Women in the Arena
Women in the Arena is the celebration of everyday women living extraordinary lives in plain sight. We seek to inspire, encourage and challenge you to reach for the great heights you're made for.
Women in the Arena
Nature's Path to Sucess: How The Hike 31 Challenge Can Reignite Your Life with Jessica DeAngelo
From Burnout to Bliss: How Jessica DeAngelo Transformed Her Life Through Nature
🌿 Feeling trapped in the never-ending corporate grind? Jessica DeAngelo knows the feeling all too well. In this episode, we dive deep into her inspiring journey from corporate exhaustion to rediscovering peace and clarity in the great outdoors.
🌍 After years of leading global sales and strategy with Fortune 100 companies, Jessica made a life-changing decision. It all started with an impromptu hike through Portland's Forest Park—what she found was a new path to success, free from burnout and full of purpose.
🗻 Discover how 31 days of daily hiking during a brutal Idaho winter reshaped Jessica’s life. She shares how her outdoor adventure reignited her passion and creativity, revealing the profound benefits of nature on mental well-being and professional growth.
✨ What You'll Learn in This Episode
- 🌱 Unlock the Healing Power of Nature: Learn how tech-free hikes can reduce stress, improve creativity, and even combat cravings for unhealthy foods.
- 🧠Boost Your Mental Clarity: Jessica explains how reconnecting with nature can silence negative self-talk and enhance cognitive function.
- 🥾 Take the Hike 31 Challenge: Commit to 31 days of daily hikes and transform your mindset, body, and soul.
🔊 Whether you’re a corporate leader feeling overwhelmed or an entrepreneur searching for new inspiration, this episode is your guide to tapping into nature’s transformative power.
Listen now and start your journey from burnout to bliss!
https://jessicadeangelo.com/
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***Last thing- This is my WISH LIST of interviews:
• Joan Jett
• Dolly Parton
• Viola Davis
• Ina Garten
Maybe you can help a girl out...***
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***One last thing...I have an interview wish list because a girl's gotta dream
- Viola Davis
- Dolly Parton
- Ina Garten
- Joan Jett
Maybe one of you can help me out!
Thank you all for supporting this show and all Women in the Arena!
Welcome in everyone and thank you once again for joining me again this week. This week, my guest is going to challenge you. That's right, we're going to challenge you. She and I have got something in store for you. My guest this week is Jessica D'Angelo, and she is a trailblazer in nature-inspired business consulting, offering transformative experiences for impact-driven leaders and their teams.
Audra :As a keynote speaker, business strategist and motivational hiker, jessica blends her strategic business expertise with outdoor adventure. Are you guys intrigued? Yet? With a background in global sales and strategy, she's worked with Fortune 100 companies, including Amazon, nike and Uber, managing diverse multicultural teams worldwide. Jessica discovered that hiking could prevent burnout and ignite creativity, not just for herself, but also for her clients. I know you guys are thinking, hmm, what has Jessica got in store for us? Just hold on tight. Today, jessica is the chief hiking officer and strategic visionary behind the brand Hike to Become and the creator of the Hike 31 Challenge. Known as an innovative disruptor at heart, she revolutionizes speaking and workshops by taking people outside, helping the audience connect with themselves, their teams and their greatest potential. Her approach is nature-inspired, backed by science and human-approved for a truly profound experience. Just wait until you hear what Jessica has in store for us. It is my pleasure and my honor to introduce to you Jessica. Jessica, thank you so much for being here and welcome to the show.
Jessica :Audra, thanks for having me. I am absolutely thrilled to be joining you today.
Audra :I am very excited for you to be here, especially when we tell everybody what you've got planned for them, what I should say what we've got planned for them. But we will hold that for a moment, because you know we've we got. We got our secrets, we got our secrets. So first let's tell everybody a little bit about you.
Jessica :Sounds good, thank you.
Jessica :So I think you know my story really starts when I was working in corporate America.
Jessica :I was a global myself reaching this point of I guess you would call it burnout, or I like to say you know autopilot mode or being in survival mode, which a lot of us find ourselves in in the busyness of life.
Jessica :And so one day, as I was just on back-to-back Zoom meetings, I remember I looked out my window I was living in Portland, oregon at the time and I saw Forest Park, which is this beautiful it's the largest urban park in all of the United States and I kind of looked out at that park in the treetops and thought it was like I saw an old friend, audra, that I hadn't seen for a really long time, and I had this longing and I realized I hadn't been out in the park in a long time.
Jessica :Work was taking all of my time, and so that day I actually canceled some internal meetings and I just went for a walk in the woods, left my cell phone in the car, and that is one of many experiences I've had throughout my life where I just really lost perspective, and the thing that helped me find my way back to myself was hiking regularly, and not just hiking but practicing it in the way that I will teach you and your audience a little bit later in this podcast. But it was truly transformative and continues to be throughout my life.
Audra :Well, I think that everybody can relate to the position that you were in the back-to-back Zoom meetings, especially in this era of post-COVID, where some of us have not returned to completely being in the office and a lot of us don't want to work completely in the office because we have found a way to it more suits our lifestyle to be able to work from home. But because of that, we are in now in this more virtual world, which means now that we our schedules, are now back to back in virtual calls and it's this busyness that we have all these calls and then, if you're like me, you're like okay, I have all these calls, when do I get my work done? And it's exhausting and overwhelming, and you're trapped in your house, in your home office. So, instead of being trapped in a building where you actually get to leave once a day, now you're trapped in your home office where you may never get to leave, and so you've lost that grounding and you've lost that perspective, and I know that lots of people can relate to that feeling of I haven't left my house in four days, and I think that everybody can picture themselves looking outside, seeing the green trees and going when's the last time I've been outside.
Audra :I wonder what the air feels like on my face. I wonder what it'd be like to just go take a walk, right. I wonder what it'd be like to just go take a walk, right. And you did a brave thing and canceled all your meetings and thought I just need to get out of here, go get some fresh air and go take a walk, because I just need to clear my head. You were probably reaching a very, very close point of burnout and thought I'm not good to any of these meetings anyway. If I'm that close to burnout, I just need to breathe and off you went.
Jessica :Absolutely. I think what's interesting too about that story, audra, is it still took me, I would say, another two to three years from that turning point to where I made the decision of where I am today. And you know, I realized hiking daily brought me back to myself and I made some big life decisions after that practice. But fast forward to December of this past year. I had another moment, you know. I started, I left corporate America, I guess two years ago now, and I started my own consulting practice and I had a similar moment of burnout. So I just want to be really clear it doesn't matter whether you're working for corporate America or yourself or you're working part-time. I think all of us in today's busyness are susceptible to this big challenge of just feeling completely disconnected from ourselves, which is the problem I'm trying to help people solve. But just sort of fast forward to where this pivotal moment happened for me is that December I reached a similar moment of burnout in my own business, audra.
Jessica :Being an entrepreneur is very hard. It's difficult to build a business and a brand from scratch. And I woke up early one morning, December 23rd it was like 5 am and I decided to take myself for a hike. My family was all asleep and so I drove out to the Boise foothills. There was fresh snow on the ground, it was probably less than 20 degrees. I could see my breath in the air, and I remember I hiked up to the top of a foothill that morning and I sat my butt down in snow which was not a smart idea, by the way.
Jessica :But I just watched the sun come up and I remember in that moment thinking like what am I doing wrong? Why is this not working? Owning my own business is not working. Like I felt like why am I having burnout? When I thought it was the fault of being corporate America. Well, it's not. It's applicable to all of us, no matter what we do.
Jessica :And that's when I realized I was asking myself the wrong question. And that's when I said well, let me think about when was I the happiest, the healthiest and the most fulfilled in my life? And it was like the universal irony came out and just sort of hit me and I realized it's always been when I was hiking regularly. No matter what job I had or how busy my life was or my responsibilities, I've always been the happiest, healthiest and the most fulfilled. So I'm someone that's hyper competitive with myself and I like to see a problem or a challenge and I go for it head on. And so I said, all right, well, if hiking's the solution, january has 31 days. I'm going to challenge myself to hike for 31 days straight in the month of January and I don't know what's going to happen. But at the end of this month I'm hoping I'll get some clarity as to what to do with my life.
Audra :And what happened? I mean, you challenged yourself for 31 days to hike every single day. Yes, in.
Jessica :Idaho. By the way, in Idaho, which is lots of snow, really cold, I like forgot, audra, that I lived in Idaho. Now, when I made this challenge for myself, I thought I still lived in Pennsylvania or maybe Oregon, where it's much more moderate. I thought I still lived in Pennsylvania, or maybe Oregon, where it's much more moderate. What happened so, in brutal honesty, there were days I did not want to hike. There were days where it was really hard for me to get out the door. There were days when I had to hike before the sun came up because I didn't have time in my day to do it otherwise. There were days when I had to hike with my one-year-old son strapped to my back at 7 pm before bedtime, because I didn't get my hike in that day.
Jessica :What happened, though, is because I made this commitment to myself and I continued to show up in the way I knew how to practice it. I found extreme clarity into my problem, and my problem was that I was unhappy in the entrepreneurship world and I felt thrown out and deflated, but the reason for that was because I wasn't showing up authentically in my work, and I realized, through spending time alone in nature, in movement, and being unplugged from technology, that all I needed to do was show up authentically. And it just so happens that the universal irony is that includes hiking with my clients. That includes taking my love of the outdoors and adventure and being in nature into my consulting business.
Audra :And it's completely changed my business and my personal life.
Jessica :So just by taking yourself outside you literally, for just taking myself for a walk for 31 days straight.
Audra :Yes, okay, so, so you? So you took yourself for a walk one day. Basically, that's all you did is that every single day, you took a walk outside. Now, granted, you took yourself for a hike because you're in idaho, so you have some amazing views, amazing, amazing mountains and whatnot, but you took yourself for a walk, yeah, every single day. A basic human ability for most everyone, most everyone. I mean. Some people have different abilities, you know that are available to them, but for the most part, you took yourself for a walk and suddenly you had total clarity of what to do with your life.
Jessica :I know it sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?
Audra :It sounds insane.
Jessica :I mean. Thank you for your honesty. It does. It sounds totally nutty. Here is the what would you call it Like this disclaimer on my walking Couple of things.
Jessica :First is about a week and a half into this practice, audra, I started sleeping better. I started feeling less stress and anxiety. I started to have much more focus in my work. I was way more productive on the time I was spending in my home office or with clients, and so I'm a researcher at heart. I actually really love data, and so I started digging into this. Like wait a minute, why is this working so well? And so, while you and I can sit here and joke, I just took myself for a walk.
Jessica :There's actually a very specific way I practiced this hike methodology that I now call it, and I was really strict with myself on how to do it and, based on my scientific research on why it works. That is the game changer in doing this process. So I do. I have friends, I have colleagues and people in my network that say I do this all the time. I go for walks and listen to podcasts, or I do X, y and Z and I'm like that's not. That is not actually the method that I did or what I now teach other people to do, so we can dig into it on why it works, but I know it sounds super silly. The other component to this that I think is really interesting is it doesn't take a lot of time. At least 30 minutes a day is the goal. You don't have to be hiking up a mountain for three hours to get benefits is what I found three hours to get benefits is what I found.
Audra :Well, first let's talk about your methodology yes, and then we'll talk about why it works, because you said there are very specifics on your methods yes, and then let's talk about why it works, okay.
Jessica :So I I like things that are easy to remember for people, so I affectionately call it hike, and if you think of the acronym for hike, I'll get into each part. But H stands for hike or walk. A lot of people joke with me that, like I said, hiking scaling a mountain. And actually no, it's not. If you look up the definition of hike in the dictionary, it literally means a long walk in the wilderness. It doesn't talk about how strenuous it is or the terrain you're on. It's literally walking in nature.
Jessica :So H stands for hike or walk, and the goal there is that you're in movement and ideally what we like to call movement where you're moving both your left and the right sides of your body. So walking does this, hiking does this. I know that you're an avid biker, audra. Biking does this, and what that actually creates is a phenomenon called bilateral stimulation, and that is stimulating both the right and the left hemisphere of your brain. That has incredible cognitive benefits, so much so that Dr Francine Shapiro, who was actually the founder of EMDR therapy, discovered this while she was taking a walk in the park. She realized she was processing negative emotions at a much faster rate, and so she used that as the basis for EMDR. So H stands for height or walk, and that is creating that bilateral stimulation. Doesn't matter how strenuous it is or how fast you go, you just need to be in movement in this method. So that's the first component.
Audra :So just bilateral meaning legs and arms walking, moving forward at the same time, correct.
Jessica :Nothing more complicated than that. You're doing it while you go for a bike ride, cross-country skiing, for example. So really, anything that you're doing moving the right and left side of your body I pick, hike or walk. Obviously, I'm very partial to hiking. However, it's got to be accessible to everyone, but I want to explain the science behind it so people can choose how they practice. So fairly easy, easy, yes, which leads us to I, and I stands for being in nature. This is a top question that I get asked of a lot of the audiences that I speak to is well, I live in a city, so can I just go for a walk?
Jessica :I really dug into the research on this one specifically around.
Jessica :It's called Shinrin-yoku and that is the japanese art of forest bathing. Uh, this was developed back in the 1980s, um, and the idea is that you immerse yourself in a natural environment like a forest, and experience it with all five of your senses. But there's a really fascinating study that they did behind shinrin yokuoku and how effective it is, where they took two groups of individuals One was they called it the city group and one was the forest group. And the city group and the forest group first they just took a baseline biometric reading which included cortisol levels, which is your you know horrible stress hormone, and then heart rate and blood pressure, and they set that baseline at a relaxed state. And then they separated the two groups and each showed them each a picture. One just looked at a picture of a city for 20 minutes. The other looked at a picture of the forest for 20 minutes. Can you guess what happened to the biometric readings of the forest individuals versus the city? Just a picture to the biometric readings of the forest individuals versus the city.
Audra :Just a picture, Just a picture. I would assume that when they see a city because there's always more activity of a city that that probably raised their stress levels a little bit, because they can imagine the sounds and the activity and basically the general chaos that goes on in a city.
Jessica :Fair. So the city group, I believe, state just about the same as their baseline biometric rating not much changed. But the forest group what was really interesting, audra and if you notice I have plants behind me in my home office. I have beautiful pictures of nature the forest group that just looked at a picture. Their cortisol levels dropped by almost 16%. That may not sound like a lot, but it's pretty substantial just from looking at a picture. But then any guesses what happened when they actually took both groups out into those environments? City group went for a walk in the city for an hour. The forest group went for a walk in the forest for an hour.
Audra :What happened. I can't imagine what the results are. I bet you that they were extraordinary.
Jessica :So the forest group cortisol levels dropped about another 15%, so a total of 30% cortisol drop in the heart rate and blood pressure in the forest group dropped as well, where the city group again stayed pretty stagnant or slightly elevated based off of their baseline metrics. So why the I standing for being in nature so important is that, even if you live in a city I encourage people try to find an area where you're seeing more green trees, grass, could even be blue sky. You know, if you live close to an ocean, look at ocean waves. It can be any natural element. Your goal here is to get a bigger percentage of natural elements that you're looking at throughout this walk or hike than buildings or coffee, because you're going to do that work where your stress and anxiety will come down. You're basically going to experience all those benefits I just talked about, and so that's why surrounding yourself in a natural environment is really important. Even if you live in a city, just try to find a place where even a tree-lined park or a tree-lined street will work.
Audra :You want to lower your cortisol levels because, let's face it, this is the hormone that holds on to all of those nasty fat cells.
Jessica :Yes, or makes you want to stress, eat a pizza at the end of the night, or something.
Audra :Exactly, or, you know, drink two or three glasses of wine, or whatever the case may be. Yeah, so yeah, go find a park, find a nice quiet park to go and see some trees, even if you live in a city.
Jessica :Yes, and see some, some trees, even if you live in a city. Yes, and so the the third um letter in hike, which is k for keep it off, meaning keep tech off. This is where I lose a majority of people. I hear all the whining, I hear all the like what do you mean? I can't wear my smart watch and see how many steps I've done, or I can't live without my cell phone, or I can do this, I just need to listen to a podcast.
Jessica :It is so, so critically important that if you're practicing this method, the way I've designed it is that you're just keeping tech off entirely. Your cell phone and your smartwatch is off, not on you in airplane mode, in your backpack, left at home in the office, because scientific studies show that just by getting one ping, one notification, it's going to distract all of these amazing cognitive benefits that you're receiving, which we'll get to in a minute, and so it's almost like, if you take tech with you, you are doing the complete opposite of all the beautiful things that being in movement and being in nature is providing for you. So K stands for keep tech off.
Audra :This is when Jessica told me about this. This is when I gave her the stink face and went.
Jessica :She had me at the first face and went and she.
Audra :she had me at the first two and I was like. I was like Jessica, do you know me? This, this, this one, this one's going to be hard. This one's going to be really, really hard, but I'm going to give it my best shot. So this is going to be a struggle, because that means I'm alone with my thoughts. Do you know how loud my thoughts are? Like they're, they're really, really really loud, and they're not always that fun. I mean, they're, they're, they're really obnoxious, I mean super obnoxious.
Jessica :Yeah, you know well. First and foremost, thank you for your honesty and your candidness, because a lot of people I don't even think are comfortable enough admitting that piece out loud. But that's the reality, Audra, is that we are never alone with our own thoughts, Like if we really think about our day and the day of an average, let's just say, American. We wake up first thing in the morning. What's the first thing you do first thing in the morning?
Jessica :Check my phone, check your phone and listen. We all do it, everybody does it. Even, like all the studies say, don't be on your phone for the first hour of waking up and look at natural light and all the things. We are all stuck in this sort of technical environment. So the beauty of this hike challenge is it is. I think one of the biggest challenges is staying off tech for 30 minutes and being alone with your thoughts.
Jessica :I've had some clients and some friends who have practiced this and they will all openly admit to me I get lots of text messages and voice memos, which I love that the hardest part for them is either the first week or the first 10 to 15 minutes of just walking or hiking alone with their thoughts. It is uncomfortable, it is weird. Thoughts. It is uncomfortable, it is weird. Here's what I love about it, though I am a terrible meditator Like I am so bad at meditating. Like I just can't. I don't know. My monkey mind goes crazy.
Jessica :Meditation has never worked for me really well. However, this method works because, instead of trying to control my thoughts or think I oh, I'm having I think they call it monkey mind and meditation I need to bring it back to the breath. In this method, you let all the thoughts just flow, just wash over you like ocean waves and just be with your thoughts. And if you start to get comfortable with that, you'll notice after, I'd say, like everyone's a little different, but some people experience it right away, some people take, you know, a week or two. You'll start to experience these incredible ideas that you otherwise wouldn't have, because you got over this uncomfortable hump of being alone with your thoughts.
Audra :Hmm, ok, we'll see.
Jessica :You have to try it to just like give it a try.
Audra :I'm absolutely gonna try it, but and I have tried many, many times to meditate and, like I said, my thoughts are obnoxious, yeah, and I start out like great, and then they want my thoughts wander and then I start making grocery lists and and then it, then it's just all downhill from there. So I'm like breathing and meditation is just clearly not for me.
Jessica :Yes, and I agree with you. I found the same thing for myself. I love it If people get value out of it. I think it's incredible. But for me this method works so much better. It's much more powerful and impactful. And it's just me being alone, you know, with my thoughts. Quick story about this that might solidify, I think, like the idea of what really happens on the hiking trail. I'll get really vulnerable with you and your audience for a minute.
Jessica :Hiking trail foothill in Boise it's, you know, december and I'm making this like challenged myself. I'm going to hike for 31 days straight. I get up my butt's all wet from sitting in the snow and like thinking, you know, contemplating life, and I start hiking down the side of the foothill, audra, and like I slip and I fall in the snow and the mud, like not once, but twice. It was like thank God no one was around because it was mortifying and in that moment I had. I went from like this is a great idea. I'm so excited to do this. Maybe I can inspire other people to do this To very quickly. I'm like sitting in mud and snow and I saw those like imp imposter syndrome. I'm not good enough. Thoughts start creeping in, right. Like you said, your thoughts are obnoxious. You should have heard my thoughts that day. It was like you're so out of shape, who are you to be encouraging other people to hike? Who are you to even hike for 31 days? Maybe you should just try like painting again, like it was like all these, like really mean things I was saying to myself. But here's the difference I was alone, my cell phone was off, I was hiking, so I was in movement, I was in nature beautiful snow, landscape, and I just kept moving and I just let those thoughts sort of wash over me. And what I look back and what happened, that was so different, I think, than had I been in my office or with my cell phone or distracted is.
Jessica :I actually came to my own rescue in that moment and I said wait a minute. All the reasons I just said I shouldn't do it are all the reasons I actually should do it, because most people are just like me. Most people can't run off into the wilderness for three months and backpack to solve their life's problems. We have businesses we run, we have teams that depend on us, we have families and children and significant others that would miss us, and most people aren't at the peak of their physical fitness right now, and most people are dealing with the same level of burnout and exhaustion that I am.
Jessica :So what if, instead of waiting to become who we want to be, to do the things that we want to do, what if we just started showing up every day like we already are that person? Started showing up every day, like we already are that person? And that is kind of the magic and the story behind my brand of Hike to Become is the idea that we don't have to wait to be this person that we think that we're ultimately trying to be. We just need to show up to be that person every day. And so it's the idea that you can hike to become, ultimately, whoever you want to be, and so it's the idea that you can hike to become ultimately, whoever you want to be, which is amazing.
Audra :Which basically means come as you are, come as you, come as you are and we'll get there yes, yeah, you and I talked a little bit before we put the record button on about um.
Jessica :I think we both used to work out at the gym quite frequently and you know you can speak to your experience. There's a lot of pressure at the gym and it's everyone's taking these selfies and Instagram reels and it's like less about working out and more about, I don't know, just being seen. And what I love about the hiking trail Audra is like it will hold you at whatever weight you're at. It's got no agenda. It will wait for you. You just need to show up, and I love the feeling of the trail under my feet and fresh air in my lungs, and it's really accessible to everyone.
Audra :And that's exactly been my experience. I used to love going to the gym because it was a place where it cleared my head and gave me some peace and it was a place of solace for me. But over the last couple of years it became a place of stress and depression. I found myself going less and less and really finding dread, and I couldn't put my finger on it. I just couldn't figure out why, until it finally dawned on me it's because it's no longer become fitness, it's become more about more about the. I need to get the perfect picture Right. So so I stopped going and started getting myself outside, and that has changed quite a lot, at least for me. Um, mentally has changed, changed, changed my entire perspective of getting myself outside. And before we came on I said I'd never considered getting exercise outside because I live in Arizona, it is hot, it is 152 degrees in July. I'd never considered it before. But it can be done. You just have to get up at 4.30 in the morning to do it.
Jessica :So I'm curious the days that you do get up at 4.30 in the morning and go for your bike rides, how do you feel yourself differently throughout the day versus days that you aren't able to get out and go for your bike ride?
Audra :I have an extraordinary amount of energy. I don't feel drained at all. You would think I would. I don't, and I have a whole lot of mental clarity. Yes, and you'd also think that I would be exhausted by the end of the day, but I don't. I'm not. It's a weird thing. It's very strange that you would. I would. I really expected all of these things. I thought, oh my gosh, I'm going to be in bed by eight o'clock. I'm going to be craving all these bad foods for me. I'm going to be hungry all day long. No, none of that. Yeah, and my mood has improved drastically. And all of all of my obnoxious thoughts? I can put them at bay, or at least the obnoxious thoughts that come into my head don't stay as long.
Jessica :Sure. Well, maybe you're giving them some room to breathe so they quiet down a bit. I don't know. Well, maybe you're giving them some room to breathe so they quiet down a bit. I don't know. I don't know, who knows, who knows, but I, you know. It's interesting. You mentioned that.
Jessica :I agree, like on days that I get out for a really long hike really early in the morning, I anticipate all the same things you just rattled off Like I'm going to be super hungry, I'm going to be tired, and it's actually the opposite. Earlier this week I did a pretty wonderful hike in the Sawtooth Mountains in Stanley, idaho, and got up at like 5 am to hit the trailhead by 7 am and I was the only person out there, audra. I didn't see another soul on the trail the whole way into the destination and I thought so. It was about eight miles round trip, and so by the time I got off the trail at like 1030 in the morning, yeah, I was tired, I was definitely tired, but I felt like so energized internally and just like my brain was on fire and I just felt so good Like, and I just felt so good like, and I just spent a couple hours in the woods by myself, in movement, in nature, unplugged from tech, and uh, yeah, it's incredible yeah, it's, it's amazing, I mean there.
Audra :There are moments during that movement, like for me around mile 11. I start questioning my life's choices, as to what in the world I'm doing on the bike. Yes, yes I understand, yeah, but when I'm done I'm like oh yes, this was totally worth it.
Jessica :Yeah, I agree, there was some some pretty much all the elevation on that hike was like towards the end and I questioned my life choices. In that moment. I was like I was like being a motivational hiker to myself, giving myself a pep talk about like you've made it this far, just like half a mile left to go to see this alpine lake. You can do it. But yeah, I understand. But if you can power through that moment, just the the feeling afterwards of the accomplishment and just like look at what I was able to do, yeah, it is worth it, but you do have to power through that that length of it.
Audra :You're just like yeah, I am out here at 630 in the morning and trying to get up this hill. When, what am I doing?
Jessica :And I guess we got a bit off topic maybe, but the last letter in hike is E for every day, and just talking about the numbers and the metrics. So when I arbitrarily set this goal for hike for myself in January, audra, I just said like I'm going to do 30 minutes a day, like I had no rhyme or reason to that number. I just declared like at least 30 minutes, I'll practice this because I'm an entrepreneur, I'm building my business, my brand, I'm two toddlers at home, I'm a wife, you know, I'm an active member of my community. Like I don't have two hours every day to go do something, I have 30 minutes and so. But once I started researching some of the science behind it.
Jessica :So 10 minutes or more in nature will reduce stress and anxiety. The studies also show that 20 minutes or more is going to increase your emotional well-being. It's going to get those endorphins flowing. But what I'm really most interested in and I think a lot of your listeners might be is the 30-minute mark is where your brain switches on to a different mode of cognitive function. So if you can stay unplugged in movement and in nature for at least 30 minutes, you are going to see a drastically different way that your brain starts behaving, and that includes remembering information more clearly, making sounder decisions, being more focused and productive.
Jessica :Like a lot of times, I'll sit at my desk Audra, I don't know if you do this, but sometimes I have like 80 things I'm doing at once and like none of them well, and I realize I'm I call it the death spiral at my desk where, like nothing's getting done. If I take myself out for a quick 30 minute walk and I come back, it's like a whole different person entered the office and I go wow, these 45 things or 80 things, I only really need to do two of them and I'm just going to do those two and do them really well and then I'm done. It's just a different way.
Audra :Yeah, I'd say there. I actually said this earlier this week. Is that actually? It was last week before I started really putting myself on a regiment? Was I misread an email and I went round and round and round until I finally got clarity is? This was actually what I asked and my response was I'm so sorry. I have too many tabs on my desktop and my brain open all at the same time. I apologize for the round robin on this. I will get right on it. So, yes, there are times where I have way too many things open and I should absolutely not be trying to solve them all at the same time. Should not. Should not be trying to do that. That would probably be the optimum time for me to walk away and go take a break.
Jessica :Yes, and like you're not alone, I think that's all of us right, Like we are the definition of insanity, ourselves literally trying to accomplish all these things, doing them, none of them well, like, okay, well, we're going to go for a walk. Here's I think the biggest challenge people make, or what I see is, or I would say, mistake in that exercise is people then get up from their desk and go for a walk, even in nature, Audra, and then they call a coworker where they call their Aunt Mildred, who they haven't talked to in two years. They feel this pressure to use that time versus just being alone with their thoughts, which is really where the magic happens.
Audra :Yeah, they use the pressure to be productive.
Jessica :Right. We can't possibly be productive if we're alone. Right, Like that's the.
Audra :Couldn't possibly be Right. And you're saying that the science is working because you're giving your brain a recharge. Yes, by allowing movement and giving your brain a rest from the technology and from the stimulation of everything else that's going on, and allowing your brain to close some of the tabs Totally or all of the tabs.
Jessica :Yeah, I think you know I know this. I practice this myself. I see it a lot, but I recently had a client interaction. It's a quick story I'll share with you as to how powerful this is. So I work with executives and entrepreneurs, I do one-on-one coaching, and that always starts with a VIP guided hike where we just hike together, we talk about their profession, their business, what keeps them up at night, what their ultimate passion is. And I started a new engagement with a client.
Jessica :I think it was back in May, audra and unfortunately, on our VIP day where we had scheduled to do this hike, it was torrential downpours in Idaho, like like not like a little drizzle, like oh, let's still go. It was like no, this would be miserable. So we spent six hours in my office doing his strategic plan and we still weren't finished at the end of the day. And so I said you know, look, I'm going to make this up to you next week. Let's like do a redo, we're going to go for a guided hike on a nice day and we'll just we'll wrap up this plan. So he was game.
Jessica :He's actually an avid hiker himself. So the following week we met Audra and we did an hour hike together. It wasn't anything strenuous, but we practiced my method. We talked a lot. When we got back into my office after the hike, not only did we finish his strategic plan in, I would say, like 45 minutes to an hour, we then moved on to developing his intellectual property within like 15 minutes, of all his ideas in an organized manner that he could then communicate to his audience. The only difference between those two days was practicing hike at the beginning of our day.
Audra :Is this a normal thing? So you're doing one-on-ones like this, you're taking groups out like this, so is this a normal response to what your your results are getting when you're taking groups out to do this?
Jessica :it is so, um. Another example is back in june I spoke to a group it was a group of thought leaders and authors in dallas uh, it was like a book camp event where everyone was writing either their first or second book. And I led two guided hikes during that weekend and I explained the Hike 31 challenge. And so one of the guided hikes I did Audra was at the 6.30 in the morning on a Sunday morning.
Jessica :I was not anticipating a good turnout, let's just be clear, but a bunch of people showed up and that Sunday was the day of the writer's workshop, where they actually put their ideas down on paper. And I told everyone if you come and show up for this hike, you will have so many more ideas and clarity around your concepts. I kid you not. Throughout that entire Sunday I was approached by multiple authors saying you'll never believe what I thought of on our hike or you'll never believe this idea. That came to me hours afterwards. And yeah, I have example after example of people who either have been hiking with me in groups, practice my hike 31 challenge on their own, or is someone I work with one on one where, if they are truly committed and do this process, the ideas that come to them.
Audra :It's just incredible Big picture. So you do so. I just want to make sure that I'm hearing what you're saying. Big picture is you do a hike 31 challenge, which is what we're proposing to all of you. If you haven't already guessed this, yeah, you do a hike 31 challenge, which is what we're proposing to all of you. If you haven't already guessed this, yeah, you do a hike 31 challenge, which we're getting to the meat of this. I promise you, if you do a hike 31 challenge, you're going to get some clarity on On some big ideas, some Some questions to life, maybe even that what do I do? Next question I'm not going to put words into your mouth, but what are they going to find?
Jessica :So, based on what I've experienced this past year or throughout my life myself personally or working with clients or bigger groups here's what are people going to find self-personally, or working with clients or bigger groups. Here's what I'm. What are people going to find If you are bold enough, if you are brave enough to embark on this hike 31 challenge and if you practice it the way that we've just discussed. So, H hike or walk, I be in more natural elements than man-made structures. K for keep your tech off yes, even your smart watch, you're still going to do the steps anyway. And E, e practice it every day for at least 30 minutes for 31 days straight. Quick disclaimer here if you for if you miss a day, do not get the defeated and give up. Just get back on the trail the next day. Like, move on. Reply uh, give yourself grace. We're all humans, we're all juggling, juggling a lot. But to answer your question, audra, what will people find?
Jessica :There's's three core components that I think most people get clarity on. The first is like who am I In this world of constant connection via social media or just constantly being on the screens? I think a big problem we have is we have all lost connection to the most important person in our lives and that's ourself. And I like to say you can't authentically connect to anyone else until you authentically connect with yourself. So that's question one I think does get answered if you choose to practice this type 31 challenge. Second is why am I here?
Jessica :A lot of people get some clarity or epiphanies on, maybe, their job or their career or their true calling in life, on be it their job or their career or their true calling in life. And then the third is what do I do about it? How do I meet my calling to help others? Those are the things I'm seeing on a wide scale if you choose to practice this, and then there's just all sorts of other, just, I think, yummy, wonderful things. I'm hearing from people who choose to practice, whether it's a great idea for a book or a change in their family lifestyle or just an epiphany around whatever. Just spending this time in this method alone with your thoughts, I think it just unlocks a lot of potential. I can't. It'll be different for everyone unlocks a lot of potential.
Audra :I can't. It'll be different for everyone and this is not necessarily to replace your, your workout routine. I mean, this is a supplement to your workout routine, that's. This is not a workout routine. Yes, yes, thank you. This is your mental clarity routine. Yes, I wanted to make sure that I get this that very clear to you. This is not to replace this. This is in addition to so. In the middle of the day, you need a break. This is your break. In the evening. This is your at the end of the day. Wind down, whatever it is. This is an addition to this is your treat to yourself.
Jessica :Yes you, you totally nailed it, audra. I think a lot of people get confused and think that this is time to also like, be strenuous and exercise. I share with people. Actually, it's the opposite. I want to recreate that Shinrin-yoku exercise where your cortisol levels are coming down, your heart rate and your blood pressure is coming down. Your brain is switching on in different ways. This isn't time to run or scale up a mountain, it's literally you're just in movement. So thank you for clarifying that. I do think that's a confusing thing for a lot of people and I say treat it as a sacred date with yourself. Treat yourself as important as you would anyone else.
Jessica :One quick note I will say a lot of people ask me this question Can I go hiking with other people? The short answer is no. We all live in special circumstances. There are days when I can't hike alone and my kiddos come along. It's not the same. Do your best to be alone. Dogs are welcome. Other humans are not. They will be busy talking to you and then you can't be alone with your thoughts because that's kind of the point is still you can, you can be quiet with yourself.
Audra :Yes, I know terrifying. I already that I have a very noisy brain and I am doing this. I committed to Jessica that I am doing this. So now we're going to get to the meat of this. We are challenging all of you to do a Hike 31 challenge. We're picking October, october 1st, because it conveniently has 31 days in the month. It also is going to be the beginning of really nice weather. It won't be 150 degrees in Arizona. It'll be really beautiful weather in Idaho and for most of the country. It won't be freezing yet. It's going to be, we believe will be beautiful weather for pretty much everywhere in the country and, if you're listening to this abroad, probably everywhere in the world. So we are challenging everybody to do Hike 31 Challenge in October, starting October 1st. Hike every single day, every day. We are going to come alongside you. We have aides, we have aides for you. We have, we have aids, we have aids for you. Yes, jessica, let everybody know what they need to do to get their instructions on how to do their hike.
Jessica :Super simple. So if you're listening to this podcast and you want to join the hike 31 challenge in october as a way to reconnect with yourself, all you need to do is text the word hike h-i-k-e to number three, three, seven, seven, seven, and that will get you the instructions the one page run how to practice the hike 31 challenge, as well as a calendar that you can use to check off all the days that you've successfully hiked and make sure that you have 33777, the word hike.
Audra :I will also put that in the show notes just in case you guys didn't catch that. Additionally, we are going to do lives every Friday just to keep you guys up to date as to what in the world we're doing. So Jessica and I are going to be on, along with a few of our crew that we have roped into doing this with us, to just give you updates as to what the status is, how we're doing. Is it simple, is it hard, what we're experiencing? I'm sure the first week or two I'm going to whine a little bit because I don't have anything to distract me from my loud brain, but I probably will get better after a while. Our lives are going to be at 8.30 Friday on Pacific time. At the very least it's going to be on LinkedIn. I'm going to try and put it on all other platforms if they will let me, but for the moment I definitely have it on LinkedIn. I will update you with other platforms as I add them.
Audra :Like I said, it'll be a quick 30 minutes. Jump in, check out our status. Like I said, we have several other women that we're roping into this, making them do it because we want to see what else we can do. What can we do to support each other as a community, as additional women, and see what changes we can make. Also, as I just said that this is not just exclusive for women, we want everybody to join us, everybody. So your husbands, your boyfriends, your sons, whatever, please join us. Everybody gets mental clarity. So please come and hang out with us and let us know what you think.
Jessica :I should mention too, when you practice this. Obviously, the idea is that you are staying off technology, so I want to be really clear about that for at least 30 minutes. However, with that being said, if it makes you feel better or helps you with your accountability, if you want to post a selfie or a mini video clip of you post hike post spending this 30 minutes unplugged, please use hashtag hike 31 or hashtag hike 31 challenge. Feel free to tag myself or Audra in it, because we're going to be hiking alongside of you and you are not alone. You will be on the hike, but we're with you.
Jessica :I think Audra said like, in spirit, we're with you and, yeah, please join us in these lives that we're going to do weekly, which will be super I days. There is a significant research to show that if you practice something between 18 and 30 days, it will develop into a habit, and so we're just giving you an extra day just because but that is the core of Hike 31 Challenge is to practice long enough to make this a habit that you will start incorporating this into your lifestyle long term. So that is why it is 31 days long.
Audra :Did we forget anything else? So we've told them where to get their information. Yes, we're going to have lives every Friday for the month of October. Yes, and I know this is going to be a hard one for me it's no technology, I know. I know I know no technology, but if I can do it, everybody else can do it as well. I am very much looking forward to this because when I met Jessica, I said if anybody needs this, this is me. I need this, I need to be grounded, I need mental clarity, I need the whole, I need the whole thing. So I'm very much looking forward to this. I also, in the middle of this hike, I already have a planned business trip. In the middle of it, I'm not even going to be at home. So, jessica and I have something planned to show you that this is possible to be done while you're traveling in an unknown city, and how you can still make this work when you're not in your own environment. So no excuses, even if you're not at home.
Jessica :So true, I love it. I travel a lot for business and even on days when I'm not hiking with clients, I'm always finding a spot to hike, no matter where I am Jessica, anything else?
Audra :Have we left out anything else that they need to know?
Jessica :I don't think so. I'm just honored to be here with your audience. I'm so excited about I think we're creating a movement, a mass movement. I would love if we could just really reach as many people as possible, encourage more people to get out in nature, be in movement, movement and experience the mindfulness of unplugging and being alone with their own thoughts. I think the movement will speak for itself and I'm just so excited to see where it leads.
Audra :I am as well, and before I let you go, though, if people want to know more information about you specifically and your company, where would they reach?
Jessica :you Absolutely. Thank you for asking. So if you want to reach me directly, you can check out my website at wwwhiketobecomecom. You can also find me and follow me on LinkedIn and feel free to reach out to me there. There is nothing more special to me in this world than receiving messages from people that are practicing Hike 31 Challenge. So, please, no audience. You are never bugging me. If you want to share a selfie, a picture, even if it's just with me that you are practicing this, it would bring a huge smile to my face.
Audra :Please do this guys. Hike 31 with us. What's the worst that can happen? That you get some mental clarity, get some joy, get a little break from your computers. Come hang out with us for 31 days. I promise you you will get more benefits than you will miss your phone, I promise you. Jessica, thank you so much for hanging out with me this hour and thank you for partnering with me to do this 31 challenge. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to seeing what we come up with, what comes of this, and I can't wait to hear the stories of what people find when they do this challenge. So thanks for hanging out with me.
Jessica :You're so welcome. It's my honor and I couldn't imagine a better hiking buddy for the month of October, so thanks for being on the journey with me. Imagine a better hiking buddy for the month of October?
Audra :So thanks for being on the journey with me. It is my pleasure, I am so excited and, thanks to all of you, I can't wait to see you guys all on the trail. Thanks so much for listening and we'll see you again next time.
