Quitting can be a Kindness: Nicole Antoinette

Nicole Antoinette quit her thru hike of the Pacific Crest Trail after about 1,600 miles and she's ok with calling it a failure. In fact, Nicole questions why we have to choose either success or failure. Can't we be gentler with ourselves? Can't we set out to both succeed and fail?

Nicole Antoinette has a gift for applying lessons she's learned to new chapters of life. We talk about how what she's learned in sobriety applies to distance running applies to thru hiking applies to us all.

Women featured in this episode: Nicole Antoinette.

Cameos by Carrot Quinn, Karen Wang, and Rahawa Haile

Hosted by Gale Straub

In this episode, you'll hear:

How long distance running can be a gateway to thru hiking
Physical activity as a way to cope with new sobriety
Why you don't have to be "good" at something to do it
Why growth is a value for Nicole
When making life changes is a lonely thing
Why Nicole wanted to hike the PCT on her own but also wanted a trail family
What the culture is like on the PCT
The awareness Nicole has for her body while hiking
"'Success', whatever that means"
Giving yourself room to fail (on a trail and in life)
Post-trail depression and why "this too shall pass"
The mindset of embracing "both/and" vs. "either/or" aka we don't have to be one thing

Sponsored by Benchmark Maps and Outdoor Voices

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Learn more at She-Explores.com

Resources

Nicole Antoinette's Website & Instagram
Real Talk Radio
Nicole's patreon
2019 She Explores Listener Survey
Carrot Quinn's Thru Hiking Will Break Your Heart
Carrot's episode on She Explores & Real Talk Radio
Rahawa's episode on She Explores & Real Talk Radio
Karen's episode on She Explores & Real Talk Radio
Brainstorm National Park Puzzle

Sponsor Websites and Codes

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Music is by Josh Woodward and Kai Engel using a Creative Commons Attribution license.