Summary
On this bonus episode, we bring you tales from Out There’s live storytelling night earlier this month.
Each story touches on the theme of being a beginner in the outdoors:
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Ashley White shares the story of his son’s injury on their first-ever backpacking trip together
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Jessica Taylor explores the lessons she’s learning as she transitions from life in a house to a life on the road
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Natasha Buffo reflects on the intertwined experiences of falling in love with backpacking, and losing a parent
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Willow Belden and you're listening to Out There, the podcast that explores big questions through intimate stories outdoors. |
| 0:15.5 | As you may know, we hosted a live storytelling night earlier this month, and it was a blast. |
| 0:22.4 | Since not all of you were able to make it, we wanted to share some of the stories from the event here on the podcast. |
| 0:29.8 | The theme for the live show was beginners, and on this bonus episode, you're going to hear three of the five stories from the event. |
| 0:39.2 | The reason we're not sharing all of the stories is that a couple of our storytellers felt their pieces were a little too personal to air on the podcast. |
| 0:48.3 | But I can assure you they were truly beautiful stories, and we hope to have more like them at future live events. |
| 0:56.3 | So, without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to our first storyteller. |
| 1:07.1 | Natasha Buffo is a former Silicon Valley business analyst who is now a solo world traveler, snowboarder, and backpacker. |
| 1:16.7 | She lives in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in California, and she runs the website dirt and tears.com, |
| 1:23.5 | which uses stories of adventure to help readers navigate caregiving, grief, anxiety, and depression. |
| 1:32.4 | Have you guys ever thought to yourself, these are my people? |
| 1:37.4 | Not because they're related by blood or you grew up with them, but because there was something in your soul that resonated with their soul, |
| 1:46.6 | I first thought that when I was barefoot under the redwoods of Big Sur listening to bluegrass. And I |
| 1:55.7 | looked around and I didn't realize these people existed. And I didn't realize this life existed. The life I knew |
| 2:05.2 | was working in Silicon Valley for one of the biggest tech companies. But being a first |
| 2:12.7 | generation college graduate coming from a low-income family, I thought I had found success. Yet the morning, |
| 2:20.7 | I returned from that music festival and was walking towards the building of Google, I was looking |
| 2:27.0 | at the bushes. Probably not what you think. I thought I was going to throw up, totally honest. |
| 2:35.0 | Basically, it was this physical representation of months of depression. |
| 2:39.0 | I'd cry at work in bathroom stalls, I'd call them sick to work, so I didn't have to cry at work, |
| 2:45.0 | and I'd turn down invitations from friends. |
| 2:48.0 | So I decided it was time to take a month off and explore these magical options I had |
... |
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