Making History While Returning to Self with Arlette Laan
December 13, 2022
Hosted by Sydney WIlliams
[Download MP3] [itunes] [Bookmark Episode]
Guest Information
Episode Description
After hiking more than 16,000 miles over a span of 20 years, Arlette Laan made history as the first woman to complete all 11 National Scenic Trails in the United States. And while the accomplishment is as sweet as her trail name, Apple Pie, perhaps the most important thing to Laan is the wellness she found in America's wilderness. After a "warmup" hike on the John Muir Trail, she set out to hike the Pacific Crest Trail in 2003, committing to only completing California at first. Spoiler alert, she completed that trail and upon returning home, one thing was perfectly clear: life at home in the frontcountry wasn't working for her anymore. For it was in the wilderness where she felt strong, inspired, and connected to a community and something bigger than herself. So she started to make some adjustments to her life that would empower her to spend more time on the trails, and today, her biography and resume reads like a "best of" list of long-distance hiking trails. In this episode, we'll be chatting with Arlette about how that first hike helped her find way home to herself, how she navigated Post-Trail Depression, that moment when she realized she could be the first woman to notch this accomplishment, and why she believes that comparison is the thief of joy.
Wellness in the Wilderness
Tuesday at 1 PM Pacific Time on VoiceAmerica Empowerment Channel
Did you know that the average American spends 90% of their lives indoors? It's tragic and it's true - we have lost our connection to the wilderness from which we came, and it is impacting every aspect of the human experience. If you're ready to slow down and take a cue from nature to help you bring your best self to life, love, and work - welcome to Wellness in the Wilderness, we're glad you're here! Join Hiking My Feelings founder + CEO Sydney Williams and her guests as they explore how creativity, connection, and community are amplified by time spent outside. Through shared story and self-reflection, we can gain tremendous insights and inspiration from our journey on the Trail of Life. Tune in each Tuesday at 1pm PT to feel a little less alone in this world, and understand how the outer wilderness influences our inner wilderness to support optimal wellness of the mind, body, and spirit.
Sydney WIlliams
When former collegiate athlete and competitive skydiver, Sydney Williams, unexpectedly found herself on the receiving end of a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis while grappling with unresolved trauma from a decades-old sexual assault, she set out on a mission: turn her pain into power. Two hikes across Catalina Island and 80 miles later, she founded Hiking My Feelings to help others tap into the mind-body connection and healing power of nature that helped kick her self-limiting beliefs and disease into remission. Over the years, she’s been featured on the SXSW stage, as well as in Health Magazine, Diabetic Living Magazine, Psychology Today, US News & World Report, and numerous other publications. Today, she is the author of Hiking My Feelings: Stepping into the Healing Power of Nature, host of Wellness in the Wilderness on the VoiceAmerica Empowerment channel, a certified Wilderness First Responder, instructor at the Desert Institute at Joshua Tree National Park, and travels across the country empowering others to summit their personal mountains on their way to becoming Well Beings.
Episode Directory
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
- 12/27/2022: Finding Wellness in the Wilderness on the Trans-Catalina Trail Listen Now
- 12/20/2022: Diving Deeper into Self-Love, Sea-Love, and SurfSisterhood Listen Now
- 12/13/2022: Making History While Returning to Self with Arlette Laan Listen Now
- 12/6/2022: When a "Phase" Turns into a Career + Community with Anna Levesque Listen Now
