Solo-Pilgrimage in Norway: Bee Stings, Solitude, and Connection
My hand swells up to twice its size, oozing clear liquid, and i've never felt better. About four days prior, I was traversing the notable...
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A Slow Life
I returned from Hawaii a couple months ago and sat down to write about it. I didn't get very far, and left the words to marinate in an...
Colorful World of Vibrant and Dull Extremes: Finding Balance
When I arrived in Wyoming, I fancied vibrant yellows and then deep rusty oranges - the colors of aspen leaves in the fall. For the first...
To Dwell or Not to Dwell: How Do We Deal with the Emotions of Nostalgia?
Nostalgia creeps in like the cold of winter. Slow at first, then one day the icy wall shows up with full force, impossible to ignore....
How to Become Confident: Through Experience
Many people want confidence. Many people wonder why they don’t have it. There are things that I am very confident in, such as leading...
Get Uncomfortable: How to Get Into Your Growth Zone and Out of Fear
There are a lot of things that are scary about life. Everyone has their own personal anxieties, and oftentimes avoidance is how many...
Autumn in the Mountains: The Complexities of Change
I have been seduced by the phenology of quaking aspens. In the winter, they stand softly, white bark against white snow. Their eyes,...
The Healing Powers of Nature: Feeling Alone
Peyton is in 8th grade. Blonde, formidable beauty in her future, remarkably rebellious, sharp as a nail, and tragically wrapped up inside...
Kids and Screens: A Reason to Scream
I am walking through the forest with some 6th graders when one exclaims, Wait, these spruce don't look anything like the ones on...
Self-Soothing: A Necessary Skill to Coping with Life's Challenges
Imagine something traumatic has happened to you. Maybe it actually has. We may have a support system - Parents, friends, teachers,...
Living and Teaching in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
A red shape flashes in the corner of my vision. I turn away from my students, and see a red fox lightly pitter pattering across fresh...
The Nuances of Cultural Appropriation in Spirituality: Expanding Compassion
Recently, I started reading a book about spirituality called The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. I first discovered this book when I saw a...
Developing a Morning Routine to Start Your Day Right: 4 Things I Do Everyday
There is not a one-size-fits-all in terms of waking up. It is actually quite simple: You open your eyes, and start your day. How we start...
Finding Nature’s Power Through Stillness
I park my car next to a small snowbank of fresh snow, and see large footprints that head into the forest that start at my car. They...
Why I Stopped Collecting and How You Can Stop Too
When I was in elementary school, I had a box containing around 300 gift cards. None of these gift cards ever had any money on them. I...
New England Suburbia vs. Western Small Town
On the drive back from the airport in Boston I stare out the window at all the trees zipping by out the window. On long car rides I used...
Beating the Holiday Blues by Managing Expectations
Twinkling lights wherever you go, holiday desserts, family gathering, gift giving, time off from work - How could one not be happy around...
Blasé in Beautiful Arches
I planned to visit five national parks this week, and spend every night under the stars. I start to rethink this decision on the second...
The Materialistic World of the Outdoor Industry
Gear. Gear. Gear! You have it, or you don't. The word itself is so subjective - It can be valued at $5 or $5,000, depending on where you...
Hiking My Way to Sanity in Franconia, NH
I take deep breaths, half because of physical exertion, and half because the air is dense with the musky-sweet smell of fallen leaves. So...
Creating and Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle Wherever You Are
It can be easy to be healthy while living in an affluent urban area where you are a stone's throw away from a juice bar and an equinox...
Reevaluating My Path to Happiness
Slipping out of the hotel room and into the quiet dark streets of rural Slovenia, I feel as though my heart might be set ablaze. The cool...
Can I have your life? The Flattering Question That Makes Me Cringe
I posted a picture to social media last week of a moose that I saw while exploring the Bighorn Mountains. Someone commented, "Can I have...
Is My Life Worth a Hat? Grappling with the Value of My life
Never had I been forced to consider the worth of my life before my last solo-hike. I am hiking a trail called Upper Layout, a modest hike...
A Park Ranger's Experience Visiting Yellowstone National Park in the Summer
There is a Mott's fruit snack wrapper floating sadly in a bubbling thermal pool. I find myself staring at it longer than the geyser...
Simple Swaps for Healthy & Sustainable Living
Throwing away all your plastic Tupperware, leftover Halloween candy, plastic bags, conventional makeup, and single-use razors is not only...
The Fate of Relationships for Young Vagabonds
As a young adult, I am on the move quite a bit. Everywhere my feet land, I am unsure if I will make this plot of earth my home, or if I...
Fast Fashion: A Fast Way to Destroy Our Planet
Back in high school, I remember getting my first paycheck from my job, going to the mall with my friends, and spending it on poorly made...
I Love Aging
I love aging. I don't know if I will still be feeling that way when I hit 40, but right now I am in love with it. I love the way my body...
The Art of Being a Soft Badass
You're driving down the freeway when some ambiguous person in a purple Dodge Challenger comes out of nowhere and aggressively swerves in...
6 Signs of an Emotionally Abusive Relationship
There is a good chance that either you or someone you know has been in an emotionally abusive relationship. The National Domestic...
Why I am Vegan (essay)
It is easy to live your life following societal norms, but harder to entertain the idea that perhaps our entire ideology is skewed. I can...
5 Mantras that Changed My Life
Words only have power and meaning if we give them the means. Logs won't burn without a means to spark a flame, and a piano will not...
My 1 Week Music Detox - Why You Should Do It Too
It seems like everyone is detoxing themselves from one thing or another these days, whether it be dairy, social media, an ex - You name...
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