're
not gonna roll down the hill. You're

623
00:48:44.880 --> 00:48:50.440
gonna find your answer. And then, as life always does, when you

624
00:48:50.559 --> 00:48:54.199
least expect it, clarity hits and
I was like, Oh, the last

625
00:48:54.199 --> 00:48:58.079
time I felt this good. The
last time I felt this confident in my

626
00:48:58.199 --> 00:49:01.880
body, this excite about the direction
my life is going. Like the last

627
00:49:01.920 --> 00:49:06.719
time this happened. Last time I
felt like this was right before my sexual

628
00:49:06.719 --> 00:49:09.880
assault that I experienced in college.
Oh God, And to your point,

629
00:49:10.119 --> 00:49:15.280
to your point, though I didn't
feel sad, I didn't feel confused.

630
00:49:15.400 --> 00:49:20.280
I felt free. It was like
that deep exhale that you experienced where you

631
00:49:20.360 --> 00:49:23.480
said like, and sometimes it just
feels like a sigh of relief, And

632
00:49:23.519 --> 00:49:27.519
that's what I felt in that moment. I was like, Oh, man,

633
00:49:28.440 --> 00:49:31.440
that sucks. I went through that. I stuffed that all the way

634
00:49:31.480 --> 00:49:37.840
down. I buried that so deep. I acquired so many coping mechanisms to

635
00:49:37.880 --> 00:49:40.760
try to get through that, though
it just weren't helpful. But now I

636
00:49:40.880 --> 00:49:45.039
know. Now I have context for
all the ways that I've shown up,

637
00:49:45.079 --> 00:49:51.239
all the choices I've made because the
trauma from that very specific, very traumatic

638
00:49:51.239 --> 00:49:55.039
event, the worst day of my
life. That unresolved trauma had informed every

639
00:49:55.320 --> 00:50:00.599
single coping mechanism, every single decision. When I asked myself before that hike,

640
00:50:00.960 --> 00:50:05.519
why was I eating and drinking my
feelings to begin with? There was

641
00:50:05.559 --> 00:50:07.880
my answer, and I was just
like, very cool. I was like,

642
00:50:07.960 --> 00:50:10.679
I know, I know, I've
got a lot to heal from now

643
00:50:10.679 --> 00:50:15.840
that I have this awareness, but
ooh, that awareness was so delicious.

644
00:50:15.960 --> 00:50:17.960
I just needed it, Cliff,
I needed that taste. I love that.

645
00:50:20.039 --> 00:50:29.159
So so this self therapizing self therapy, you're actually in touch with this

646
00:50:29.719 --> 00:50:32.960
horrific experience. I can't imagine.
We're not going to get into the details.

647
00:50:34.000 --> 00:50:40.119
But what do you think happened when
you processed it? Did you acknowledge

648
00:50:40.119 --> 00:50:45.880
it? And remember all the crap
you did to band aid that event,

649
00:50:47.039 --> 00:50:57.400
and then in some state you've released
it or by acknowledging it, it's now

650
00:50:58.159 --> 00:51:01.760
an event that happened, but it
doesn't rule my life. Talk about what

651
00:51:02.239 --> 00:51:07.000
happened for you, where it sits, where is it sit in your consciousness?

652
00:51:07.960 --> 00:51:10.679
I think for me now, so
at the time I would have been

653
00:51:10.719 --> 00:51:14.079
like, uh, Cliff, I
got it. I got it all figured

654
00:51:14.079 --> 00:51:17.400
out. Life is easy, uh
No, And like I knew that when

655
00:51:17.440 --> 00:51:21.760
I when I when I had this
discovery, when I as quickly as I

656
00:51:21.760 --> 00:51:23.840
felt relieved, right behind it was
like, okay, well, if this

657
00:51:23.920 --> 00:51:27.360
is true, what else is true? Like what other things have we been

658
00:51:27.400 --> 00:51:30.920
suppressing? Maybe we should go find
all of them all at once? And

659
00:51:30.960 --> 00:51:35.639
it was like kind of intense,
But I think the biggest thing about that

660
00:51:35.760 --> 00:51:40.000
moment was just the permission that it
gave me to just relax. And as

661
00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:45.239
far as like where it sits now, I really had to turn that pain

662
00:51:45.519 --> 00:51:47.599
around and I had to sit with
it. I had first and foremost,

663
00:51:47.679 --> 00:51:51.159
I had to sit with it,
like I had the awareness like, oh,

664
00:51:51.199 --> 00:51:53.719
this is the thing that happened.
It's prevented me from feeling this good

665
00:51:53.760 --> 00:51:59.760
for this long now I know.
And then behind that was like, okay,

666
00:52:00.119 --> 00:52:04.840
well, now we've got to like
sit with the pain that we've caused

667
00:52:04.840 --> 00:52:08.199
ourselves, the pain that we've caused
others in the spirit of trying to avoid

668
00:52:08.280 --> 00:52:12.320
being hurt. In a similar way, the decisions that I've made, the

669
00:52:12.360 --> 00:52:17.880
abandoning that I've done, it was
a lot and just like everything else,

670
00:52:19.119 --> 00:52:22.199
was like the next most beautiful step
in this process, because without that level

671
00:52:22.239 --> 00:52:25.440
of awareness, I wouldn't have been
able to figure out what happened for me.

672
00:52:25.559 --> 00:52:30.760
But also I didn't have the language
to articulate this in the moment.

673
00:52:30.079 --> 00:52:35.559
I have spent thousands of miles on
the trail trying to unpack the things that

674
00:52:35.599 --> 00:52:38.840
I've been through and find the language
to describe what happened to me, both

675
00:52:39.280 --> 00:52:45.960
from a trauma perspective and like naming
and claiming what I've experienced, but also

676
00:52:45.360 --> 00:52:50.239
from a healing perspective and trying to
find the language to articulate what is happening.

677
00:52:50.239 --> 00:52:52.440
Because I know I'm not the first
person to heal in nature. Humans

678
00:52:52.440 --> 00:52:57.239
have been doing this. Humans have
been doing this since time memorial thousands of

679
00:52:57.320 --> 00:53:01.320
years. Indigenous cultures, since the
beginning of humansanity have been healing in natural

680
00:53:01.360 --> 00:53:07.039
spaces. And but but I,
and I like to say, like,

681
00:53:07.039 --> 00:53:08.039
I'm not the first, and I'm
not alone on an island, but like,

682
00:53:08.480 --> 00:53:13.719
technically I was, like I was
the first person that I knew that

683
00:53:13.800 --> 00:53:15.480
had healed like that, so I
might as well have been alone on that

684
00:53:15.559 --> 00:53:21.960
island. And I spent the five
six years following that hike talking with other

685
00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:25.880
people sharing my story, trying to
find language to articulate what had happened to

686
00:53:27.039 --> 00:53:30.679
me for me and because of this
experience, so that I could heal it

687
00:53:30.719 --> 00:53:37.920
for myself, but also by healing
out loud and pretty publicly, we've created

688
00:53:37.960 --> 00:53:45.559
an incredible community around very difficult topics
such as surviving sexual assault, where now

689
00:53:45.599 --> 00:53:49.159
we have a container through which to
talk about these things that feels a little

690
00:53:49.280 --> 00:53:53.199
less scary and a lot more inclusive
of everybody's kind of experience, because because

691
00:53:53.239 --> 00:53:58.599
I'm not the first and only,
there's so much shared experience and so many

692
00:53:58.679 --> 00:54:01.239
shared stories to glean from to help
me learn more about what happened to me,

693
00:54:01.320 --> 00:54:04.320
so I can then share those learnings
with other people. We're going to

694
00:54:04.360 --> 00:54:08.679
talk about your website here in a
minute, and you know the work you

695
00:54:08.719 --> 00:54:15.960
do with other people. You in
your book have a I think it's at

696
00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:22.760
the end of each chapter and you
say, before any adventure you suggest the

697
00:54:22.800 --> 00:54:32.519
following you you want people to have
a curiosity, and a patience and a

698
00:54:32.639 --> 00:54:39.719
self trust. Talk about each one
of those as a kind of a starting

699
00:54:39.760 --> 00:54:46.119
point before we take a hike.
And why that's important, Well, I

700
00:54:46.159 --> 00:54:50.280
think if you go, if you're
like I'm listening to this and man,

701
00:54:50.440 --> 00:54:53.000
Sindy, you have really sold me
on the healing power of nature. You're

702
00:54:53.079 --> 00:55:00.960
crying your tragedy. I'd like to
reproduce this for myself. We're doing a

703
00:55:00.960 --> 00:55:05.320
real good job of making this sound
sexy and beneficial, but truly like for

704
00:55:05.800 --> 00:55:07.920
most people where they're like, oh, I haven't been hiking before, and

705
00:55:07.960 --> 00:55:10.239
we kind of already touched on this
hiking in and of itself, Like the

706
00:55:10.280 --> 00:55:13.840
outdoor industry as it works, as
there is one, and it's one of

707
00:55:13.840 --> 00:55:19.199
the most profitable industries in all of
the products that we create here in America.

708
00:55:19.239 --> 00:55:23.440
The outdoor industry has a very specific
idea of like who is outdoorsy and

709
00:55:23.480 --> 00:55:29.239
what outdoorsy looks like. So you'll
find lists of like the things you need

710
00:55:29.360 --> 00:55:32.679
in order to start packing, the
items you must buy to hike successfully.

711
00:55:32.840 --> 00:55:36.400
I argue, Yeah, you're gonna
need good shoes, you're gonna need a

712
00:55:36.440 --> 00:55:37.880
bag to carry yourtuff in it,
and definitely bring some water and snacks,

713
00:55:38.159 --> 00:55:42.159
and also a map would be handy. But more than that is that patient

714
00:55:42.239 --> 00:55:45.440
self, trust, and curiosity.
Those are things that we naturally possess as

715
00:55:45.480 --> 00:55:50.320
humans. To some degree, we
might have more self trust than the person

716
00:55:50.360 --> 00:55:53.679
next to us or less. But
these are things that we inherently possess that

717
00:55:53.760 --> 00:55:57.639
are going to be super important for
our journey, And I would argue we're

718
00:55:57.639 --> 00:56:02.280
probably more important than like what color
back you're carrying, because like patience with

719
00:56:02.400 --> 00:56:06.480
the process in and of itself,
like everything I like to say, and

720
00:56:06.519 --> 00:56:10.159
this is my this is my like
great equalizer. Right, your worst day,

721
00:56:10.159 --> 00:56:14.280
Cliff, and my worst day,
they're going to be radically different.

722
00:56:14.360 --> 00:56:16.000
I can tell you right now,
start to finish. The worst day of

723
00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:21.119
my life is definitely not the same
as yours. But we're both still on

724
00:56:21.159 --> 00:56:24.119
this planet and we can still talk
about it. So from from a very

725
00:56:24.440 --> 00:56:30.000
basic perspective, like we're already here
and we've already been through the worst things

726
00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:34.440
we've ever been through, which is
where patience and self trust can be tapped

727
00:56:34.480 --> 00:56:37.000
into to realize, Yeah, like
going out for a hike might be scary,

728
00:56:37.039 --> 00:56:42.239
it might be scary to try something
that you've never done forever, but

729
00:56:42.440 --> 00:56:47.159
also think of all the things you
have done successfully and think about the patience

730
00:56:47.199 --> 00:56:52.719
that requires to start something new and
to get into some kind of new activity.

731
00:56:52.360 --> 00:56:57.679
Hiking's just walking, So if you're
patient with yourself and the way you

732
00:56:57.719 --> 00:57:01.880
talk to yourself, and you're not
side tracked or derailed by the messages your

733
00:57:01.880 --> 00:57:05.400
body might be sending you. When
you go out for your first hike,

734
00:57:05.760 --> 00:57:08.639
then you're going to be set up
for success. And through hiking we can

735
00:57:08.719 --> 00:57:13.800
find more patients because if we start
moving at the speed of nature instead of

736
00:57:13.880 --> 00:57:17.880
moving at the speed of capitalism and
society, then we can pay attention to

737
00:57:17.960 --> 00:57:25.840
a lot more and our experiences are
a lot more rich and robust and nourishing

738
00:57:27.079 --> 00:57:29.920
rather than like always getting to the
next thing and got to make sure I

739
00:57:29.960 --> 00:57:31.920
have all the things that I need
to be successful and productive, and like,

740
00:57:31.960 --> 00:57:36.719
it's just it's so much. And
I think, and I think for

741
00:57:36.800 --> 00:57:38.519
anybody that lives in a body that
they might not recognize, or that they

742
00:57:38.519 --> 00:57:43.559
don't feel safe in, or that
they've spoken poorly about, either to themselves

743
00:57:43.639 --> 00:57:47.199
or in front of others. The
thing that I love most about spending time

744
00:57:47.239 --> 00:57:52.199
outside is like, go walk through
like a forest or go walk through a

745
00:57:52.239 --> 00:57:57.320
garden, and you might have a
favorite flower or a favorite kind of tree,

746
00:57:57.679 --> 00:58:00.320
but we're not walking through a forest
and being like, did you see

747
00:58:00.320 --> 00:58:05.360
that fat tree? Did you see
that tree? That is just so ugly

748
00:58:05.760 --> 00:58:08.400
and their branches are so gnarled,
Like, we don't talk about trees that

749
00:58:08.440 --> 00:58:13.159
way. So if we can go
in and just admire the beauty of nature,

750
00:58:13.480 --> 00:58:15.280
if we do that enough, we
can start to admire the beauty within

751
00:58:15.280 --> 00:58:20.800
ourselves and within each other as well. I like that. So how do

752
00:58:20.920 --> 00:58:23.400
we start somebody who's listening and going, you know what, I don't go

753
00:58:23.519 --> 00:58:27.639
to the gym, I don't want
to go hiking. I don't want to

754
00:58:27.679 --> 00:58:34.400
get a backpack. How do they
start and how many times a week do

755
00:58:34.440 --> 00:58:42.440
they begin walking slash hiking to see
benefits? I'm just curious about your take

756
00:58:42.519 --> 00:58:45.079
on that. Well. I mean, also consider that I'm not a doctor,

757
00:58:45.159 --> 00:58:49.400
nor am I a therapist, but
as somebody who has lived this and

758
00:58:49.599 --> 00:58:52.960
has healed from trauma and disease through
this activity. Here's what I know.

759
00:58:53.679 --> 00:58:58.039
I know that it doesn't matter how
long you go. Yes, you're gonna

760
00:58:58.079 --> 00:59:01.119
get more benefits the longer that you
spend outside. That's just it's it's with

761
00:59:01.239 --> 00:59:05.599
anything. But like if you're sitting
here and you're like, I haven't been

762
00:59:05.639 --> 00:59:09.199
to the gym since I was required
to run a mile in elementary school or

763
00:59:09.239 --> 00:59:14.559
whatever. Or or I don't feel
comfortable going out on a trail, then

764
00:59:14.599 --> 00:59:17.639
go find a local park, sit
by a tree in your yard. Like

765
00:59:17.679 --> 00:59:22.840
it's literally as simple as touching grass. So if you have a yard where

766
00:59:22.880 --> 00:59:25.119
you live, put your feet in
the grass and just start doing that.

767
00:59:25.199 --> 00:59:29.880
Like, start with like the most
basic part of the habit, which is

768
00:59:30.079 --> 00:59:32.800
getting your body outside. So find
a nice place to sit locally, whether

769
00:59:32.840 --> 00:59:37.039
that's in your yard or to a
local park. And as you start to

770
00:59:37.159 --> 00:59:40.559
like build up your comfort, you're
comfortable, you're comfortable, and you can

771
00:59:40.639 --> 00:59:45.599
build up your comfort with spending time
outside, then you can start spending more

772
00:59:45.639 --> 00:59:50.679
time outside. So it's a matter
of like initially it's just like tap into

773
00:59:50.719 --> 00:59:55.199
that curiosity and for as as intimidating
as it can be. There's a really

774
00:59:55.280 --> 01:00:00.239
great app called All Trails, And
when you download it or if you use

775
01:00:00.280 --> 01:00:02.840
it on the computer, you can
enter your location and it will show you

776
01:00:02.880 --> 01:00:07.880
trails that are nearby where you are
right now, no matter where you are.

777
01:00:07.000 --> 01:00:10.840
I love that All Trails. All
Trails. So if you go traveling,

778
01:00:12.000 --> 01:00:14.239
like if you're going to a new
place for a work trip and you're

779
01:00:14.280 --> 01:00:15.880
like, oh, I got some
time this morning, pull up all trails,

780
01:00:15.920 --> 01:00:19.760
and you can find a local trail, I will say, with a

781
01:00:19.840 --> 01:00:23.920
with a bit of a caveat there. Sometimes, because these are all like

782
01:00:24.079 --> 01:00:30.280
user generated trails, sometimes the distance
that they say the trail is or the

783
01:00:30.280 --> 01:00:36.960
difficulty of the trail and what is
reality do not align, so we call

784
01:00:37.000 --> 01:00:38.280
it like the all trails. It's
kind of a joke. It's like the

785
01:00:38.320 --> 01:00:42.239
all Trails curse. You go out
for a five mile hike and at mile

786
01:00:42.280 --> 01:00:46.920
five you realize you're only halfway through, so take some take some precautions with

787
01:00:46.960 --> 01:00:50.920
that. But it can be as
simple as just discovering. And I think

788
01:00:50.960 --> 01:00:54.519
to this point the thing about hiking
that is so great and as a mindfulness

789
01:00:54.559 --> 01:00:59.320
activity, if we think about what
we just said, downloading an app for

790
01:00:59.360 --> 01:01:02.960
the intent of discovering something, opening
the app and discovering something near you,

791
01:01:04.519 --> 01:01:07.760
driving to the trailhead, or walking
to the trailhead, and then going on

792
01:01:07.800 --> 01:01:12.199
the adventure. Before you even set
foot on the trail, you've already practiced

793
01:01:12.199 --> 01:01:15.559
mindfulness. This doesn't have to be
limited to what we think of when we

794
01:01:15.599 --> 01:01:21.719
think of mindfulness, which is like
some really zen, very thin, very

795
01:01:21.840 --> 01:01:27.000
yoga pant wearing person sitting on a
tofet with just like the most blissed out

796
01:01:27.039 --> 01:01:29.760
expression on her face because she's never
had a hard day in her life.

797
01:01:29.840 --> 01:01:34.559
Like it can be as simple as
deciding to go for a hike today or

798
01:01:34.599 --> 01:01:37.760
maybe tomorrow or maybe next week.
Like we've got people in our community they're

799
01:01:37.800 --> 01:01:40.519
like, I've been thinking about hiking
since we met them, and they're like,

800
01:01:40.599 --> 01:01:44.639
I'm thinking about starting, And they've
been thinking about starting for years.

801
01:01:44.880 --> 01:01:47.159
But when they finally but that's the
thing they're thinking about starting, and they

802
01:01:47.159 --> 01:01:51.559
weren't thinking about that before. So
is it a failure that they've never been

803
01:01:51.599 --> 01:01:54.639
out on a trail yet, No, because they're thinking about what that means.

804
01:01:54.639 --> 01:01:58.199
And some people need a lot of
time to think about it, and

805
01:01:58.239 --> 01:02:00.239
some people are ready to just go
pick it up. Go. So that

806
01:02:00.360 --> 01:02:05.119
is still mindful and that is still
healing, even if you're not actually doing

807
01:02:05.159 --> 01:02:07.679
it. But to answer your question
from a doctor's perspective, the recommendation that

808
01:02:07.760 --> 01:02:10.719
was made for me was at least
fifteen minutes every day, three to five

809
01:02:10.800 --> 01:02:14.280
days a week. Now, if
you can get out there for longer,

810
01:02:14.599 --> 01:02:17.000
awesome. And if you're listening and
you're a person that's managing for diabetes or

811
01:02:17.039 --> 01:02:22.280
some kind of other metabolic disorder.
The thing that was most concerning to me

812
01:02:22.440 --> 01:02:27.920
was like I need energy. Like
I understand that you have to have energy

813
01:02:27.960 --> 01:02:30.199
to expel energy, but all the
energy that I had been consuming in the

814
01:02:30.199 --> 01:02:35.320
form of different ingredients when I first
started viking, I was like, oh

815
01:02:35.320 --> 01:02:38.840
gosh, like this is this is
directly against doctor's orders from my nutritional plan.

816
01:02:39.519 --> 01:02:44.800
So when you're out there, when
you when you level up to multiple

817
01:02:44.840 --> 01:02:47.440
miles or multiple hours, or you're
out there for like an all day hike

818
01:02:47.519 --> 01:02:52.199
in the wilderness, you're going to
need to have the energy, and your

819
01:02:52.239 --> 01:02:59.119
relationship to food and movement and time
with yourself will change automatically. It's it's

820
01:02:59.159 --> 01:03:02.719
just a it's a it's a fact
of starting to practice this. Yeah.

821
01:03:02.840 --> 01:03:08.440
The books called Hiking Your Feelings Lazy
Na Trail to Self Love. My guest

822
01:03:08.480 --> 01:03:14.280
today has been Sydney Williams. Give
us your website and tell us what's on

823
01:03:14.320 --> 01:03:21.480
your website. So our website is
Hikingmyfeelings dot org. And on our website

824
01:03:21.519 --> 01:03:24.760
you will find links to where you
can order the book. It's now available

825
01:03:24.800 --> 01:03:28.760
anywhere the books are sold. If
signed copies are your thing and you're not

826
01:03:28.840 --> 01:03:30.559
able to get to it just came
out. Let's let people know they can

827
01:03:30.840 --> 01:03:34.599
get the book there, but they
you know, if they are not available

828
01:03:35.079 --> 01:03:38.159
there, they can get them on
Amazon. So today is the congratulations to

829
01:03:38.880 --> 01:03:44.440
official launch. Yeah, so you'll
be able to find opportunities like where you

830
01:03:44.440 --> 01:03:47.400
can buy the book there and then
we also we are in the business of

831
01:03:47.480 --> 01:03:52.119
creating opportunities for people to experience the
healing power of nature. Our mission at

832
01:03:52.159 --> 01:03:55.199
Hiking My Feelings is to improve community
health by doing exactly that. So if

833
01:03:55.199 --> 01:04:00.519
you read the book and you're like
I needed help and I'm ready, come

834
01:04:00.599 --> 01:04:03.000
do it with us. We have
events all over the Western United States.

835
01:04:03.039 --> 01:04:08.320
We have a virtual online program called
Blazion Trail to Self Love, and we're

836
01:04:08.360 --> 01:04:12.840
creating as many opportunities as we can
for readers to put the concepts presented in

837
01:04:12.880 --> 01:04:19.320
the work presented in the book into
practice. Fantastic. Yeah, the book,

838
01:04:19.360 --> 01:04:21.519
like I said, just came out. It's a very cool book.

839
01:04:21.559 --> 01:04:25.840
Is a it's a thick binder,
so almost like you could put it in

840
01:04:25.880 --> 01:04:29.800
your backpack and read it as you're
on the trail. I'm not sure you're

841
01:04:29.840 --> 01:04:32.559
meant for that to be I'm down
bring it with you. Oh, Okay,

842
01:04:32.760 --> 01:04:38.519
so you also have a YouTube channel, right, Yes, we do,

843
01:04:38.840 --> 01:04:42.280
and what's on the YouTube channel.
So on our YouTube channel, we

844
01:04:42.320 --> 01:04:46.800
have been documenting kind of like a
behind the scenes of what it takes to

845
01:04:47.920 --> 01:04:53.679
organize the events that we organize to
go scout the trails that we scout and

846
01:04:53.800 --> 01:04:59.920
share recaps from the different experiences that
we host with our various national, national

847
01:05:00.199 --> 01:05:04.199
nonprofit partners around the Western US.
So you can find information about the events

848
01:05:04.199 --> 01:05:08.519
that we've hosted in the past.
You can see some really great recommendations for

849
01:05:08.599 --> 01:05:12.760
hikes that we've done around the United
States, and you can stay up to

850
01:05:12.800 --> 01:05:14.840
date with all the cool things that
we're doing on the road this year for

851
01:05:14.880 --> 01:05:20.559
the Hiking Your Feelings Tour. Fantastic
Sydney, fantastic fun speaking with you,

852
01:05:21.440 --> 01:05:28.320
and you've written a fun book and
much success. Thank you, appreciate you

853
01:05:28.400 --> 01:05:36.119
having me. I have to admit
that there have been times out in nature

854
01:05:36.239 --> 01:05:47.800
where out of the blue I've had
just uplifting moments and emotional kind of breakthroughs

855
01:05:47.920 --> 01:05:55.480
where you know, shedding a tear
for something that happened at work or the

856
01:05:57.599 --> 01:06:08.719
a relationship issue that hasn't been result
There's something about connecting you know, the

857
01:06:09.159 --> 01:06:15.119
term that the priests use when they're
burying someone, ashes to ashes, dust

858
01:06:15.159 --> 01:06:23.119
to dust. We're part of the
earth, you really are. And that

859
01:06:23.159 --> 01:06:29.280
connection runs really deep, amazingly deep. And you know, it was great

860
01:06:29.280 --> 01:06:35.960
to hear Sydney talk about the importance
of connecting, why connecting is not only

861
01:06:36.079 --> 01:06:44.440
healing, but vital, vital.
You know. It's funny because my grandfather

862
01:06:44.519 --> 01:06:51.639
had his home and his he had
a big piece of lamb and he grew

863
01:06:51.840 --> 01:06:58.760
roses, and he grew all kinds
of different flowers, and I mean,

864
01:06:58.800 --> 01:07:01.920
he had a huge piece of property
where he grew you know, a lot

865
01:07:02.000 --> 01:07:10.199
of flowers, and he and my
grandmother and a helper would take flowers to

866
01:07:10.239 --> 01:07:15.480
the local hospitals to give to people
to kind of brighten their day. And

867
01:07:15.559 --> 01:07:19.559
he grew volumes of vegetables and volumes
of fruit and canned fruit and canned vegetables

868
01:07:19.559 --> 01:07:24.639
every year. And you know,
he was so I mean, that was

869
01:07:24.679 --> 01:07:30.360
so vital for him and so healing. And he lived to be, you

870
01:07:30.360 --> 01:07:38.119
know, in his mid nineties,
and I think that contributed to his wellness,

871
01:07:38.280 --> 01:07:43.199
you know, and also as a
physician. You know, he would

872
01:07:43.239 --> 01:07:49.000
come home from the hospital and he
was just fried, and it's a challenge

873
01:07:49.039 --> 01:07:56.719
being someone who's well, a healer
like that. So he'd go out in

874
01:07:56.800 --> 01:08:01.400
the garden and decompress. And I
used to see this. He actually built,

875
01:08:01.679 --> 01:08:04.880
He built his own home, and
he had in the later part of

876
01:08:04.880 --> 01:08:13.320
his life, he had an office
and an examination room, and he saw

877
01:08:13.360 --> 01:08:18.239
people far and wide, and you
know, not everyone's doing well. And

878
01:08:18.640 --> 01:08:24.199
I'd come to visit, and you
know, he'd be with us for lunch,

879
01:08:24.479 --> 01:08:30.399
he'd take a lunch break, and
then in the afternoon he'd close shop

880
01:08:31.159 --> 01:08:36.279
and we'd follow him out to the
backyard and we'd do watering. And I

881
01:08:36.279 --> 01:08:40.119
mean he had acreage. You know, I don't know how many acres he

882
01:08:40.159 --> 01:08:46.800
had, but long strips of vegetables, long rows of corn, and fruits

883
01:08:47.920 --> 01:08:54.439
and flowers. Flowers everywhere, had
wonderful flowers. Doctor Rudolph Gerber, that

884
01:08:54.560 --> 01:08:59.760
was my grandfather, And so nature
was huge. You know, in the

885
01:08:59.760 --> 01:09:02.920
pre As generations were much more in
tune to it than we are, and

886
01:09:03.399 --> 01:09:10.000
they used they used it wisely,
you know, for healing. We're kind

887
01:09:10.000 --> 01:09:13.199
of disconnected from that. We got
to get away from our damn phones.

888
01:09:15.239 --> 01:09:19.760
You know. I have friends that
sit in front of the TV all day,

889
01:09:21.640 --> 01:09:26.680
and I'm like, what are you
doing? Get out in nature.

890
01:09:28.079 --> 01:09:31.720
Visit somebody. Now, go and
walk around and connect with nature. It's

891
01:09:31.960 --> 01:09:40.279
really really healing, it's it's vital. It's a form of nourishment. Good

892
01:09:40.279 --> 01:09:45.159
to have. Emily Williams on the
program. That book again just came out.

893
01:09:45.199 --> 01:09:48.640
I just discovered it came out just
twenty four hours ago, Hiking Your

894
01:09:48.800 --> 01:09:56.800
Feelings, Blazing the Trail to Self
Love. That was good. Hey,

895
01:09:57.079 --> 01:10:01.760
we do nature walks every time we
do it tour, and our first tour

896
01:10:01.760 --> 01:10:06.840
of the year is the Grand Egyptian
Tour April twenty eighth through May ninth,

897
01:10:09.000 --> 01:10:12.920
and it's a good one because we
get out, we're in the desert.

898
01:10:13.279 --> 01:10:16.359
We're not left in the desert.
Our air conditioned bus is very close by.

899
01:10:17.199 --> 01:10:21.239
But we get out and we check
out a number of beautiful temples,

900
01:10:23.239 --> 01:10:30.159
pyramids, and buildings and ceremonial sites. These are sacred sites, so just

901
01:10:30.239 --> 01:10:38.479
walking among these places is very very
unique, and you kind of connect and

902
01:10:38.520 --> 01:10:42.279
it's kind of fun to see that. For more information on our upcoming Grand

903
01:10:42.279 --> 01:10:47.439
Egyptian Tour, go to Earth Ancients
dot com forward Slash Tours. We're almost

904
01:10:47.479 --> 01:10:50.079
full. I think we might be
full. I don't know. I haven't

905
01:10:50.119 --> 01:10:56.239
checked in with Mohammad and about two
weeks so, but you know, if

906
01:10:56.239 --> 01:10:59.359
you want to come and join us, let me know, send me an

907
01:10:59.359 --> 01:11:01.920
email. If if you can't get
in for some reason, let me know,

908
01:11:02.279 --> 01:11:06.439
send me an email. Earth Ancients
for You at gmail dot com and

909
01:11:06.520 --> 01:11:11.439
I'll make sure you get a space. These are wonderful. There's small groups.

910
01:11:12.399 --> 01:11:16.800
We have Egypt in the spring.
In the summer, we're in Turkey,

911
01:11:16.960 --> 01:11:21.600
that's August seventh through eighteenth, and
then we'll be in Mexico in November

912
01:11:23.279 --> 01:11:28.239
and we will be in Yucatan.
All that information is on Earth Ancients dot

913
01:11:28.279 --> 01:11:31.760
com, forward Slash Tours and if
you have any questions, Earth Ancients for

914
01:11:31.880 --> 01:11:36.520
You at gmail dot com, I'll
get right back to you. All right,

915
01:11:36.560 --> 01:11:40.039
that's it for this program, and
I think my guest today is Sidney

916
01:11:40.039 --> 01:11:45.720
Williams coming from San Diego, California. As always, the team of Gail

917
01:11:45.840 --> 01:11:50.800
Tour and Mark Foster. You guys, rock, I really appreciate your help.

918
01:11:51.319 --> 01:11:54.720
All right, take care of you
well and we will talk to you

919
01:11:54.800 --> 01:12:25.600
next time. Act of Active of
Active Episode Acid as of ACTI