From Broken to Breathing

A few years ago, I was newly divorced after a long marriage, I was deep in the bottle, and I was making life decisions from a position of pride, hurt, and cynicism. I reached a breaking point. It was one of those moments where everything feels cracked wide open and you can either keep spiraling or stand up.

That Memorial Day Weekend of 2023, I put on my tennis shoes and walked out my front door. Not to start anything. Not to prove anything. Just to breathe, to move, and to try and clear my head. That short walk through the neighborhood started something. I did not know it at the time, but it was the first step of a long, messy, beautiful shift.

Since then, I have put the alcoholic dragon to sleep, and I have studied the healing power of nature on my mental, spiritual, and physical health. I have been working hard to build relationships with those who mean most to me. And I have hit a trail somewhere in the U.S. and Canada every single week since that day. I hike mostly in my home base of Minnesota, but I have experienced the Aurora Borealis in Alaska, the coastal redwoods of California, and soaked up a hundred quiet moments in between, because Nature can be found in any zip code.

I am not an expert. I am not a therapist or a trail guide. I am just someone who kept walking and started healing. However, I believe in this path enough to invite others along. Hiking is breaking my cycles of overthinking, self-doubt, and loneliness. It gives me clarity, strength, and purpose.

Hike and Heal is not a formula; it’s a mindset.

The trail is waiting.

The journey is yours.