Episode 10
Ep 010. Be AWARE of This: Resistance & Your Backpacking Goals
Welcome back to The Adventurous Reinvention Podcast, where host Allison Boyle delves into the transformative power of adventure.
In today's episode, we're tackling the mental hurdles that often accompany our most adventurous pursuits. If you've ever felt that wave of anxiety or resistance before a big trip, you're not alone.
Allison shares personal experiences, like her journey on the John Muir Trail amidst wildfire threats, to illustrate how to differentiate between genuine safety concerns and the pre-trip mind drama.
With practical insights and examples from her coaching clients, she highlights the importance of preparation, safety plans, and community support to navigate this mental barrier.
Key Points Discussed:
- An in-depth look into pre-trip resistance and how it impacts your success as a backpacker. It is a common psychological hurdle that arises for many backpackers before an adventure.
- How to differentiate between genuine safety concerns in the mountains and pre-trip mind drama and emotional resistance
- Strategies to manage pre-trip nerves
- Real-life examples of overcoming pre-trip resistance
Join us as we explore how overcoming pre-trip resistance can lead to immense personal growth and unforgettable adventures.
Whether you're a seasoned backpacker or just starting, this episode is packed with valuable lessons to help you reach that trailhead with confidence and excitement.
Where to learn more about Allison:
🎁 FREE GIFT: Grab the Outdoor Backpacker Starter Kit for FREE here to get started on your journey with backpacking.
🥾 BACKPACKING COURSE WAITLIST: This is our signature program where we teach you how to become a safe, confident, and self-sufficient backpacker. It's an online course, coaching program, and community to support you in your journey to becoming a confident backpacker and step into your adventurous identity.
Transcript
You're listening to the Adventurous Reinvention podcast. I'm
Speaker:Alison Boyle AKA She Dreams of Alpine and this is the
Speaker:show that's dedicated to all the adventurous spirits out there who have either
Speaker:been transformed by the outdoors or interested in what it
Speaker:looks like to step into a new adventurous and courageous kind
Speaker:of identity in their life. It doesn't matter what your background is in the
Speaker:outdoors, what age you're starting at, or where you grew up. If
Speaker:you're curious about the outdoors and using adventure as a way to
Speaker:reinvent yourself, you're in the right place. I'll be
Speaker:sharing all kinds of personal adventure stories, lessons I've
Speaker:learned from the mountains, teaching what I know about the outdoors and leadership,
Speaker:and interviewing some amazing adventurous women all along the
Speaker:way. I've been coaching women on becoming safe, confident, and
Speaker:self sufficient backpackers and leaders of their own adventurous lives
Speaker:since 2018. And I know exactly what
Speaker:big fears and self doubts can pop up along the way. I have
Speaker:so much to share with you, so let's dive in.
Speaker:Okay. Welcome to episode 10 of the
Speaker:adventurous reinvention podcast. Today, I wanted to talk about a
Speaker:topic
Speaker:badass coaching program, and it's the concept of
Speaker:resistance. And resistance can show up in our backpacking
Speaker:goals and your outdoor goals all of the time, And it's one of the
Speaker:single most important things that you need to become aware of if you want to
Speaker:start going on more and more adventures. So
Speaker:let's start with defining resistance. What is resistance?
Speaker:And what should you be looking for? Right? Resistance can show
Speaker:up all along the way to achieving your backpacking goal, but the
Speaker:specific instant that I want to talk to you more today on this episode
Speaker:is the resistance that you feel that shows up right
Speaker:before you're supposed to go on a trip, on a backpacking trip, or
Speaker:a solo hiking trip, or a solo camping trip, or road trip,
Speaker:anything that you have been planning extensively for maybe is a
Speaker:little bit outside of your comfort zone. For many of my clients, that's
Speaker:their first backpacking trip or a backpacking trip outside of their comfort zone
Speaker:or solo backpacking. So there is a resistance that can
Speaker:happen like right before you're supposed to go on your trip.
Speaker:So here's what happens. So many of you and my
Speaker:clients, they decide, yes, like this is my year.
Speaker:I'm going backpacking. They're super stoked. They're
Speaker:setting the goal, and they're setting the intention, and they're feeling all of the good
Speaker:things that come from going all in and being
Speaker:excited about finally doing a thing they've been dreaming about doing.
Speaker:But what happens is there is usually a bit of
Speaker:time between when you set your goals, so that initial excitement, and
Speaker:then all of the learning that you need to do and your actual
Speaker:backpacking trip. So when you set the goal, there's quite a
Speaker:bit of time between your goal and actually realizing it and, like, it
Speaker:happening, right? So for some people, this can be
Speaker:months and months of preparing depending on how new you are
Speaker:to backpacking or how much time you have to dedicate to your learning, what
Speaker:you need to learn for your 1st trip, or maybe it's just not the right
Speaker:season and so you're waiting a while, right? And like so many things
Speaker:in our life, you can start to lose that kind of initial
Speaker:excitement that you had when you first set the goal, that I can do anything
Speaker:I put my mind to mentality, which a lot of us have when we
Speaker:set a goal, we're very excited, we're very motivated. And
Speaker:as time goes on, you can start to feel a little less
Speaker:motivated. But usually, in my experience working with
Speaker:100 and 100 of women on, in particular,
Speaker:backpacking and getting out there and going on their first trips, the
Speaker:hardest phase for my clients is that 1 to
Speaker:2 weeks out from their trip period
Speaker:and time frame. So many of my clients do pretty well with the
Speaker:kind of like goal setting, the learning, and the preparing phase, and
Speaker:staying motivated enough to practice along the way. Like, that part is usually
Speaker:pretty exciting for them. But when their backpacking trip is really
Speaker:close, this is when all of the mind drama will start to
Speaker:come up for them. And I call this final hurdle,
Speaker:before you even hit the trail, I like to call this the
Speaker:pre trip resistance phase. So the pre
Speaker:trip resistance phase, all of a sudden, you'll know you're in this
Speaker:phase is when all of a sudden there will be like a 1,000,000 excuses that
Speaker:come up the week before your trip, any trip that you have. But
Speaker:let's think of the example of a backpacking trip, why you
Speaker:shouldn't go. Your brain is going to offer you a lot of reasons, right?
Speaker:Maybe you're behind on work. Maybe your kids are telling you they don't want you
Speaker:to go and you feel guilty. Maybe you feel tired from the work week. Or
Speaker:maybe you're really nervous and you're starting to overthink everything and
Speaker:obsessively worrying about the worst case scenario. So a lot of my clients will
Speaker:end up everything and obsessively worrying about the worst case scenario. So a lot of
Speaker:my clients will end up they'll be very prepared. They will have done the work
Speaker:all summer to get themselves prepared, but that week before is when you can start
Speaker:to kind of really panic and think like all think and go
Speaker:down the doomsday kind of scenario for your trip even
Speaker:though they're more than ready. You may start to even convince
Speaker:yourself. So this is kind of a sneaky one, but you may start to
Speaker:convince yourself that maybe you're not even that excited about it anymore. Like,
Speaker:the excitement that you had when you set the goal that week
Speaker:before, 2 weeks before the trip with everything else, all your anxieties,
Speaker:everything else going on in your life, it might convince you that you're not that
Speaker:excited about this goal anymore. And when you kind of hear those
Speaker:excuses in your brain, you hear that mind drama, it can seem
Speaker:super reasonable to have those thoughts, right? Well, maybe you
Speaker:are behind on your work. Maybe your kids really don't want you to go. Maybe
Speaker:you are actually really tired. Maybe you actually
Speaker:aren't that excited in that very moment, right, that week before
Speaker:you're struggling to find the excitement. And especially if
Speaker:it's newer something like this is newer to you, you don't really know what to
Speaker:expect so it's hard to tap into like future self
Speaker:you being super excited, right? So it can be easy to
Speaker:convince yourself that maybe I should just not do it, right?
Speaker:But what you'll notice is these thoughts that you have
Speaker:that come up like the week or 2 before your trip,
Speaker:they always come up at the most inconvenient
Speaker:time for you to cross that finish line into your goal and
Speaker:achieve the trip that you've been planning and preparing for the
Speaker:whole time. So I want you to think about if this has ever
Speaker:happened to you. So think about a time that you've bailed on a trip or
Speaker:maybe got close to bailing because you just started thinking about all this stuff.
Speaker:All this resistance came up for you. And then I want you to
Speaker:pay attention to the next time that you plan a trip that's
Speaker:outside of your comfort zones and pay attention for this thing to
Speaker:happen. And I guarantee you that you'll notice even if it's
Speaker:not that outside of your comfort zone with almost any trip, just because
Speaker:it's not something that we do on a regular basis you'll notice some forms
Speaker:of pre trip resistance. This is that
Speaker:resistance. All of those thoughts that are coming up for you before a trip
Speaker:this is mostly just mind drama. And it happens to me
Speaker:all the time. And I've been backpacking and rock climbing and mountaineering
Speaker:for over 11 years now, and I experience this kind of pre
Speaker:trip resistance really often, almost
Speaker:every single time that I have a big trip or I plan
Speaker:sometimes it doesn't even have to be a big trip. It can just be something
Speaker:that I have planned a long time ago and then a couple of weeks out.
Speaker:Like, I just have excuses. So I'll give you some examples.
Speaker:One example is Mount Shasta in 2018.
Speaker:So I went and did Mount Shasta in 2018 with one of my best
Speaker:friends. I was really stoked on doing that trip, climbing
Speaker:that 14er. I hadn't done it yet. It was something I was going to do
Speaker:with one of my best friends. And I was stoked on that trip until
Speaker:about the week before my trip. And then the week before my
Speaker:trip, I was telling myself all kinds of stories about how I
Speaker:wasn't ready, how I wasn't in shape enough. Like, I hadn't gotten to do the
Speaker:training that I wanted to do. I didn't feel prepared as well as I wanted
Speaker:to be, right? I started telling myself that I'm going to be the slowest in
Speaker:the group and hold everyone back. That's like a common story that I
Speaker:have had ever since I started getting into the outdoors that I think a lot.
Speaker:My brain always offers it to me. I started thinking about how hard
Speaker:it was going to be. It was a more technical
Speaker:mountain than some of the stuff that I had done at that point,
Speaker:and it didn't require technical skills. We were mountaineering. So I
Speaker:was kind of overthinking a lot of things. I had had a really
Speaker:busy week before I went and did that trip and I just wanted to relax.
Speaker:All of those things were coming up for me about the week before I was
Speaker:supposed to go out and do Mount Shasta. And I did. Like, I
Speaker:did want to bail, but I did it, and I'm so glad I didn't.
Speaker:That was an incredible trip. We did summit Mount Shasta.
Speaker:I had a great adventure with my friend, and I definitely didn't regret doing
Speaker:it. But I had all of those stories. And another example I had
Speaker:is and I want to share this example because it's like,
Speaker:how do we balance pre trip resistance with actual things that
Speaker:may come into play that are safety issues or real issues
Speaker:that you want to address, right? So another example
Speaker:is when I was supposed to do the John Muir Trail in
Speaker:2020, Michael and I had gotten permits to do the John Muir
Speaker:Trail in August of 2020.
Speaker:But there were a bunch of fires that were happening in the
Speaker:eastern Sierras, as happens in that
Speaker:area in the summer. And some of my
Speaker:anxiety was real. So like some of my anxiety was about the fires, worrying about
Speaker:the fires, worrying about the smoke, wondering if they were going to get worse, if
Speaker:they were going to get better. But also my brain was
Speaker:going wild with stories of what would happen beyond
Speaker:reasonable, like just going to super worst case
Speaker:scenarios. And I remember almost talking our like, we had been
Speaker:preparing for months for this trip, so excited, preparing for months. Thru
Speaker:hikes are bigger endeavors, so they take a lot more prep. And
Speaker:I remember almost bailing a week before the trip.
Speaker:But at this point in 2020, I have been
Speaker:hiking and backpacking for a long time and have already
Speaker:started my business, have been an outdoor educator. Like, I know that
Speaker:this happens to me. I know what pre trip resistance sounds like.
Speaker:And so I'm able to catch myself pretty quickly now. And I know that it's
Speaker:normal to kind of go down that road, feel that resistance, feel
Speaker:like you don't wanna do something. And I know that I have the tools
Speaker:that I need to overcome that and take it day by day. So
Speaker:with the John Muir Trail, yes, the fires were a
Speaker:safety concern that I did need to think through, But
Speaker:I had been prepared. And I'm going to talk about that a little bit more
Speaker:in a minute. But I had been prepared to kind of take it day by
Speaker:day and assess the safety as we go. So that is another
Speaker:example of my pre trip resistance.
Speaker:And I'm really familiar with my own resistance now.
Speaker:It's really predictable, almost hilarious hilariously so.
Speaker:It's kinda like an old friend. It's like this old version of me that
Speaker:tries to worm its way back into my life, old stories that
Speaker:I have. It's our brain just trying to, like, you know,
Speaker:keep us safe and it doesn't it doesn't like things that are
Speaker:unknown. So for me, I've learned to just show up
Speaker:regardless of my resistance in most scenarios. Right? Sometimes there are real scenarios that are
Speaker:for me, I've learned to just show up regardless of my resistance in most scenarios,
Speaker:right? Sometimes there are real scenarios that I will make a decision not to do
Speaker:something because I'm like, this is not just pre trip resistance. This is
Speaker:something real I need to take care of. But I've learned in most
Speaker:scenarios to show up regardless of my pre trip resistance. Like, I let myself have
Speaker:the mind drama. I let myself have the Like, I let myself have the mind
Speaker:drama. I let myself have the resistance, and I do it anyways because I know
Speaker:that I'm ready, and I know it's just my brain trying
Speaker:to keep me in my comfort zone.
Speaker:And the brain is a really sneaky thing.
Speaker:Our brains want us to stay in the comfort zone stay in our
Speaker:comfort zone so that anytime that we push ourselves out of our comfort zone,
Speaker:like, our brains will start to throw a fit. So we
Speaker:don't experience as much of this mind drama when we are in the
Speaker:learning phase of our journey. So let's say you joined our backpacking badass
Speaker:program and you're still feeling pretty excited and you're not feeling that mind
Speaker:drama so intensely because in that phase you're kind of watching
Speaker:videos, you're practicing things at home, you're going on hikes
Speaker:that maybe are more in your comfort zones. You're not experiencing that kind
Speaker:of pre trip panic as deeply usually
Speaker:because you haven't yet risked anything, right? But going on
Speaker:an actual backpacking trip is going to make your brain
Speaker:freak out because it doesn't know how it plays out, especially
Speaker:if you're brand new. But even if you're not brand new, like I said, like
Speaker:I experience this pretty much all the time, the brain doesn't know
Speaker:how, like, your trip's gonna play out and so it will usually offer
Speaker:you a lot of reasons to, like, back out. It's like we should just back
Speaker:out because it doesn't like the unknown. So the important
Speaker:thing here is to remember that this resistance that you
Speaker:feel is really normal. It's a really normal human feeling
Speaker:to experience before your trip. And one quote that I always like
Speaker:to remind myself of before I head out to do anything outside of
Speaker:my comfort zone is that resistance is the tax you
Speaker:have to pay in order to achieve your dreams. So if you're doing
Speaker:something big, you've set a big goal, expect that you will have that
Speaker:pre trip resistance, that panic, all of those things. I
Speaker:can remember actually coaching a client really recently. She
Speaker:was about to do one of her big goals this year
Speaker:was to do a solo backpacking trip, like a longer solo
Speaker:backpacking trip. And she was going to do the Trans
Speaker:Catalina Trail and she came on one of our coaching calls
Speaker:because we do, like, weekly not weekly, but we do 3 coaching calls a month
Speaker:in our Backpack Badass program and she hopped on one of our calls. And
Speaker:she was feeling the pre trip resistance. And we were able to
Speaker:kind of talk through it and be like, hey, you're ready.
Speaker:I know you're ready. She's been doing a ton of trips. She's very skilled in
Speaker:what she's doing. The trail she's going on is a really well maintained trail. It's
Speaker:great. It's perfect solo backpacking trip for her. She was ready. But it's just that
Speaker:pre trip resistance that happens, like, every single time. And she actually
Speaker:just got
Speaker:back from that, had a very successful trip. She did it despite the
Speaker:pre trip resistance. So we have to make it through the resistance
Speaker:and the mind drama and hit the trail regardless, and that is
Speaker:when the magic happens. I actually
Speaker:personally think a lot of times people think the hardest part about backpacking is,
Speaker:like, the actual backpacking, but I think the hardest
Speaker:part about backpacking is actually making it to the trailhead.
Speaker:And that is because of this resistance and the mind drama that can pop up
Speaker:right before a trip. And the thing is a lot of
Speaker:people just don't know how to identify it properly. So they have that pre trip
Speaker:resistance, and they think something has gone wrong, and that they
Speaker:shouldn't do the backpacking trip. So they make it mean they shouldn't go.
Speaker:And that's what I want to encourage you not to do. I want you to
Speaker:I mean, of course, like think through it. Be like, is this a
Speaker:legitimate safety concern or not? And then make your decision going
Speaker:forward. And today, I just wanted to share this concept with
Speaker:you so that you really can become and start to become more aware
Speaker:that this happens to almost everyone, and it's probably going to happen to you again
Speaker:and again, and that nothing has gone wrong and
Speaker:the magic happens when you choose to wade through that resistance
Speaker:and see your goal through the end. I want you to expect
Speaker:it, I want you to anticipate it, and I want you to
Speaker:prepare for it. So when you feel all of that
Speaker:resistance, those mind drama thoughts, like, acknowledge it for what it is
Speaker:and show up for your goal anyways. Yes. It will feel
Speaker:uncomfortable and, yes, it will feel like you're going against sometimes it
Speaker:will feel like you're going against what you want because, like, in the moment, you
Speaker:may not want to go on that backpacking trip, but you know
Speaker:that kinda, like, that kind of
Speaker:aligned version of you, the version of you that set this goal in
Speaker:the 1st place does want to do it, right, your current
Speaker:desires aren't in alignment with your desires to grow sometimes. So
Speaker:we have to recognize that in the moment. So you've got
Speaker:to persevere. And in my experience, you will
Speaker:be so thankful that you did. I have never regretted
Speaker:showing up for a trip even if I had massive resistance going
Speaker:into it. We actually we had a student
Speaker:in our Backpacking Badass community who post about hiking Mount Shasta as
Speaker:well a while back and how her guided trip
Speaker:was changed because of the weather. Like, there were some weather window
Speaker:issues and the plan changed, and she started to question if she could handle it
Speaker:or not. It started to kind of, like, make her freak out started to question
Speaker:if she could handle it or not. It started to kind of like make her
Speaker:freak out because things were changing, and it felt more unknown. And she was asking
Speaker:us if she should back out. And I recognized that resistance but also just reminded
Speaker:her, I'm like, you're in good hands.
Speaker:She had signed up for a guided trip. I'm like, you're in good hands. You're
Speaker:with guides that know this mountain really well. They're going to be helping you through
Speaker:the safety calls, the pivots, the process, and that you
Speaker:should show up anyways. And even if it's a little different than
Speaker:the trip had been originally planned, there's so much that you're going to gain from
Speaker:that experience. And you might just have an
Speaker:amazing time because you never know what your experience is going to be
Speaker:like in the mountains, and that it might kind of help
Speaker:her up level on what's possible for her because she showed up and she was
Speaker:willing to show up. So
Speaker:now I'm sure some of you might be asking yourselves
Speaker:or you want to ask me, like, Allison, how do I differentiate between
Speaker:resistance, this pre trip resistance that I'm talking about,
Speaker:and a real safety concern or a real
Speaker:readiness concern? And so let's just quickly chat
Speaker:about that too. So at first, they
Speaker:might sound the same in your brain. Like, I gave you an example of my
Speaker:thoughts being like, this is going to be dangerous. But
Speaker:my brain my brain I don't know. Just pay attention to what
Speaker:yours says. We're all a little bit different. My brain says this is
Speaker:going to be dangerous anytime I do anything that's
Speaker:not in my house watching Netflix. So anytime it's remotely
Speaker:out of just being in my home lying horizontal on the
Speaker:couch, my brain is like, I don't know, is it going to be dangerous? Like
Speaker:it's always offering that to me. So what you really need to do
Speaker:is like ask yourself, like maybe get out a journal or whatever it
Speaker:is, ask yourself if you really believe
Speaker:that. Do you really believe that's true for you? Get
Speaker:as honest with yourself as possible. And it's not just to the question,
Speaker:like, is this going to be dangerous? Because like maybe
Speaker:there are elements of danger, but like do we really feel like this is too
Speaker:dangerous to go on? Or whatever thought is coming up for you, like I'm really
Speaker:busy, like I don't want to do this. Get really deep on
Speaker:if this is really true for you, that aligned version of you.
Speaker:And you will likely know when you're panicking for no
Speaker:reason or if the concern you have is legitimate
Speaker:and either maybe you need to learn more or you
Speaker:need to do more research or whatever. So like in my example of the John
Speaker:Muir Trail that I mentioned earlier, I kind of want to come back to that.
Speaker:In that example, we did have a real safety concern, and that
Speaker:was wildfires. But when I got down
Speaker:to it, I was like, Okay, I don't think just because there are
Speaker:wildfires that are existing in the Sierra Nevada mountains doesn't mean we
Speaker:can't go on our trip because I knew
Speaker:that I was also really prepared for mitigating that
Speaker:concern on the trail and still managing my safety when I was on
Speaker:the trail. Like, I had prepared for that. I had a
Speaker:safety contact that was updating us constantly. I had my Garmin inReach
Speaker:Mini. We had a protocol for how it was going to communicate. She was going
Speaker:to send us fire updates like every day. And also
Speaker:if anything concerning came up, she was going to send us to us whenever that
Speaker:came up. And we knew the trails backwards and
Speaker:forwards. Like I had done a lot of pre trip planning and all the things.
Speaker:So there are a lot of pivot points and bail points on
Speaker:the John Muir Trail if we needed to bail for whatever
Speaker:reason, like a fire popped up. And we
Speaker:knew it wasn't like ego wouldn't be the reason
Speaker:we kept going if it became too unpredictable and unsafe. And
Speaker:all that was left was for me to trust myself with
Speaker:the plans that I had made, all the preparation in my entire
Speaker:life leading up to this moment knowing that I'm a safe and confident backpacker
Speaker:to trust myself that I could handle it, that I could make those calls when
Speaker:we were out there, and that we were doing our best and being as responsible
Speaker:as possible, right? So we ultimately decided to go and take
Speaker:it day by day. And with that example, actually, we did reach a
Speaker:point in our trail. It was about 12 days in, because we were going to
Speaker:do the full John Muir Trail as 20
Speaker:days or 22 days, I think is what we had planned,
Speaker:in one shot. But we actually did one day. Michael and I were
Speaker:camping. It seemed a little bit smokier, and then my
Speaker:friend sent me an inReach mini message. And I checked
Speaker:in on it, and she said, hey, there's a new fire that popped up, and
Speaker:it's right where you're headed to do your next resupply. And
Speaker:she told me some more information about it. And Michael and I, that night, we
Speaker:pulled out our maps, and we knew we were also coming across
Speaker:like, on our maps, we could see that there was a ranger station coming up.
Speaker:And so we decided, like, looking at all of our options,
Speaker:it kind of was sounding like a really big fire and kind of really
Speaker:like it wasn't getting under control and it was right where we were headed. So
Speaker:we were thinking already that we were probably going to have to bail. That was
Speaker:going to be our plan. And we were going to check-in at the ranger station
Speaker:on our bail point out, so we decided to pick a point to leave.
Speaker:And I feel like that was Bishop it was like around Bishop Pass. And
Speaker:there was a ranger station right around there. And as we were hiking out the
Speaker:next day, as we were hiking out the
Speaker:next day, there were signs posted on the trail from the
Speaker:rangers that all hikers needed to leave. They were like shutting down
Speaker:the forest because the fire was too unpredictable,
Speaker:and they just wanted everyone to get off safely before it became a concern.
Speaker:So it was funny. We had actually known that we were going to do this
Speaker:before we even saw those signs, but that obviously confirmed it and
Speaker:reinforced it. And we were actually able to get
Speaker:you know, we weren't intending to bail at Bishop Pass. But because we
Speaker:had that in reach and we were doing that communication with my safety contact, she
Speaker:coordinated a pickup at the Bishop Hash Trailhead for us
Speaker:with a trail shuttle guide that was out there. So
Speaker:we handled that so smoothly, and I'm so like, we
Speaker:got 12 amazing days on the John Muir Trail, and we ended up going back
Speaker:the next year and finishing it. So we hopped back on where we exited from
Speaker:the fires and finished it the next year. But I'm so happy that I didn't
Speaker:let that pre trip resistance
Speaker:and anxiety prevent me from even starting and
Speaker:trying because there's so much value, too. So
Speaker:even if ultimately we did end up having to cut our John Muir Trail
Speaker:hike short that year, and that was sad, yes, because you do a lot
Speaker:of prep for a trail and you know, but it happens.
Speaker:And that experience was super valuable experience. And I actually got to take a
Speaker:lot of lessons from that trip and share a lot of those with my
Speaker:clients. And we got to create new resources for our clients. And like, how do
Speaker:you navigate this stuff? How do you create pivots? How do you
Speaker:make these decisions? How do you have conversations with your safety
Speaker:contact? All these beautiful things came out of that experience.
Speaker:And you will feel, like when you navigate these experiences on your own in
Speaker:the outdoors, like so much more trust in yourself
Speaker:going forward. So this is how we build it. We got to go out there.
Speaker:We have to get experience, right? So ultimately,
Speaker:I'm just telling you to question your thoughts first. Before that you
Speaker:believe a thought is true, when you have that mind drama, when you're
Speaker:experiencing that pre trip resistance, before you believe it's true,
Speaker:like, question it. Because often, this is just our brain in
Speaker:panic mode. Right? And then a lot of our risk assessment
Speaker:can come before we even hit the trail. So, like, I said, what we had
Speaker:done with the John Muir Trail, like, making a super solid trip plan
Speaker:and safety plan, knowing your trail forward and backwards,
Speaker:practicing all those key safety skill sets, knowing your
Speaker:possible escape routes if you need to bail, having a communication
Speaker:plan with your safety contact, utilizing things
Speaker:like Garmin and Reach Mini devices if you, like, have them to
Speaker:keep tabs with your loved ones, to keep tabs with your safety contacts.
Speaker:These are all things that we do before we even hit the trail. And if
Speaker:you've done this pre work, you'll know if your brain is just giving you
Speaker:mind drama or if you're truly not ready or prepared for a
Speaker:trail. Right? And then when you've done that pre work, when
Speaker:you hit the trail, you'll just be so much more at ease at making decisions
Speaker:on the fly because you are prepared. You know that when
Speaker:you come up to something that is too outside of your comfort zone,
Speaker:you won't be afraid to pivot. So like another example of this
Speaker:is one time I did Onion Valley to Whitney portal and this was
Speaker:actually pretty early on in my backpacking journey, so maybe like
Speaker:2015 or 2016, I can't remember exactly
Speaker:at this moment. But I remember we
Speaker:were doing it early in the season. It was a particularly dry year in California,
Speaker:so it was like June. Usually that place is pretty snowy still in June, but
Speaker:it wasn't that year. But there was one pass we had to go over,
Speaker:Forrester Pass. It's at like 13,000 feet that we were not
Speaker:sure what the snow conditions would be like and if
Speaker:it would feel too dangerous. And we did have people in our group that didn't
Speaker:have mountaineering experience, like I had mountaineering experience.
Speaker:And so that is about like halfway it's like at a
Speaker:halfway point from Onion Valley to Whitney Portal 2 so it was like it
Speaker:was a point to point hike. So we went into that knowing that that was
Speaker:a big question mark because we didn't have really any updated
Speaker:data on that area at the time. And our
Speaker:plan was if it felt too unsafe to
Speaker:go over that pass because of the snow, we were willing to
Speaker:just turn back around and go back the way we came. Like, these are
Speaker:things that you can think about before you even hit the trail, and that's like
Speaker:an example. So when you're not afraid to pivot, you know,
Speaker:like maybe you'll decide to camp at a different spot than you originally planned. Maybe
Speaker:you'll decide to do a shorter trip because you've learned to listen to your body
Speaker:through the training, and you're already feeling tired. Like, you can make these decisions when
Speaker:you're out there. Or maybe you'll decide to not summit a peak
Speaker:because it looks more technical than you expected kind of in the Forrester example that
Speaker:I've given or the weather turns. I've definitely had many times that
Speaker:I've gone out to the mountains where we started heading up a peak and
Speaker:then we started seeing all these storm clouds go and I'm like I don't like
Speaker:to mess around with lightning, that freaks me out and
Speaker:it's unsafe and usually I'm with a group and I've made safety calls
Speaker:to turn everyone around because we just want to be extra safe and
Speaker:cautious, right? You can learn to make these pivot and safety calls
Speaker:and learning to pivot and make safety calls in the mountains is
Speaker:all part of being a safe, confident, and self
Speaker:sufficient outdoor backpacker. But if you cannot make it
Speaker:past your mind drama and the pre trip resistance, you
Speaker:will never get to practice this very, very
Speaker:important skill. So that
Speaker:is it for today. I just wanted to bring this
Speaker:concept into your awareness so that next time
Speaker:that you experience this resistance before a trip, again,
Speaker:expect it about a week to 2 weeks out from your
Speaker:trip. Every time, almost every time,
Speaker:if you experience this, just know that that's what this is. Come back to
Speaker:this episode, listen to this if you need some encouragement. Save
Speaker:this one, right? Because this happens to all of us.
Speaker:And if you're listening to this and you're feeling like
Speaker:it's hard to distinguish between that, like, am I ready for this anxiety and
Speaker:fear that comes up before a trip and that pre trip resistance, then
Speaker:I really, really recommend joining us in the backpacking badass
Speaker:program and community where you can learn how to distinguish
Speaker:between those pre trip pep skills and the pre trip panic
Speaker:so that, ultimately, like, you can get out there and, like, start practicing
Speaker:and gaining some important experience on your adventures and obviously
Speaker:having a great time in the mountains. So I hope you
Speaker:enjoyed this episode. And if you have any questions
Speaker:about pre trip resistance or want to talk through anything you can find me on
Speaker:Instagram. I hope you have a lovely week and I'll talk to you next
Speaker:time. Bye. Hey. I wanted to
Speaker:thank you real quick for tuning in to the show and listening all the way
Speaker:to the end. If you love this episode and you want deeper support in
Speaker:becoming a safe, confident, and self sufficient hiker and backpacker, then head
Speaker:over to shedreamsofalpine.com/waitless to
Speaker:learn more about our backpacking badass coaching program where I teach you
Speaker:absolutely everything you need to know to be self reliant on the trails
Speaker:and stop waiting around on others for the adventure invite. So
Speaker:I'd love to help you more in your journey of stepping into your adventurous
Speaker:identity, and that program is the absolute best place for us
Speaker:to start working together. So, again, that's she dreams of alpine.com/waitlist,
Speaker:and you can learn all about it there. So that's it for today, folks.
Speaker:I hope you get to spend some time outside this week, and I'll be back
Speaker:very soon with a brand new episode. Bye.
