Wilderness adventures can shape how we understand ourselves and what matters most.

Returning home can feel difficult when you've changed, but your old life hasn't.

Time in nature can reveal more authentic ways of living.

Post-adventure discomfort can offer an invitation to integrate who you've become.

Co-authored by Aimee Frazier and Shauni Bernau

Recently, I (Aimee) returned from a mountaineering expedition in the Olympic Mountains. Aside from a brief fall into a glacier crevasse, it was a fun and awe-inspiring trip.

It wasn’t the steep, technical snow or even my dreaded 45-pound pack that was the biggest challenge for me—it was the return home. When I returned to civilization and cell phone service, I felt totally overwhelmed. My phone had exploded with hundreds of text messages, enormous inbox alerts, and an immense pressure to jump right back into checking items off of the to-do list.

It was as if the experience had expanded me in some ways that made it difficult, and frankly a bit unappealing, to fit back into my regular life. It was a familiar feeling—one that I had experienced after other big adventures outdoors. As I processed it, I quickly realized I wasn’t the only one who'd felt this shock to the system after an outdoor adventure.

Stepping outside of our usual roles and routines can change how we see ourselves and bring clarity to what we value most in life. We often return with more than just stories to tell. We may also begin to question the parts of life that we step back into, as the person who returns from a trip no longer seems to fit comfortably into the life that they had previously built.

Shauni Bernau, a writer who thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, experienced this on an even larger scale.

"I Wasn't Just Struggling to Return to My Old Life. I Was Questioning It"

In 2025, I (Shauni) hiked 2,000 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail. I lived........

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