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
Embrace the Suck
The trail—like life—may not always be what we want it to be, but it offers us the opportunity to choose how we respond to whatever it doles out.
- In the hiking world we have a saying, "Embrace the Suck!"
- It's a reminder that the trail doesn't care what we want it to be and is not there simply to meet our expectations.
- But we always have a choice to accept what is and manage it with faith that things will eventually change for the better.
- A good mantra that emphasizes our power is, "Embrace the suck or it will embrace you!"
MUSIC: "Poema del Pastor Coya" by Angel Lasala as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano.
