Camping and Backpacking with Anxiety

Normalize being SPOOKED😱

I have backpacked close to 6000 miles, and I STILL get nervous backpacking alone; ESPECIALLY if it’s been a while since my last trip.

Anxiety is a NATURAL RESPONSE to facing our fears, and ignoring this will inevitably cause more distress and less enjoyment in Nature.

If you’re nervous about backpacking this fall, here are strategies that have helped me boost my adventure confidence:

🌲 Learn how to share space with your anxiety so that you can quickly identify it when you’re in nature. I do this by writing my thoughts in a journal, which makes it all less daunting.

🌲Before your solo trip, go camping with a friend that you feel safe with. “Safe” can mean emotionally safe, or someone who has backcountry experience (like a guide!)

🌲Don’t be ashamed to bring what you need to feel safe— for me, CBD always does the trick when I can’t fall asleep due to my racing thoughts of getting eaten by a mountain lion. 😅

🌲Write out worse-case scenarios AND explore healthier thought patterns that will RELIEVE your anxiety. (This doesn’t mean the anxiety will disappear! But this will help you physically prepare and new conversations to have with yourself instead of just repeating snowballing thought patterns.)

Feeling anxious about doing scary things is totally normal, and although it’s not the most convenient thing to carry on a backpacking trip, it can be very empowering to learn how to share space with it!

Stay safe, friends. 💪🏽