Building Resilience Outside Your Comfort Zone with Ginger Naylor of Outward Bound
The Ready State Podcast
Kelly Starrett & Juliet Starrett
4.9 • 623 Ratings
🗓️ 15 January 2026
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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Discover the secret to thriving outside your comfort zone with Ginger Naylor, CEO of Outward Bound USA.
In this inspiring conversation, Ginger shares how wilderness adventures help kids and adults build resilience, face discomfort, and uncover their true potential. Learn why stepping into the unknown fosters personal growth, how Outward Bound uses outdoor challenges to teach life-changing lessons, and the transformative power of "threshold moments." Whether you're an outdoors enthusiast or seeking ways to stretch your limits, this video will motivate you to embrace discomfort and grow stronger.
We are particularly excited about joining Ginger for The Reset, happening on January 24th and led by Outward Bound. This is a nationwide invitation to step away from screens and schedules, get outside, move your body, and reconnect with the kind of challenge and perspective that only nature can provide. No apps, no optimization, no performance metrics. Just time outdoors, intentional discomfort, and the chance to reset your nervous system in the most human way possible.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode- Why resilience doesn’t come from comfort — but from manageable challenge
- How outdoor education helps kids discover identity, confidence, and capability
- What “threshold moments” are — and why they drive real growth
- Why reflection matters as much as the experience itself
- How wilderness exposure shapes empathy, leadership, and perseverance
- Why being alone without distraction is increasingly rare — and powerful
(00:00) – Intro
(00:31) – Wilderness Awareness and Why It’s Fading
(07:48) – What Outward Bound Really Is (And Isn’t)
(11:16) – Threshold Moments and Why Growth Starts at the Edge
(14:25) – Discomfort as a Skill, Not a Side Effect
(19:08) – The Cultural Shift Away from Wilderness
(23:04) – The Solo Experience: Being Alone With Yourself
(28:38) – What Happens After Students Leave Outward Bound
(32:10) – Why Reflection Turns Experience Into Growth
(36:45) – Technology, Childhood, and Rebalancing Attention
(41:22) – Wilderness as a Gateway to Conservation
(46:08) – Parenting, Protection, and Letting Kids Struggle
(51:14) – Resilience as a Life Skill, Not an Adventure Skill
(56:02) – Why These Experiences Matter More Than Ever
(1:01:10) – Final Reflections on Growth, Identity, and Independence
Connect with Ginger and Outward Bound
Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
Take The Reset Pledge with us!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Where am I going to put two weeks of adventure for my child? |
| 0:03.5 | The point is not for him to go in the woods and be comfortable. |
| 0:06.5 | We're helping kids discover who they are. |
| 0:08.5 | It is not just about going out and canoeing or paddling or whatever it is. |
| 0:13.5 | What we're trying to do is education. |
| 0:15.5 | Ginger Naylor is the CEO of Outward Bound USA, guiding its national network and educational mission. |
| 0:21.8 | She previously led the Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School and has over 20 years of nonprofit |
| 0:26.6 | leadership focused on expanding access to outdoor and community programs. |
| 0:31.2 | How have you consciously thought about sort of managing these changes in, in our awareness of |
| 0:36.1 | wilderness of wilderness. For many of them, it is the first time they have ever seen the horizon over water. |
| 0:41.3 | More parents are trying to create opportunities for their kids to get away from technology. |
| 0:45.1 | We're on technology right now. It's important. It's not going anywhere. |
| 0:48.3 | But I think we've got to rebalance how we interact with it. |
| 0:52.3 | Ginger, welcome to the Ready State podcast. |
| 0:56.8 | Hi, friends. It's so good to see you. It's so good to chat. I'm excited to be here. |
| 1:01.1 | We are just, we're so excited to have you. And as you know, Kelly and I consider ourselves at the |
| 1:08.5 | very root outdoors people. That's a really nice word. I was going to say dirt bags. Dirt bags. Who've slept in more BLM parking lots than anywhere else. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We, just so you know, we have a, you know, a lot of people, I don't know what they want to do when they retire, but we actually always want to get back to our roots where we can be living in a vehicle again. |
| 1:28.9 | Plus health insurance. |
| 1:30.1 | Yeah, we'd like to have health insurance and vehicle living. |
| 1:32.2 | That's the dream. |
| 1:34.3 | So we are just delighted to have you here. |
| 1:38.0 | And I just like to talk a little bit about your backstory and how you got to this amazing role being the first |
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