“What do we find when we push ourselves further than we ever thought we could go?” That is just one question Nicole Antoinette explores in her new book, How to be Alone: An 800 Mile Hike on the AZ Trail. This week, Nicole returns to the show to talk about her book and the lessons she learned from her loooong hiking journey. Together we have an insightful conversation about the privilege of choosing your own suffering and the process of becoming a better friend to yourself along the way.

Nicole Antoinette is a writer, long-distance hiker, and former indoor kid who never imagined she’d wind up spending months of each year pooping in the woods. She is the author of two adventure memoirs, How To Be Alone and What We Owe To Ourselves (coming September 5, 2023), and she writes a weekly newsletter on Substack called Wild Letters.

Featured topics:

• Why Nicole set out to hike the 800-mile Arizona Trail alone (5:13)
• How Nicole kept going even when it felt really hard (11:10)
• Being able to quit things publicly and out loud (16:33)
• The privilege of choosing your own suffering (16:53)
• Intentionally choosing to practice trusting your intuition (23:31)
• Being a solo female hiker: identifying fears and working through them (29:18)

Resources:
Coaching with Andrea
Nicole’s books and hiking resources
Nicole’s recovery series interview

Book recommendations:
I love a good personal development book, and you do too, right? I’ve compiled a list of book recommendations, as mentioned in past episodes. Check out these amazing book recommendations here. Happy reading!  

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Nicole Antoinette is a writer, long-distance hiker, and former indoor kid who never imagined she’d wind up spending months of each year pooping in the woods. 

She is the author of two adventure memoirs, HOW TO BE ALONE (April 3, 2023)  and WHAT WE OWE TO OURSELVES (September 5, 2023), and she writes a weekly newsletter on Substack called Wild Letters.

You can learn more about her writing and other work at nicoleantoinette.com, read Wild Letters at nicantoinette.substack.com, and follow her hikes on Instagram at @nic.antoinette.