Choose It, and Stop Saying You “Can’t”
Laura Siebert
Today we're featuring Guides Gone Wild listener, Laura Siebert of 180Health!
You can imagine how stoked I was to get a submission from this site with a nice note from a listener who was getting inspired from the stories she was hearing - inspired enough to be planning her own section hike of the PCT. So of course I had to reach out to her, and of course there was A LOT more to Laura Siebert’s story than just the upcoming backpacking trip….
Laura was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease when she was young, and has spent a lot of time working through the difficulties related to her illness, as well as the challenges that grew out of feeling unable to control her health and body as a teen.
Spoiler alert - she's doing pretty freaking awesome now, but it definitely wasn’t easy.
Along with building some MAD skills on the pole and taking on new long-distance backpacking challenges, Laura has built an amazing, supportive (“Unladylike”) community of women who have each others’ back while they work on making friends with their bodies, moving past resistance, and choosing to be the person they want to be.
A few important points I need to make about this episode:
First, PLEASE keep in mind that neither Laura nor I are doctors, and we don’t even play them on TV - depression and eating disorders are serious business, and you are always advised to consult licensed, medical and mental health professionals when you are dealing with these conditions. As she talks about in our conversation, Laura has a chronic illness that requires ongoing care by medical health professionals, so in no way are we suggesting that some of the therapies and approaches that we talk about are a replacement for medical supervision.
And also, consider yourself forewarned – we drop a few curse words during this episode, and some of our conversation veers into areas that you might not appreciate your 7 year old enjoying from the back seat of the car. That being said, I hope all of you in the learner's-permit-and-above set will give this one a chance. We let it all hang out here, but it kind of makes sense in this context, this is what Laura is all about – moving past your past. Owning your sh*t. Glorifying in you, and all that that means.
It sounds serious, and some of it definitely is, but we have a lot of fun too, so I hope you’ll come along for the wild ride.
Please make sure to connect with Laura through her website, Instagram, and Facebook, where you can also get more information about her “Unladylike” community and retreats.
Finally, I hope this episode will inspire some of you to share your OWN stories with me - who knows, you might be the all-star guest on a future episode!
Some useful links from our conversation: