I feel like women are often pigeonholed into needing to choose an identity, like, oh, you're a mom,

or oh, you're a hiker, or you're an artist. We kind of are pushed into choosing a singular identity.

Hi, I'm Willow Belden and you're listening to Out There, the podcast that explores big questions through intimate stories outdoors.

The person you just heard is Alexandra DeRuccio. She's the founder of Wild Woman, one of our sponsors for this episode.

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And now, on to our story for today.

The idea for this episode came from an email I got earlier this year.

A listener named Charles E.

Shaver wrote to me, and she said she wished we would include

a wider array of income levels on the podcast. She said, and I'm quoting here, as someone who isn't

even remotely close to middle class, much less upper middle class, it can be discouraging to

constantly hear about people who

quit their well-paying jobs to pursue a life of adventure, who trade in the house for a van,

who have the luxury of taking some time off to figure out what new direction they want to take

their life. Trollsey went on to say, quote, for every person you hear about who quits their day job to pursue a life of freedom on the road, there are likely a dozen more of us trying to scrape together enough money for groceries.

For every inspirational Instagram post that talks about setting aside your fears and just getting out there, there

are those of us with $17 in the bank thinking, I can't even get to the nearest campground

...