blissful hiker ❤︎ inspiring you to hike your own hike

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On the Teton Crest Trail in Wyoming, Blissful decides to go for an "SKT" (Slowest Known Time) and surprises abound.

1. John Muir (and Henry David Thoreau) hated the word "hike" and preferred to saunter, entering beautiful natural places with reverence.

2. Physiologists tell us that walking at a turtle's pace releases endocannabinoids a kind of "persistence high" that elicits a state of euphoria.

3. But most important, going slow and leaving plenty of time allows us to simply exist and enjoy – explore off-trail, enjoy sights like a bull moose, pikas,  and wildflowers, and nab the best campsites!

Blissful will give her first TEDx talk this October in Manchester, New Hampshire! The subject is "Stepping into the Unknown." Get tickets here. Use coupon code "WILD" for a discount!

MUSIC: Introduccion y Allegro by Carlos Guastavino as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano. 

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On the Pyrenean Haute Route, an oafish American hiker questioned Blissful's ability to manage a route of this difficulty. 

“Even YOU?” he asked, his lip curling in disdain. “I haven’t seen many old people hiking this.”

It shook her confidence, for sure, but here she was, backpacking while old. 

We don’t tend to bounce back the way we did when we were younger.

That’s why we have to prioritize –

1:46 Rest
3:34 Nutrition
5:46 Exercise

– and in that order!

Blissful will give her first TEDx talk this October in Manchester, New Hampshire! The subject is "Stepping into the Unknown." Get tickets here. 

MUSIC: Introduccion y Allegro by Carlos Guastavino as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano. 

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Have you been wanting to do something a little wild and out-of-your-comfort-zone but were afraid to take the first step? 

When it comes to dreams, don't let them become a broken record of something you'll do "someday." 

In this episode, Blissful shares three reasons why we fail to act and keep our dreams to ourselves –

1. rules
2. fear 
3. shame

Take your dreams for a spin, even if you fail spectacularly. Your future self will thank you because, afterall, we tend not to regret the things we did do but the things we didn't do.

Blissful will give her first TEDx talk this October in Manchester, New Hampshire! The subject is "Stepping into the Unknown." Get tickets here. 

MUSIC: Introduccion y Allegro by Carlos Guastavino as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano. 

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Blissful  feels plenty of fear and anxiety before a thru-hike, but she manages her fears by asking, “If the worst happens, then what?” 

The answers to those questions helps us think more rationally rather than being paralyzed by anxiety, and thus live a more zesty and adventurous life.

1. All of us feel fear at least some of the time that can hold us back from action.
2. The trick is not to tame fear but to hear it out and hen get on with things anyway.
3. We do this by asking far questions: "what if?" followed by "then what?" 
4. It helps us be less emotional and more rational. 

MUSIC: Introduccion y Allegro by Carlos Guastavino as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano. 

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Blissful is given the "all clear" by her surgeon and gets ready to step into the rest of her life.  

1. Surgery for breast cancer has completely changed Blissful's body, but has given her a new power of bravery and knowing herself better. 
2. One friend calls her a "sur-thriver" facing down the situation directly, and trying to do what St. Paul said, to "rejoice always and not worry about anything."
3. Time is running out but wouldn't it be cool to live fully, audaciously, without fear – and with joy – even in an uncertain world? 
4. Next week, Blissful heads back to trail in Arizona to finish a portion she had to skip when walking two years ago. 

MUSIC: Introduccion y Allegro by Carlos Guastavino as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano. 

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Blissful takes her first hike on a trail after surgery for breast cancer and decides she prefers to be described as a "thriver" – or even "aliver" – rather than survivor. 

1. It's a hot, humid summer day at Lebanon Hills, a region carved by glaciers with kettles and eskers, plus the singing of numerous birds. 
2. Blissful's surgeon tells her it's time to put on a backpack and get back on trail, even though she's isn't completely healed. 
3. Illness humbles us and teaches us about our vulnerability and ultimate decline, and yet it opens us up to discover our superpowers, like moving forward to see what's next. 
4. It's the price we pay for being alive, but it offers us a chance to appreciate what we have even more. 

MUSIC: Poema del Pastor Coya by Angel Lasala as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano. 

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As Blissful heals from a bilateral mastectomy due to breast cancer, she reflects on the person she wants to be going forward. 

1. Blissful is incredibly lucky in only having to undergo a radical surgery to rid her body of cancer. 
2. Step by step walking through her neighborhood, she slowly recovers back to her hiker self. 
3. The American writer Joyce Carol Oates speaks of the moment we realize that loss is part of our experience. “When that starts to happen to you, it is quite stunning.”
4. Being out of control with illness is falling-to-the-knees humbling for Blissful and it's a challenge to stay positive and "bad ass."
5. But she's inspired by the late actor Julian Sands who spoke of climbing summits as "not so  much a celebration of oneself, but the eradication of one’s self-consciousness. And so on these walks you lose yourself, you become a vessel of energy in harmony, hopefully with your environment.” 
6. What a way to live!

MUSIC: Poema del Pastor Coya by Angel Lasala as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano. 

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When Blissful is diagnosed with breast cancer, she undergoes a bilateral mastectomy to save her life and secure her future.

1. A friend tells Blissful she has it easy because she has a partner in her husband Richard. 
2. Indeed, she is incredibly grateful to be part of a team because it's helped her navigate some very tough times in her life. 
3. Blissful's view of life is that it can be full of abundance and grace, but sometimes bad things just happen at no fault of our own. 
4. Kind of like the children's book, Good Luck, Bad Luck, we shouldn't blame ourselves when life throws us a curveball – no, the universe is not sending us a "message," rather it's a chance for us to grow and stretch when we learn how to face difficulty. 
5. Bad Luck came to Blissful with a diagnosis of cancer, but good luck was that it was caught quickly, so there's no need for chemotherapy – a moment of grace. 

MUSIC: Poema del Pastor Coya by Angel Lasala, Suite by Ernst Krenek and Introduccion y Allegro by Carlos Guastavino  as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano. 

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Blissful begins her cancer journey looking back at her life as a woman. 

1. Blissful spends the days before a bilateral mastectomy gathering together a team of supportive women who have been through the procedure.
2. She also walks, hikes, bikes, swims, kayaks all in an effort to calm herself – or running away from panic. 
3. In looking forward to being flat-chested and "ultra-light", Blissful reminisces on becoming a woman from "sprouts" to a "mean girl" to a middle-aged woman saving her own life. 

MUSIC: Suite by Ernst Krenek and Introduccion y Allegro by Carlos Guastavino  as played by Alison Young, flute 

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Blissful wraps up her hike of the Appalachian Trail in Maine to head home for cancer treatment. 

1. The two days between Monson and Caratunk are rain-free and magical with a winter wren, hermit thrush, northern parula plus warty frogs and a curious snake. 
2. It's two big mountains with views including Moxie Bald and Pleasant Pond with glorious views of humpy green forested peaks like emerging leviathan in an even more expansive sea of green.
3. Camping is near a pond circled by summer homes and loud pontoon boats, only a few miles out of Caratunk.
4. Blissful meets a cancer survivor finishing the Appalachian Trail and is empowered by her healing and moxie to get right back on trail. 
5. Then she heads home for a new and scary adventure. 

MUSIC: Poema del Pastor Coya by Angel Lasala  as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano

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