E13: 12 Tips to Help You Find Wellness in the Wilderness
Can you believe it?! This is the final episode of our pilot season on the VoiceAmerica Empowerment Channel. This week, we’ve pulled a nugget of goodness from each episode to help you find your version of Wellness in the Wilderness.
Fidgit and Neon of Her Odyssey: use the same care to grow your ideas that you do to tend to a fire.
Anna Levesque of Mind, Body, Paddle: Anna shared about the river being a boundary - how does nature teach us about boundaries?
Arlette Laan, first woman to complete all the National Scenic Trails: Stop comparing your journey. It took Arlette 19 years to hike all of the National Scenic Trails - nothing happens overnight and there is no one right way to do things.
Natalie Small, founder of Groundswell Community Project: Presence vs Process - what kinds of spaces are you creating? What are you craving? What is the difference between the two?
Sydney Williams, founder of Hiking My Feelings: One foot in front of the other - your dreams may take awhile to come true, but if you believe in them, they will - “I’ll believe it when I see it” vs “I’ll see it when I believe it”
Anastasia Allison, founder of Kula Cloth: what are you inviting into your life when you roll out Life’s Welcome Mat each morning?
Drew Petersen, professional skier, filmmaker, mental health advocate: When we avoid emotional breaking points, it can lead to physical breaking points.
Emily Henkel, Veterans in Parks: No matter what, you can survive.
Alific + Man of the Forests: We’ve been so blessed to be collaborators and in community with these guys, and we’re eternally grateful for the song they shared with us to use on the show, Green Hillz. PRO-TIP: skip the caves during rainy season.
Barry Williams: The Zen you find is the Zen you bring.
Samuel J: A reminder that it’s okay to settle in and go with the flow + give your inner child a hug!
Cinde MacGugan Cassidy: continuing a legacy of service + adventure through her company, Catalina Backcountry
Okay, so now what?
If you’ve been tuned in since the beginning, you know we’ve experienced a lot of exciting changes here at Hiking My Feelings. We recently moved to Catalina Island, we’re settling into our partnership with Catalina Backcountry, and on Valentine’s Day, I signed my first publishing contract! To say we have a lot going on is an understatement - and it’s important to us to only take on as much as we can successfully and enthusiastically execute on.
While this season of the show is coming to a close, that doesn’t mean the end of Wellness in the Wilderness.
We are proud to be the #31 show (of 342) on the Empowerment Channel and the #100 show on the entire network (out of 1,029) in just thirteen weeks, and we’re honored to be invited to extend the show with VoiceAmerica for a full year.
The reality is, we’re a small team of two (it’s just me and Barry here at HMF) and there are only so many hours in the day. In the immediate future, Sydney is dedicating her time and energy toward completing her second book (title + publication date TBA, stay tuned!). We’re looking forward to resuming Wellness in the Wilderness when our schedules settle out a bit.
Thank you so much for listening!
SHOW TRANSCRIPT:
Please note, we use Otter.ai to transcribe episodes and while the technology is impressive, it’s not completely accurate. Please excuse any missed words, nonsensical sentences, and missed interpretations of foreign language below:
Announcer 00:00
Since 1984, sell your has existed to support your wildest adventures. Learn about their advanced insect repellents and family of technical Lightweight Water filters at sawyer.com. Welcome to Wellness in the Wilderness. Come with us on the trail of life as we inspire you to take a step outdoors to disconnect from the distractions and reconnect with yourself. Sydney Williams in her guests will motivate you to get active and get well. Now, here is Sydney.
Sydney Williams 00:37
All right, everybody, Welcome to Wellness in the Wilderness. I'm your host Sydney Williams, author and founder of Hiking My Feelings and today I am broadcasting live from Pemu aka Catalina Island, the ancestral lands of the Tongva people now known as Avalon California.
Wellness in the Wilderness is sponsored by Sawyer Products and Gossamer Gear and without their support this show and the incredible conversations we've had here would not be possible. So if you aren't familiar with their products already, head over to sawyer.com and gossamergear.com to get familiar with the products that they offer. If you are familiar, and you're a fan, give them a shout out on social media, go comment on a post tell them that you appreciate their support as much as we do. And thank you to all of our pals at Sawyer and Gossamer Gear for making this first season of Wellness in the Wilderness possible for making it wonderful. And for all the support. Like I thought it was a great idea. You thought it was a great idea. We've made some magic here over the last 12 Now 13 episodes, and I couldn't be more grateful to be honest.
So this is the last episode of our pilot season here on Voice America. And today, I'll be sharing 12 tips to help you find your version of wellness in the wilderness inspired by each conversation we've had here on the pilot season of the show. Now, Voice America did say hey, we like the show, you should do more. And I was like, Hey, I love doing the show. Thank you. And also, while we've been doing this first pilot season, we have had a lot of developments for Hiking My Feelings for us joining Catalina Backcountry we moved to an island. And also for myself, Sydney Williams, as a person, as a author, as a writer, as a person with dreams who has been holding on to this one for a really long time.
We've been kind of teasing that we've got information to share, and we haven't really been able to. And now we do. So the reason that I've been absent from social media, the reason that I have been so excited but not on the internet is because I last week after last week's episode. So on Valentine's Day, in the evening, I didn't mark the exact time. And now I wish I had, I signed my first publishing contract with a real live publisher. And I am so excited. So I'm on a really tight schedule with this book and the undertakings of a publishing contract and all of the steps are very different from my first self published book. So I sat down, I wrote it in a week, I had my best friend edit it, I found a designer to make it look pretty. And then we sent it off. And the world has never been the same since. So all of that is true with a publisher. But it's all a little bit different. So I have a whole team that supporting me, I have a copy of my manuscript in my inbox with over 100 notes from the editor that I'm working with to really pull it all together and make it just absolutely spectacular. So well, I don't want to divulge too much information about the book because I want to save that for when we have a pre sale link available for you later this year. I do want to say, and, uh, open up the opportunity for you to celebrate this with me because I have had such a hard time not shouting this from the rooftops and the mountaintops here on Catalina Island. I am just thrilled beyond belief. So all of that is to say my schedule is wicked tight with this manuscript and the deadlines and to continue my commitment with voiceamerica would be a set like 26 or 52 week commitment to keep going so for now, we're going to push pause on that but Wellness in the Wilderness is not going anywhere we will pick up recording we will be continuing new episodes, what that looks like and the format for it and the guests and where it goes to be determined after I get this book knocked out.
But if you're interested in continuing the conversation around Wellness in the Wilderness, please visit hikingmyfeelings.org/wellness If you haven't already. From there, you can subscribe to our Wellness in the Wilderness newsletter. You can read transcripts from all the episodes so far if reading is more your jam. You can find links to every single possible replay you could possibly want to click on as far as your favorite podcast platforms or the Voice of America platform itself to listen to those old episodes. And last but not least, definitely follow us on Instagram and join our private social network. If you haven't already, we are @hikingmyfeelings on Instagram, and we are gathering as a community at family.hikingmyfeelings.org, it's free to join, we have a ton of great resources in there. And the community is always growing and always looking for new people to adventure with. So if nothing else, it might help you find an adventure, buddy. And if my vision is true for your experience in the space, then you will get educated you'll feel more comfortable about your outdoor adventures. And you'll be really excited to go and use these tips that we're going to share today. So without further ado, thank you for the celebration.
Now let's get on to the tips. from episode one. Let's jump right in. We were talking with Fidget and Neonn of Her Odyssey. And if you haven't listened to that episode already, definitely tune in, it was one heck of a way to kick off our inaugural season here of Wellness in the Wilderness. And the thing that stuck out to me the most from that was pretty early on in the episode like obviously, there were lots of things Fidget and Neon have tons of stories and we couldn't even really get into. We were literally just scratching the surface of this massive adventure more than 18,000 human powered miles across the Americas here for the Her Odyssey team. The thing that stuck with me was when Fidget was talking about the dream itself, and this idea that she had and how she likened the beginning process of having a dream and bringing ideas to fruition to building a fire. And for a little extra color commentary today I have my wonderful husband, Mr. Barry Williams joining us
Barry Williams 06:47
yo
Sydney Williams 06:48
yo. So we're gonna kind of break down these things one by one, if we've got stuff to add to it, I thought we could add to it. We're kind of just going off the cuff. So Barry has not been briefed. There's no teleprompter, I'm just putting him on the spot. Ready to rock and roll on this last one. So dreams and fire tending? What do you think?
Barry Williams 07:07
I think that was a great analogy
Sydney Williams 07:09
to go Heck of a way to kick off
Barry Williams 07:10
Well. And then the other thing is with your with your book stuff, and like, you know, people said don't self publish Do you know, like, do this. Don't do that. Everybody's telling you how to do it except for you. Yeah. And then you did it. And then you became part of the one percenters? Because apparently is 1% of people that self published actually get a publishing deal. So that's cool.
Sydney Williams 07:32
Yeah.
Barry Williams 07:33
So you do you?
Sydney Williams 07:35
Yes,
Barry Williams 07:35
you did everything backwards.
Sydney Williams 07:36
Yeah, I did do everything backwards. Well, and I think in the spirit of that metaphor of, you know, she had this big Fidget, she had this huge dream for this adventure that she wanted to go on and protecting it, like you're building a fire and you just like, do a little bit at first and then like it catches on, and then people gather around the warmth of the fire. I took that like advice immediately, especially as it pertains to this book stuff. Because when we were I mean, right before the show started was when we were visiting with a publisher. So this has been in process since May of last year has been really moving and grooving since we met with the publisher in October in their offices in San Rafael. And now we've got a contract. And I feel comfortable enough to say that out loud, because it's signed, it's happening. And I think that I was kind of doing the little fire thing with that. Like now I'm getting to the point where I've got my I've got the contract, I've got a manuscript, I've got all this stuff that's happening. And now I feel like comfortable enough to invite folks in to start gathering around the fire.
Barry Williams 08:39
I think it's kind of unfortunate that people will only gather around if it's warm, though.
Sydney Williams 08:46
Thank you. No, yes. Tell me more about that.
Barry Williams 08:49
Well, it's just like, are you here for the fire year for me? You know, you got to think I don't know. That's the Williams paranoia kickin in.
Sydney Williams 08:57
I like it. All right. So we had a great first great first episode with Fidget and Neon, and they are both part of the Sawyer Ambassador team. So thanks again to Sawyer for the support for what they do and how they supported that journey and the work that they do beyond the water filters beyond the bug repellents in and things that keep us safe in the outdoors but really like helping communities find clean water and all the hard work that they do across the globe. Thank you so much for being part of that and for empowering Fidget and Neon to go on their big journey that big their big adventure that will just continue to inspire people. Alright, so episode two, we had Anna Levesque from Mind Body Paddle and Anna shared about the river being a boundary. So Mr. Williams, you got thoughts on how nature teaches us about boundaries?
Barry Williams 09:48
Again, we're not separate from nature. All the answers can be found in nature. If you know how to sit, be quiet and listen. They'll tell you everything because we're not any different and to try and reinvent the wheel but because we're something superior than major is absolutely asinine. So, whenever I get big problems or questions or anything like that, I just kind of go sit and chill and, and the answers will come. Yeah, you just gotta get off your phone and stop staring at the TV, you're not gonna find those answers in the TV or on your phone, I guarantee unless it's like YouTube, and you need to learn how to, like, you know, fix something on your car, right? There's a reason in place for that. But yeah, big answers you're not gonna find on YouTube?
Sydney Williams 10:31
No, they're coming from us remembering that we are connected, right? And one of the easiest ways we can do that is to go for a walk, right? and point out the animals that you see. Right? And like pay attention to where the wind is coming from, and how good the sunshine feels on your face. Yep, nailed it. All right. So number three, Arlette Laan, stop comparing your journey. So Arlette has hiked all of the national scenic trails in these great us have a, it took her 19 years to do it. And it wasn't even something that she initially set out to do. Like she went and she did like California. Well, she started with the JMT. And then she's like, Oh, the Pacific Crest Trail sounds fun. But I'm only going to do California to start. And then surprise, surprise, she finished that and then finished all of the other national scenic trails in the US. And one of the things that was really important to Arlette was talking about both her age and her body image and how this helped her find her way back to herself, it helped her find a new relationship with her body a new definition of what she thinks beauty and power is. So I love that one because it relates really closely to mine. But I think if we're talking about not comparing our journeys, there are so many ways to live a life. And there are so many ways to experience being human. And what's the thing you always say about the bridge versus the zipline versus the path? Like I think that that applies here.
Barry Williams 11:56
Well, if you're so focused on like, I need to get across that bridge to get to the other side. And you're not really you know, you're so laser focused on it that you may actually miss the zip line. That's way more fun to get you across the river to the other side. So yeah, I don't know,
Sydney Williams 12:14
I think that there's something there. I think we especially and I don't know, I've only ever lived in America, and I've only grown up in this culture. But I feel like we are as a society obsessed with success stories. And I think that that's just like a natural part of the human experience. But also, we have like, when somebody does something great. There's this like, armchair quarterbacking of the process that they took to get there. And then we try to replicate the process thinking that the process is what brings the success when in all reality. It's the ability to overcome and adapt and be resilient. And think outside the box and seek the zip line that contributes to the success. It's not the actual steps, they took it's their willingness to keep taking steps. So stop comparing. If you hear about my journey, as an author, certainly don't compare your journey to mine, my God, like do not do. Don't go on this path. Don't sell everything you own and go travel in a van and work for free for a year and rack up a ton of debt and self publish your book much to your demise. And then like to figure out how to get a publishing deal, like go do however you want. And be okay with that. Because there's no right or wrong way to do it. There's your way and hopefully, as long as you're not causing harm or breaking any laws or making the world a worse place. Your ways is an OK way to get to go do things. Anything else?
Barry Williams 13:37
Well, I was just kind of thinking the other day because we were watching that Lynyrd Skynyrd documentary. And then there was some other documentary that we were watching. But it was interesting, because when Lynyrd Skynyrd put out Freebird on their demo, it got shot down by every single recording company in the world.
Sydney Williams 13:56
Freebird
Barry Williams 13:57
Freebird, because they thought he sucks.
Sydney Williams 13:59
And it was too long run. Nobody would ever play a song. That
Barry Williams 14:03
What was the other one that we were just watching recently. It was some other world famous like, like iconic song. Yeah, that was literally they paid him to record it. And the record company was like we're not interested in this. Yeah, like he
Sydney Williams 14:15
was that queen?
Barry Williams 14:17
I don't know.
Sydney Williams 14:18
Yeah. Anyway, if we figure it out, put it in the show notes. But Joel, all of which is to say, you can go about doing things however you want to go about doing things
Barry Williams 14:26
and other people's opinion of it doesn't matter.
Sydney Williams 14:29
It don't matter. And that's the thing that is a lesson that I've actually learned about myself within like the last, I don't know, six weeks since we moved here. And granted, I've learned this lesson and other points along the way. But ultimately, at the end of the day, like it's, I think that there's some merit and caring about what other people think if you're using that as a barometer to like make good choices, and be a better person. But ultimately, like, Who gives a shit when anybody else thinks what do you think about yourself like if you like yourself and you validate yourself? And you're comfortable with what you're doing, and you're willing to keep going at it, and you're willing to ask for help when you need it, then like ultimately, there's nothing else to do on that. Copy. All right, cool. Yeah, said she said it. Ah, so Natalie Small from Groundswell Surf Therapy was our fourth episode. And she was talking about presence versus process. And I liked this so much that I started to adapt it into our weekly newsletter. And then I quickly realized presence versus process is not something that you can just like whip up. It's something that requires intention, and time and experience. And so I've been thinking about all the different ways and all the different spaces that we create, and all the different kinds of connections that I'm craving. And sometimes, like presencing, the way that Nathalie divided it up was presence is, you're here, you're in this moment, you're not necessarily articulating what's going on for you, you're not processing, you're just learning how to be present, learning how to be safe and comfortable in your body, learning how to regulate your nervous system, like that's learning how to be present in this time and space that we're occupying. And then processing is like where you are able to verbalize and articulate and I think just like those two phrases, and those explanations of the difference, really opened up a new way for me to understand the work we do at Hiking My Feelings, how I personally need time, to both be present and to process. And I think it's actually kind of made our relationship better, Bear. Because I like I feel more comfortable. Like I recognize the difference. And I'm like, I need to talk this out. And like I've just said that. And I'm like, Hey, I just needed to talk this out. Whereas before I would kind of let things stew until I couldn't let them out.
Barry Williams 16:45
Yeah, and I just sit there and listen.
Sydney Williams 16:47
And that's all you got to do. Yeah. Say it again, for the people in the back.
Barry Williams 16:50
Yeah, I don't need to fix everything. I just need to sit there and listen, a tip for all the all the guys out there who want to fix everything because that's been told to do. Sometimes you just need to listen.
Sydney Williams 17:01
And a tip for all the gals and theys and everybody else out there that is inclined to support and, and fixing is the way that we've been shown how to do that. We don't have to like in all reality, sometimes people just need somebody to listen to them. So before we go to the break, we'll leave with episode number five, which was an episode with me, where I was talking about how we were moving to Catalina Island, and that we were here. And it was the first episode that we did that wasn't at the ranch. And for me, I just want to leave everybody with that, like on that whole episode, like your dreams will come true when you believe in them. And I used to say I'll believe it when I see it. And over the last 10-15 years I've been really trying to as I remember because it's not natural for me yet I don't do this automatically. But I try to think about all see it when I believe it. And as it as it as it is, as it pertains to everything that we're doing here on Catalina Island with my journey as an author in our relationship, for Wellness in the Wilderness. Like I'll see it when I believed it. The second that I believed that I was capable of hosting these conversations, finding the right people, having an opinion, sharing it, being willing to be wrong and you know, unlearn and relearn. Then the whole world opened up so when you believe it, it's easier to see it. And we got time for one more. So let's do Anastasia Allison episode number six. I want to leave you on this note listeners. What do you want to welcome into your life Anastasia talked about life's welcome mat. And I thought that that was such a beautiful metaphor for manifestation. Creating a life that you want to live building a routine that supports you in your vision and gives you time and space to have with yourself for yourself by yourself. So what do you want to have on your life's welcome mat? When we get back we'll share more insights from prior episodes. So don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.
Announcer 19:11
become our friend on Facebook. Post your thoughts about our shows in network on our timeline, visit facebook.com forward slash voice America. Have you ever spoken unkind to yourself? Do you realize when you do? Are you ready to make changes but find yourself completely paralyzed by the choices in front of you. We live in a hyper connected always on world. And frankly, it's exhausting. Let's make time to disconnect from the distractions and reconnect with yourself. Hiking My Feelings exists to help people discover the healing power of nature. kickstart your healing journey and grab a copy of the book that started our movement, Hiking My Feelings stepping into the healing power of nature, named one of Audible's best hiking audiobooks and available wherever books are sold. Visit hikingmyfeelings.org today to learn more. Sawyer is more than an outdoor company. Every Sawyer product you buy, contributes to our common humanity, bringing Sawyer water filtration systems to people in need all around the world. In just 2022 Alone 260,000 households in over 45 countries received clean drinking water through Sawyer filters. Over the past 10 years, we've teamed up with over 140 charities in 80 countries to provide long term sustainable relief, domestically, internationally, and in disaster situations. Together, we're saving millions of lives. Thank you, Ready to find your Wellness in the Wilderness then look no further than Hiking My Feelings through a combination of community and self discovery. Our programs are designed to give you the space and support to connect lifestyles. If you're looking to figure out who you are underneath the stories you've been given, and are ready to redesign the map of where you're headed with actionable steps and opportunities to dream big. We're here to walk alongside you. Whether you're a seasoned adventure enthusiast, or brand new to the healing power of nature. We've got your back. Visit hikingmyfeelings.org today to download our free trail thoughts worksheets, and learn more about Hiking My Feelings. You're listening to Wellness in the Wilderness with Sydney Williams. Have a question for Sydney and her guests. Join us on the show at 888-346-9141. That's 888-346-9141 Now back to the show with Sydney.
Sydney Williams 21:45
All right party people. We are back I'm still Sydney Williams you're still listening to Wellness in the Wilderness. And before the break we were doing a quick recap of the lessons learned from our pilot series here on Voice America Empowerment Network. And we talked about Fidget and Neon from Her Odyssey Angela Lavasque's. Brilliance about the river being a boundary Arlette Laan had to stop comparing your journey to others. Natalie Small of Groundswell Surf Therapy was talking about presence versus process. I was saying, you know, sometimes your dreams take a while to come true. But if you believe in them, they will come true. So keep putting one foot in front of the other. Anastasia Alison from Kula Cloth, invited us to think about what we'd like to welcome into our life. Every morning, she rolls out a welcome mat for life and thinks about what she would like to welcome in. And now that we're back, we'll pick it back up with episode, our episode with Drew Petersen, which was talking about emotional breaking points leading to physical breaking points. You got anything on this one very?
Barry Williams 22:49
Well, I mean, I think the body and the mind are all connected. Just as much as people are connected to each other. And we're connected to nature, the mind and the body is all it's all one thing. And I've had what five major joint surgeries all of which tended to have its own mental Breaking Point involved. You know,
Sydney Williams 23:14
we haven't dissected your injuries like that before. Hit me with that.
Barry Williams 23:17
I don't know. I hadn't really reflected on it either. So I don't, I don't, again, working live without a net here. We didn't really script this or anything like that. So I hadn't honestly really thought about it.
Sydney Williams 23:29
That's cool.
Barry Williams 23:30
Yeah. Yeah, well, let me Yeah, yeah, if I come up with something, you know,
Sydney Williams 23:34
you you marinate on that. Yeah. Um, but I think for me, that was absolutely true. Like I, in the case of my physical breaking point, it wasn't bones breaking, but like parts of my body, not functioning the way they should, or at their optimal levels, like, all of my emotional avoidance of the worst day of my life, which was the assault, I survived when I was in college. All of the avoidance of that manifested into a chronic illness. So like, for me, the avoidance of those behavior or of that, of processing that pain, and that just desperation to feel better, came in the form of unhealthy coping mechanisms and then a diabetes diagnosis like I can resonate 100% With what Drew was saying, so if anybody out there is feeling any of these points so far, or wants to share any of their reflections on this, give us a call because we definitely want to hear from you. 888-346-9141 While we jump into the next one, Emily Henkel, who was no matter what, you can survive this that's what I wrote down as my note about Emily's episode. For folks that haven't listened or for a quick refresher, if you have Emily and her partner Alex went to Death Valley National Park and had a like catastrophic tire failure where they had to go walk and find help in the middle of Death Valley National Park and the most one of the most remote parts of the park, millions and millions of acres just out there in the middle of nowhere. And as they were exploring a route to get back, Alex fell, and just suffered like, really terrible injuries and Emily tried to downclimb to get to him, she too, also fell into the same spot where she spent Alex's her like she spent the moments right before Alex's last breath with him. And she talked about her story of overcoming and how to survive, like how she literally survived, but also how she survived the aftermath of that experience. And I think I like is something that I say often in our community and in the spaces that we create, and the events that we host is, you know, the worst day of my life and the worst day of your life may be very different. But if we're here together in community and in conversation, then we have at least one thing in common. And that's that we survived this far, to get to the point where we could talk about that and meet each other and share those experiences. So no matter what you're going through, whether it's an injury, like a physical injury, maybe you're dealing with some stress, maybe you have a difficult conversation that you need to initiate, maybe you're experiencing a life transition, whether that's in or out of relationships in or out of jobs, maybe you've lost someone close to you, maybe you're starting a brand new exciting chapter, all of that can contribute to our, our health and wellness as a whole or take away from it. So no matter what you're going through, if you're here and you're listening, you've survived it, and you have it in you to keep going. And that doesn't mean that it's going to be hard forever. And it doesn't mean that it's going to be easy forever, either. But if we're all here, and we're all talking and we're all able to think about our worst days of our lives, then we're all still here. So big pat on the back for everybody that's been through some shit, that's still going. That's all I got on that one anything for you?
Barry Williams 27:15
Well, I think that's why I love doing our retreats. Particularly like this stuff on Catalina because they're challenging the stuff in most of the national parks theit kind of introductory level relatively easy, but we get on Catalina, and it's not easy, no matter what we're doing. And we definitely push people to do something that they probably normally wouldn't do under ordinary circumstances. But in reality, it's just walking. I've been doing it successfully in some degree or another since I'm a toddler. So it's, it's something that as long as you're able to physically walk, you know, it's it's not that difficult, you know, because it's just walking, but I love putting people particularly on Catalina through harder things. And when we have a group of people, it's kind of shared misery because there's no, no shade. And it's up hill. And it's Rocky and yeah, but it has like some of the best views. There's Bison, and there's just some really cool stuff. But I mean, you know, when you have that sense of community, and you know, you get to the end of a day and you hang out and you're by the fire, and you're listening to music, and eating good food, and you can all kind of relate. And I think it's that in and of itself is one of my favorite things when we do these retreats. You know, because I would think if most people that go on our retreats, you ask them to go hike that by themselves. They'd probably maybe turn around, I don't know, maybe they'd make it. But you learn something about yourself. You learn something about the people that are in your community, in your group. And and you can do it it's just walking. Yeah, hiking is just fancy walking,
Sydney Williams 27:19
Hit me with it. fancy walking. Sometimes Sometimes like for you sometimes you're scrambling to get up sometimes you got you feel like you're on your hands and knees sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it's easy, but at the end of the day, it is just walking.
Barry Williams 29:23
Yeah,
Sydney Williams 29:23
yeah. There's just walking, just walking. Yeah. Yep. So number nine, Alific and Man of the Forests. These guys came through for me more than once, yes, what they do. So, episode nine was originally supposed to be Samuel J. But he was at Sundance, his travel got messed up. So he was on a plane when we were supposed to be recording. So like as we found out about this the day before. I was like hey guys. I had planned to have Derek and Brendan on the show later in the season. And it just so happened that they were available when Samuel was not and we had a really great conversation about collaboration, community, this music that they've created. So if you like the music that you hear during the show, that's a track called Green Hills. That album from Alific is coming out at the end of March. Is that right? And a march?
Barry Williams 30:16
Yes,
Sydney Williams 30:17
yes. So definitely check that out. But I think one of the big takeaways outside of like, the continuation and the the love that I feel when I talk with these guys about just what they do, how they do it, how they're collaborating, the community that's building around their music, is that story about the cave. And the rainy season in New Zealand. So like TLDR too long, didn't read too long didn't listen. If you take nothing else away, don't go in a cave when it's raining, or when it has been raining.
Barry Williams 30:50
Yeah, generally not recommended caves. And then like, you know, in the desert where you got those canyons generally not a good idea to be in there. When there's water coming. Yeah. Yeah, not not a great idea. But I'm glad our friend Brendan is alive and well. And here to tell the story. And hopefully you guys learn from it. Because when he was telling us that story, when he first got back, were like, dude, tell us all the stories. Let us know. I want to hear it. And he told his story. And I'm just like, Oh, my God. He could have died out there.
Sydney Williams 31:24
Thank God, those guys are rock climbing and they had ropes
Barry Williams 31:27
Yeah, you could have been in trouble.
Sydney Williams 31:29
And thank God, he wasn't like so. So in his own head that he was like, No, I got this. Like, thank God, he was able to ask for help me like, Hey, guys, like, I've bit off more than I can chew here like that. That is the test. The ultimate outdoor threats is like, you want to keep being a key being a tough guy or you want to just go ahead and say you need some help. Well, two, my favorite quotes from my skydiving days is there's a fine line between a hot dog and a weenie. Yes. And if you're going to be stupid, you better be tough. Yes. So fortunately, Alific was was also very lucky. Yeah, good. Yes. glad he's still around. Glad is still around the world would not be the same without that music. So, Barry, your episode came up next. So my big takeaway from that was when you were saying, and I know it's not your quote, but that you can go outside. You can walk to the mountaintop, you can do all the things but you're not going to find the Zen there. The Zen you find is the Zen you bring with you?
Barry Williams 32:28
Correct. Yeah, yeah.
Sydney Williams 32:30
What was your takeaway from your episode?
Barry Williams 32:32
I have a voice for radio.
Sydney Williams 32:34
Yes, you do.
Barry Williams 32:36
No, I don't know. It was, you know, it's always a pleasure to watch your work and to do your thing, and I'm very, very impressed and very proud that, you know, you're my wife and partner. Yes. And this show has been great. All your shows have been great. All the virtual campfire stuff, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes next.
Sydney Williams 32:58
Yes.
Barry Williams 33:00
No, no, I don't know if I get off the track there. But
Sydney Williams 33:02
no, it was good. I appreciate the compliments when I asked you about your episode. That's how it works here. All right, good. So then we had Samuel J. And we talked about a lot of good things. But I think the thing that I appreciated the most about not only the conversation I had with Samuel but the process to get to the point to have the conversation was this format on Voice America, the Empowerment Channel, this particular show, is very different from what I have done in the past the Virtual Campfire, which we did 67 episodes of before we did Wellness in the Wilderness was just long form, however long somebody wanted to chat. That's how long the episode was. And there wasn't a script. Like I didn't like segment out the things to make sure that it was you know, between commercial breaks and it wasn't, it was live, but there wasn't like the time schedule. Like I'd have to be done with this at this time. So we can go to commercial. So I had really, I really liked the the the challenge of producing an episode and finding the story and like talking through the guests in our pre pro calls were it was just like discovery like who is this person? And what's their story about and how can we how can we take all of these massive accomplishments I mean, like we're talking to like Drew Petersen, professional skier, we're talking to Samuel J, who's done incredible work in music and conservation, the Her Odyssey gals, Arlette like literally every guest has had this like resume that there's no way that in just an hour, we could cohesively tell their whole story and pull some some good stuff out of it. So the challenge of finding the story that we can tell in an hour was super exciting. So then I get on the call with Samuel and his agent. And I was like, hey, so this is what I want to do. And this is what I want to talk about and dah, dah, dah. And I'll send you the show flow with like all my questions and he's like, Hey, if you don't mind like my preference is to just kind of like go with the flow. And I was like, I'm capable of doing that. But I was actually like kind of scared. And like my whole existence of hosting any kind of show anything in the past has been go with the flow, see what comes up. And so to sit down with Samuel, in the middle of this new storytelling platform and format that I found where we find the story, and it's condensed into these little like segments to round out the whole picture, by the end of the episode, it was really nice to just find my flow with Sam in that way. And so the takeaway that I got from that one was because we were flowing, I was sharing a story about how I felt when his internet connection wasn't working. And he hadn't joined the meeting yet. And I was a little bit nervous about what was going on. And I was like, I'm telling the story about the Halloween party that I hosted, that I threw for nobody except for myself in third grade, and how I ate all the Skittles. And he was like, Hey, let's pause and like, give your inner child a hug. And I was like, yeah, and for everybody else listening, like give your inner child a hug. Like we got stuff to do when we've got things to think about. So I really appreciate the conversation that I did have a Samuel the ability to step back and settle in. For that episode, I was sitting on the ground like I am today, just stretching out settling into the conversation and seeing how it goes while keeping an eye on the clock. So anything on on that one?
Barry Williams 34:12
well one, I was blown away by Samuel J. His music and everything that he does, like he genuinely walks the walk. He doesn't just talk to talk. But back on the music train. I remembered it. Oh, yeah. Leonard Cohen, documentary that we were watching. Okay. Hallelujah. Yes, was paid for by his current label. And he played it for them. And they shelved the entire album because they said it was garbage.
Sydney Williams 37:06
Wow.
Barry Williams 37:07
garbage they called hallelujah by Leonard Cohen garbage,
Sydney Williams 37:12
which as we all know, is not true,
Barry Williams 37:14
right? No, it's not.
Sydney Williams 37:16
Thank you for that. So yeah, I appreciate you bringing it back to that. And so before we go to our next break, um, the last episode that we had last week was with Cinde from Catalina Backcountry. And something that continues to impress me about what Catalina Backcountry is, its capacity to support hikers and backpackers on the island is that four generations story and Cinde told that there, we tell it on every tour. But there aren't a lot of places in the world where you can go have a back country remote experience with four generations of a family. And there are ways to go and do that. Like you could do mule packing and the Grand Canyon, for example, like that's an example that I can think of off the top of my head. But in general, this this story that she shares about the four generations of people that wanted to have this experience together, and they were able to because of the services that Catalina Backcountry provides. Just, that's everything, like you shouldn't be limited to like, yes, it is just fancy walking. But when I am old and gray, and I can no longer fancy walk, granted, there won't be for generations of any kind of family because we're not having kids, but like, four generations of friends, maybe like I don't know, but when I'm old and gray and I can't walk walk anymore, it would be really cool to be able to be carted out to my favorite drop zone or dropzone, where am I? my favorite campground and have that experience.
Barry Williams 38:43
Yeah, and I think it's a you know, it's also a tip of the hat to or service mentality. Yeah, you know, and really kind of giving back to the community and figuring out ways to make that work and making accessibility at the core of everything that she does. Yes, just sharing the love
Sydney Williams 39:00
sharing the love Big shout out to Cinde for sharing the love. So when we get back Barry and I are going to be talking about what we're grateful for and it's going to be a really long last segment if none of you call in so if you're listening and you're grateful for literally anything like the fact that you woke up today is a gift even if today sucks. Give us a call 888-346-9141 We're gonna go popcorn style around the circle. I'd love to hear what you're grateful for. Give us a call. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back
Announcer 39:32
follow us on Twitter at voice America TR and get the lowdown on guests you shows and your favorites. That's voice America TRN Ready to find your Wellness in the Wilderness and look no further than Hiking My Feelings through a combination of community and self discovery. Our programs are designed to give you the space and support to connect lifestyles. If you're looking to figure out who you are underneath the stories you've been given, and are ready to redesign the map of where you're headed. With actionable steps and opportunities to dream big. We're here to walk alongside you. Whether you're a seasoned adventure enthusiast, or brand new to the healing power of nature. We've got your back. Visit hikingmyfeelings,org today to download our free trail thoughts worksheets, and learn more about Hiking My Feelings. Sawyer is more than an outdoor company, every Sawyer product you buy, contributes to our common humanity, bringing Sawyer water filtration systems to people in need all around the world. In just 2022 alone, 260,000 households in over 45 countries received clean drinking water through Sawyer filters. Over the past 10 years, we've teamed up with over 140 charities in 80 countries to provide long term sustainable relief, domestically, internationally and in disaster situations. Together, we're saving millions of lives. Thank you. Have you ever spoken unkind to yourself? Do you realize when you do, are you ready to make changes but find yourself completely paralyzed by the choices in front of you. We live in a hyper connected always on world. And frankly, it's exhausting. Let's make time to disconnect from the distractions and reconnect with yourself. Hiking My Feelings exists to help people discover the healing power of nature. kickstart your healing journey and grab a copy of the book that started our movement, Hiking My Feelings, Stepping in the Healing Power of Nature, named one of Audible's best hiking audiobooks and available wherever books are sold. Visit hikingmyfeelings.org today to learn more. You're listening to Wellness in the Wilderness with Sydney Williams. Have a question for Sydney and her guests. Join us on the show at 888-346-9141. That's 888-346-9141 Now back to the show with Sydney.
Sydney Williams 42:08
All right, everybody. Welcome back to Wellness in the Wilderness. I'm Sydney Williams, I'm here with my husband, partner adventure buddy for life Barry Williams as we wrap up this pilot season on Voice America Empowerment here at Wellness in the Wilderness. And we are here to talk about gratitude and our final segment. Because gratitude is everything
Barry Williams 42:33
It's the attitude.
Sydney Williams 42:34
Gratitude is the attitude. Tell me more Barry.
Barry Williams 42:38
Oh, I don't know, I just I figured they arrived. And that sounded good. So I just came up with that. Right now.
Sydney Williams 42:43
I appreciate that.
Barry Williams 42:44
I don't know if it's original. But Gratitude is the attitude
Sydney Williams 42:48
we carry, we carry an attitude of gratitude. And it is the attitude of gratitude that gets us through. Yeah, and I do actually want to talk about that because I have pulled myself out of some really dark and stormy places by recognizing, oh, this is dark and stormy. And I know that thinking about what I'm grateful for is at least, if not a solution, a very sturdy bandaid for some of those moments. So for anybody that's listening, that is having a hard day that needs somewhere to just like be seen and heard. Give us a call, we got you, you can share something that you're grateful for, I promise it'll lift your mood, and for the folks that are out there that need a place to celebrate, because that's the other thing. And I think that that's actually you know what, I think that's part of why I've really enjoyed keeping this publishing news close to the best is because sometimes it doesn't feel safe to celebrate, especially when the world is melting down around us. Like it can feel icky to be happy, which like maybe that's just my thing. But that needs to stop because like joy is the only way we get through this and we need to find more ways to find it. So Barry, what are you grateful for? I'm grateful for this morning. Me and You had a delightful conversation. Yeah, I think you grew up a little bit. Yes. And I think you are becoming the woman that I knew you always could become. And then and then I got to go out this morning into the back country of the interior of Catalina Island sipping on some maple tea from New Hampshire and watching a fox scratch his itch and then take some really nice pictures of bison and then you know give a heads up to the people I was doing a gear all to him like hey, it's gonna be really windy tonight and actually find out which direction the winds are coming from. Made sure that they had a good camping spot and I left them a little note that said winds are coming west northwest. I think where you guys are at, you're gonna be pretty well sheltered. So enjoy the rest of your trip. Ah, yeah. That is nice. We've got Jason from California. Jason, what are you grateful for?
Jason 45:14
I'm grateful for you guys.
Sydney Williams 45:16
Oh, Hi, Bud. How you doing? It's good to hear your voice.
Jason 45:21
Yeah, pretty good to hear yours, too.
Sydney Williams 45:24
So what? What I mean, I don't need to like dig about what you're grateful for us. But do you want to tell everybody that's listening? Maybe why?
Jason 45:33
Okay, well, I mean, in a nutshell, it's, I'm grateful for both you guys. Sorry, if I'm stuttering, I actually just got out of the dentist. So half my tongue and face is numb. But now just following you. Since the beginning, and just meeting you, it's sort of helped me with my journey. Without going into so many details. Yeah, just you know, hiking my own hike across Catalina, and that's how we sort of connected. And we just sort of shared our own journey. And, you know, me finding out I had diabetes last year, or this past year. That journey is one of its own. And I think just somehow meeting you helped me process that way faster than I think I would have been able to. Had I not met you.
Sydney Williams 46:33
Ah, thank you, Jason.
Jason 46:37
You know, from your book, your shows to being a former guest on virtual campfire to all the retreats. And you know, like I said, your book. Um, I've been gifted numerous numbers of your books to friends.
Sydney Williams 46:53
Yeah, it's, well, we are grateful for you, Barry. You haven't gotten any words of thanks for Jason.
Barry Williams 47:02
Oh, my man, Jason. I mean, I don't have any. Nothing. We haven't already said in person. Yeah. You know, you've been there since day one. And we really appreciate all the support. And you're just an awesome Dude. That's, I mean, I don't I don't know how else to say it. So
Jason 47:20
congratulations already on the upcoming book.
Sydney Williams 47:23
Thank you. We appreciate it. And thanks for calling in. Jason was great to hear from you. We're grateful for you.
Jason 47:28
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Awesome. Song I was thinking of was Queen Bohemian Rhapsody.
Sydney Williams 47:34
Oh, yeah. Queen Bohemian Rhapsody. Okay. Yep. That was one of the ones too. I remember seeing something about that. How that got turned down. And nobody liked it. It was too long. Blah, blah, blah. Yeah, killer. I love it. Thank you. All right. So things I'm grateful for as we're getting closer to the end here. Hopefully some other people have things to share. Um, for me, I am grateful for the opportunity to host these conversations here. I am grateful for the courage that I found somewhere to share my story. I guess it kind of started by watching The Bachelor and the girls were talking about it on the couch. And like that kind of opened up the door for me to talk about the worst day of my life. But in all reality, as I've been thinking about this, like Barry, and I went to the Cali Vibes, Music Festival in Long Beach over the weekend, we went on Sunday. And one of the things that we were talking about was how we are just like all the things that had to happen for us to meet and be in that space in that moment together. And I was trying to think of like all the different life decisions that I've made and how, like at what fork in which road was the path that led me down towards meeting Barry. And at what fork in which road? Was Barry's path put towards meeting me. Like I have said, since we did like, decided that we would be together before it was like googly eyes and didn't have an official leg to stand on here. But I have felt since that moment, that Barry and I have been connected for multiple lifetimes, because otherwise I can't really wrap my head around the depth of the connection that we share in this one. And so we're talking about how like, even even when our bodies die, like our spirits continue and just like that whole thing of like, what led me here, and I don't we were kind of thinking about it. And then at one point were like, You know what? I'm not going to question it like and I'm not questioning and I'm curious about it, but I'm not gonna spend too much time trying to connect those dots because the present moment of oh, here we go. You know how like sometimes you have a thought, and then you feel your eyes start to well up, like you're gonna start sobbing that just happened. But like, I think I'm gonna be okay. I was just thinking about how, what matters is me sitting on my butt on a pillow with my computer and my microphone on a Starlink box, while Barry's lying on the floor across on the other side of the Starlink Box. And if he has something to say he might sit up, or he might just talk louder to get to the mic. And like this is what matters. And how much I love you.
Barry Williams 50:32
Yeah.
Sydney Williams 50:34
Oh. So I'm really grateful for you, Barry for being my partner and my friend, and my coach and my collaborator. You're my best friend.
Barry Williams 50:52
Yeah.
Sydney Williams 50:54
And without while I appreciate you acknowledging how much I grew up this morning during our conversation, and that'll that conversation might be articulated in a book somewhere, someday, but today's not the day to talk about it. But while I appreciate you acknowledging the growth that I experienced, the growth that I demonstrated today, would not be possible. If I didn't feel safe to speak these things out loud. It wouldn't be possible if I didn't have the support that I have to go and share my stories and like, think about things the way I think about things and feel safe to just be me and figure it out. So thank you,
Barry Williams 51:35
I got nothing else to do.
Sydney Williams 51:36
He's got nothing else to do. Ladies and Gents you heard it here. First, Barry has nothing else to do.
Barry Williams 51:42
Nothing else I'd rather do than support you.
Sydney Williams 51:45
Nothing else you'd rather do than support me. Well, I appreciate that deeply. So as we're thinking about wrapping up the show today, I wanted to share some ways that you can stay in touch while we figure out next steps for Wellness in the Wilderness and what. So you can be in the loop when we know when what we want to do with the show. So you can be in the loop as we start to announce the different events that we've been cooking up for this year. And yeah, so our website is hikingmyfeelings.org. And there you can find upcoming events, you can find information about our programs, you can sign up for our retreats waitlist, so you know when our registration opens for our retreats this year. So far, we have dates confirmed with Sequoia National Park, Joshua Tree National Park. And we are finalizing some of our dates here on Catalina Island for our events that we'll be hosting here this year. And the website is you know, the best place to learn more about Hiking My Feelings to support the organization. If you have learned something here and you want to see these kinds of conversations continue, we would love to have your support. Whether that's sharing it, or commenting on the post or making a donation to continue this work, we definitely appreciate the support. If you are on social media and we aren't connected, we are @hikingmyfeelings on Instagram, we also have a YouTube channel where we have a ton of videos that have just been kind of documenting our experience in building this movement and this community and the organization to try to just make the world a better place. So you can find us on YouTube as well. And we're on Facebook, but I am not terribly great. Or do I care to be on Facebook too much. So if you want to be there, we're there. But the majority of our community and engagement and actual conversation is happening on our Instagram channel. So head over there @hikingmyfeelings and if you have followed us at some point along this journey, and we haven't followed you back, send us a DM and let us know like Hey, I listen to the show. There's like I don't want to set this is gonna sound gross no matter how I say it. But like there's a lot of people that follow us and we can't like keep up with all the things and we're not sure who all the people are. So like, just say hey, introduce yourself, tell us where you're from what you're about what's your favorite trail is and we can go from there. And then lastly, I just want to say thank you to Voice America for the opportunity to share these conversations here this show is been an absolute game changer for me and that just concepting the show gave me language to understand what we do at Hiking My Feelings, which is helping people find Wellness in the Wilderness and it took like coming up with a new show to find that language that that describes what we do. So I'm grateful for the opportunity to reflect in that way. I appreciate the support of everybody at the network who's helped us make the show great and build it from the ground up from zero to Shero. We appreciate that and of course to Sawyer and Gossamer Gear We could not do this without you and we are so grateful for your support. So until next time because we're not, this is not goodbye, this is a See you later see you soon. Take good care of yourself, take good care of each other, dream big and be kind. And I hope every day that these conversations no matter when you find them are a breath of fresh air and make you feel a little less alone in the world. So we'll see you next time. Thanks for listening.
Announcer 55:34
Thanks for joining us on this week's show. We hope this episode has been a breath of fresh air for you and has inspired you to find your Wellness in the Wilderness. We will reconnect with nature and you again next week. Since 1984 Sell your has existed to support your wildest adventures. Learn about their advanced insect repellents and family of technical Lightweight Water filters at sawyer.com