blissful hiker ❤︎ inspiring you to hike your own hike
Long-distance backpacker Alison “Blissful Hiker” Young has logged more than 14,000 miles across six continents, tackling iconic routes such as New Zealand’s Te Araroa, Europe’s Pyrenean Haute Route, South Africa’s Drakensberg Traverse, Nepal’s Great Himalayan Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail in the United States.
An award-winning professional musician and syndicated American Public Media host, Alison approaches storytelling through a deeply attuned ear. Her series of intimate personal essays — coupled with field recordings gathered on trail — trace a path of self-discovery as a middle-aged, titanium-reinforced cancer thriver. They reveal the often unglamorous but essential truths of empowerment, inviting listeners to find the courage to blaze their own trails on the journey we call life.
blissful hiker ❤︎ inspiring you to hike your own hike
Good Luck, Bad Luck
When Blissful is diagnosed with breast cancer, she undergoes a bilateral mastectomy to save her life and secure her future.
- A friend tells Blissful she has it easy because she has a partner in her husband Richard.
- Indeed, she is incredibly grateful to be part of a team because it's helped her navigate some very tough times in her life.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
