Into the wilderness

Despite rumors that I quit my job to be a professional climber, lion tamer, and dirt bag, I am actually moving to Utah to work in wilderness therapy.

“What is wilderness therapy” you may ask. The program with which I will be working is for adolescents and young adults struggling with difficulties such as substance abuse, depression, family conflict, etc. We take these students (those 18 and under) and clients (those 18 and up) 80 miles deep into the Utah desert to do therapy.

“Why am I doing wilderness therapy” you may ask (I still ask myself sometimes)? In a nut shell, because it allows me to do meaningful work with people who have big issues and to take time to climb and be with family. Here is the story with a little more background and detail.

Over the last two years I have lived and worked in Chapel Hill, NC. As my job became increasingly unfulfilling, my obsession with climbing and my love for the outdoors steadily grew. For nearly the last year, I planned to work abroad and I worked really hard to make sure it happened. When the opportunity came to go to India, I was elated. Completely ecstatic. However, two days later my dad was diagnosed with cancer. I declined India, temporarily moved to Alabama, and worked from my parents’ home. My father died six weeks later. I moved back to NC and to a job in which I was still unhappy. For the first time, I did not want to go abroad, but rather I wanted access to family, and more so than exotic locations would allow.

I have thought about wilderness therapy for about a year, but never considered it too long due to my hopes to go abroad. With international options out of the question, wilderness therapy made a good bit of sense. My thinking was: 1.) I could play a major role in the lives of people facing big issues and be a part of real, positive change; 2.) I could live in the West (something I have dreamed of for awhile), and 3.) I could have a lot of time to climb, travel and visit family.

It seems pretty perfect; however, I am still utterly terrified. This decision is stock full of unknowns and cold weather. Two things I really hate. Wilderness therapy is also a very non-linear step professionally for me. Despite that, there is excitement, inner peace, and a general “good feeling” about this move.

The title of this blog “Crooked Trails” is derived from an Edward Abbey quote (below) and my life’s ability to take unexpected twists and turns. I was hesitant to start a blog, but after some nudging from a few of you, I decided it would benefit me. (I also know that at least my mom will read and appreciate it.) I don’t really know what this journey will bring, but I would love to have you all following along!!!

Edward Abbey was a writer, environmental activist, and above all, a lover and defender of the southwest desert. This is his quote that inspired the title of this blog.

" May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets' towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you --- beyond that next turning of the canyon walls."