Stories That Move
When we create videos for our clients, there's often an incredibly rich narrative that we can't include in the final cut. Being behind the scenes, we're fortunate to hear the depth and full context behind each story.
So in this podcast, we want to pull back the curtain and allow you to experience the extraordinary stories of extraordinary people we've been honored to connect with.
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Stories That Move
Hiking Towards Healing: Jesse Cody's Journey
In this conversation, Jesse Cody shares his journey from a successful athlete to founding Hike the Good Hike, an organization dedicated to promoting mental health through nature. He discusses his personal struggles with mental health, the impact of nature on well-being, and the importance of storytelling in inspiring others. A pivotal moment during his 40th birthday party led him to seek help and commit to change, emphasizing the power of community and love in the healing process. In this conversation, Jesse Cody shares his transformative journey from the restaurant industry to hiking the Appalachian Trail, highlighting the importance of self-discovery, mental health awareness, and the healing power of nature. He discusses the challenges of opening up about his struggles, the impact of childhood trauma, and the significance of taking small steps towards personal growth. Jesse emphasizes the need for community support and encourages others to share their stories as a means of healing.
Keywords:
mental health, hiking, storytelling, Jesse Cody, Hike the Good Hike, nature therapy, personal journey, mental health awareness, self-discovery, resilience, mental health, self-discovery, hiking, Appalachian Trail, personal growth, trauma, inspiration, nature, resilience, storytelling, Appalachian Trail, mental health, hiking, community, personal growth, nature, Hike the Good Hike, documentary, Jesse Cody, transformation
https://www.hikethegoodhike.org/
@hikethegoodhike
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You showed me. You showed me these incredible lessons. You showed me who I am and who I'm capable of being. But what I do understand is you didn't do this to keep to myself. In a sense, you want me to take what I've learned and share it with the world, because we all know that there are many and we mean many millions of people that are currently standing in the shoes that I was standing in six months ago and they need to find something, they need some help, and so I promised to the trail I'm gonna dedicate my life to finding a way to share this, share what you've taught me, share my story, and I'm gonna make something of it and I'm gonna use it to the best of my ability to help people who are struggling with mental illness.
Speaker 2:Hey friends, matt Duell, coming to you from San Diego where our Dream On team is here serving one of our amazing clients, hey, we have been traveling all over the place, but no matter where. We have been traveling all over the place, but no matter where we go, we love to take the opportunity to shine the spotlight on amazing stories and today's episode is definitely a special one On Stories that Move. Our Chief of Staff, alexis Grant, joins me back at the studio in Warsaw to welcome in Jesse Cody. Jesse is an avid hiker, a public speaker and the founder of a nonprofit called Hike the Good Hike. Jesse's story is raw, it's powerful and we are so privileged to tell it. When he was going through an incredible time in his life, struggling with a mental health crisis, he had a breakthrough that happened. That then launched into an entire non-profit movement. From hiking the Appalachian Trail to speaking on stages, jesse is changing the conversation around mental health and we are so excited to share it with you.
Speaker 2:Let's welcome in today, jesse Cody, to Stories that Move. Welcome in today, jesse Cody, to Stories that Move. Welcome back to Stories that Move. I'm your host, matt Duhl, and with me is Alexis Grant. Hello, how you doing, alexis?
Speaker 3:Good, how are you Matt?
Speaker 2:I'm so good and so excited for our guest today. We have with us Jesse Cody. Jesse is an avid hiker, a public speaker and the founder and director of a nonprofit called Hike the Good Hike, where he has traversed over 15,000 miles to support and raise awareness for those battling with mental health challenges, and we're so excited to talk to him today. But we're also excited because Jesse is going to be joining us at the Warsaw Growth Summit here in Warsaw on November 6th. So we're going to dial into a story today, but for all of you viewers and listeners, you have an opportunity to come and see Jesse live later this year. Jesse, welcome to Stories that Move. Thanks, guys, Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Yeah, absolutely so excited to jump into your story. Take a moment, introduce yourself to our listeners.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, my name is Jesse Cody, as you said, founder and director of Hike the Good Hike, an organization that focuses on how the benefits of nature has on your mental health. Obviously, we'll get a lot deeper into that as we go here, but I live out here in Santa Fe, new Mexico, 30 minutes outside of town, off the grid in the high desert. I'm originally from Cambridge, massachusetts, so I'm not a true and true high desert southwestern human being, but the longer you live out here, the more you feel like you are there. You go Awesome, awesome.
Speaker 1:So talk to us about what you're doing with Hike the Good Hike. What is kind of the mission and vision? So right now we're in the process of launching one of our first major programs, a sponsorship program where we're offering sponsorship to 10 hikers that are taking on a long journey. But within that journey, we're looking for people who want to talk about the mental health journey as they take this trek on, and what they're getting is essentially, they're getting all their gear for free and travel expenses to get to the trail that they're taking on and to be able to get home at the end of their hike. So we want to be able to give people this opportunity that might not be able to afford or have a challenging time to take on a long trek that may take months, and say, hey, we're here to help you do that.
Speaker 1:In return, we'd like for you to tell your story through our platform, because stories are inspirational, especially when it comes to mental health journeys. And obviously, if we're talking about hey, I'm starting at this point where I've struggled with depression, where I've struggled with anxiety, ptsd and beyond, and I found my way to nature, whether it's through hiking or anything else, and this has showed some improvements. We want to be able to tell those stories because I'm living proof of what it was when I read stories about hiking with no hiking experience and thought to myself maybe a long walk is something that could help me find some answers to my life and so being able to live and breathe that and understand that I wanted to create and working really hard to build something that can put out hundreds to thousands of stories that really can inspire people to try something different to benefit their well-being and mental health.
Speaker 2:Wow, gosh. Okay, we don't even know you, but we're already going to be lifelong friends.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We exist to tell people stories and I mean that's our whole thing stories that move. So to find an organization like yours that's doing that from that vantage point is really exciting.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that's so. That from that vantage point is really exciting. Yeah, I think that's so cool, even, yeah, just like that journey toward healing and redemption and finding oneself is. Yeah, I'm excited to dive into those stories that you've, you know, helped to create. Thank, you.
Speaker 2:So, let's rewind just a little bit, because I am, you know, curious to hear how do you go from Cambridge Massachusetts to New Mexico and form a hike? Take us back to, I mean, even childhood. What did growing up look like for you, and what sort of inspired some of these things that you're now doing? Sure, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, growing up was great. I come from a really beautiful family that to this day are very supportive of who I am and the things that I do and for the I would say, crazy, blind leaps that I've taken, you need that. You need people to say to you hey, take that leap, we're here for you if you fall in a direction where you need help. So coming up I was really surrounded by great parents, a stepdad, brothers. My family has expanded as I've gotten older. At a young age I was actually a really good runner.
Speaker 1:In high school I was a seven-time Massachusetts state champion in cross-country track and field. I was the fastest high school miler in the United States. My senior year and these were. It was a great time, to be honest.
Speaker 1:But to be honest, I've recognized mental health struggles my whole life. I can look back as far as I can remember and see that I really struggled with sadness, depression and I struggled with a true understanding of who I was and I was very confused and I remember, especially when it came to running for all these great things that I I did, winning these races, it was the losses that really affected me more than the wins. I was more affected by losing a race and what that meant in terms of letting down my team, my coach, my family specifically my parents and that really like devastated me. I can think back to races that I lost and remember like crying myself to sleep at night that I was so disappointed in myself and how people might perceive me because of that and had no like real life example of anybody ever saying how'd you lose that race? You're a disappointment.
Speaker 1:This was the beginning of me understanding that I was good at creating a narrative in my mind that ultimately, no matter what I did and where I succeeded, I always kind of felt more like a failure. And so you know, as I said, you know, coming out of high school being a great runner, I had a ton of scholarship offers and I accepted one to Providence College, a full scholarship offer and as soon as I was kind of free of family and a lot of people protecting me and eyes watching me and making sure I was staying on the right courses, I got to college. Like a lot of people who go to college, I started partying a lot, and this is really now looking back where I started recognizing that self-sabotage was going to become a major part of my life. Within six months, I lost my scholarship and I was out of school. Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, which in itself is kind of like what I was in my mind setting myself up for all along right, like this constant thought that I was a failure. I was a failure, so self-sabotage really kind of kicked into high gear and I made that a reality. And then to kind of deal with that, that going back to Cambridge Mass and trying to reset and find my way and it's selfless challenging because you you're obviously dealing with a lot of people asking what are you doing here? Why are you back?
Speaker 2:like yeah, like yeah, aren't you?
Speaker 1:aren't you supposed to be heading to the Olympics like um, these are realities. And so I had to kind of navigate that and really just kind of find a life of status quo. That's kind of really where I found my direction. I did some good things to try to like fall back and do positive things in my life. I became a high school cross-country track coach. I went back to school to be a massage therapist. I started a massage practice and I was like Plan B is pretty damn good. You know, I was a successful coach.
Speaker 1:I had a successful practice at a health club and it was like and even within that stuff, those narratives were playing out in my mind that this is not who you're supposed to be. You're not supposed to be an influence, you're not supposed to be somebody that is a leader, you're not supposed to be someone that succeeds. You're a failure. And I really was great at convincing myself that ultimately, no matter what I did, even if I showed success, that in the long run and I would find ways to kind of navigate out of things that could show success and look for something where, hey, how can I just find a way of life where I don't really have to do much because I'm struggling. So I want to find something where my struggles, I don't have to do much to try to show myself that I can be successful, because I don't believe in myself that way, and this was a path for a long time.
Speaker 1:And when you talk about mental health struggles the things that may seem a bit small when you're younger well, those things grow and depression grew in me, anxiety grew in me, insecurity grew in me when I started really kind of entering that part of my life where I started dating, kind of entering that part of my life where I started dating and was in relationships. Then the narcissistic behavior started exhibiting itself, because that's a major part of self-sabotage as well. You deflect the stuff that you're going through onto others, and that's just another thing that I excelled at. So, yeah, that's the early years into boy 20s, 30s, and I'll let you guys kind of ask some questions off of that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm curious to know. Yeah, so what was like the turning point at that point?
Speaker 1:So I had had some moments where I spent time in psych wards. I threatened suicide to women I was in a relationship with. A couple of them made calls to get me help. I was really good at denying that. I meant it, like most people. When you're kind of trapped there and you have to actually face authority, I was really good at saying I was just saying this to upset her and scare her, which authorities still don't want to hear that. But I was able to at least find my way out of a place where they took me so seriously that they committed me.
Speaker 1:But I was in this place in my 30s, mid-30s up, where it was really a reality to me. And listen, let me be real here. I wasn't talking to anybody about this. I didn't go to family and say, hey, I'm in trouble. I didn't go to friends. I attempted to start therapy on my own and I didn't invest in it. I went in. Even the therapist sitting there, who is skilled at helping people, I was afraid to truly open up to that therapist of who I am and what I was going through.
Speaker 1:And so, like a lot of people and a lot of men, I thought this is something that I could fix on my own. When I had these feelings of I want to take my life, I would say not today, let's wake up tomorrow fresh, let's figure this out on our own today. Let's wake up tomorrow fresh, let's let's figure this out on our own. When I had that screaming match fight with my girlfriend, I'd wake up the next day and say this isn't right. Um, let's fix this like, let's get by this and not let this happen again. But it, you know, in the same way, I was playing the narrative in my head. The narrative that I was telling myself on the outside of myself was it was an act, it was lies and uh, and deep down, I knew I couldn't fix it, but I kept trying to convince myself that I could. And then, when you realize that you're not going to fix it and you're in these moments where you're too afraid to open up, then you just think to yourself I think the best thing for me is to take my life, because if this is who I am in the living and it's not going to get any better than this, then what's the point? So you asked the turning point.
Speaker 1:I was in these moments and I was real close to taking my life and it was not too far from my 40th birthday. So when I was in these moments where I was like, okay, let's find the strength which is a strange word to use when you're trying to take your life I would have these flashes of seeing my mom, my dad, stepdad or my nephew and niece would come up a lot and I'd just think to myself, how does my brother explain to them what happened to their uncle? And so that in itself would stop me in that moment. And then I would cry myself to sleep and I'd wake up the next day and I would tell myself you were close. Next time probably will be the moment that you actually can follow through, because you seem to be getting close to that point.
Speaker 1:And as I was close to that, you know my family and friends had a decision to I was turning 40. They wanted to put on a pretty big birthday party for me and I was like, wow, that's cool. I've never really I've had birthdays, but nothing like this big. But 40 is a pretty big birthday. So that was the plan and from there they put on this incredible event. It was about 50, 60 people at my father's house in the backyard Bluegrass band, barbecue, the works, just an amazing event. And I remember telling myself going to that birthday hey, make the best of it, put all the crap, leave it at the door, go in, enjoy yourself, because there is a good chance this may be your last birthday there is a good chance this may be your last birthday.
Speaker 1:Let's fast forward a few hours into that party where, literally, the party was just filled with all these people and love and excitement. I remember just looking around and thinking to myself wow, how can someone who has so much love in his life constantly think about taking his life? How can the person that I am not look to get help? I owe it. I owe it to these people that love me to fight.
Speaker 1:And then I thought to myself I don't want these people the next time they gather to be my funeral, and so that really I remember kind of giving a thank you speech at my birthday and you know, even like now, like I was able to be an actor back then very exuberant, and I remember the speech I was almost somber, like I felt this guilt, just that was like washing over me as I looked at everybody that I could possibly do something to myself that would change the course of all their lives. That would bring a lot of pain.
Speaker 1:And I just, I struggled with that. So I came out of that party and I literally said to myself what are you doing and what can you do to hopefully prevent this? Because you've never given yourself a shot. You've never, you've never like made it a reality to ask for help or to like get into therapy and really put the work in. You've never invested in yourself, you've never looked at yourself in the mirror and said I can find a way to navigate through this darkness and find some light. And so, from there, it was time for me to take some steps to say all right, so what is it? What's the next step? What are you going to do?
Speaker 1:I knew for about jeez man, 18 to 20 years, I had been in the restaurant industry not a great industry for someone who struggles with mental health, not a great industry for someone who deals with insecurities and especially deals with narcissistic behavior. And so I knew right away I need to get away from this industry. Yeah, like, but I also had this deep feeling that I had to get away from everyone. I was like you need to take yourself out of these surroundings, around the cushion of family and friends, people that you can lean into, people that you're lying to like you need, almost, in a way, a reset which, looking back still to me, is really wild to all of a sudden have this awakening and think let's not baby step into this. Let's think what are ultimate things, what are all ins, what's the biggest leap you can take? And I still didn't know.
Speaker 1:But I started doing research online. I literally Googled how to restart your life at 40. I love telling the story. You get these advertisements in Google right away $1,500. This program will change your life in three weeks and I was like three weeks. I could be different in three weeks. I didn't spend the $1,500.
Speaker 1:But, when I was doing the research I happened to see that Robert Redford made an announcement that he was making Bill Bryson's book A Walk in the Woods into a movie and this kind of just sparked something real quick.
Speaker 1:I was like I read that book in my early 20s. A buddy of mine gave me this book and said it's inspirational, it's funny, it's up this peaks and valleys, you should check it out. And so I was like I'm going to go pick that book up because like I could use some inspiration. Like I I kind of remember what it's about but like I remember I remember thinking that was a really cool book and I could probably use something just to kind of bring some light into my life and make me smile and inspire me. And so I did. I went out and I picked that book back up and I started reading.
Speaker 1:And if you don't know about the Walk in the Woods, it's a book that Bill Bryson wrote half fiction, half real where he writes about his discovery of the Appalachian Trail, 2,200 mile footpath from Georgia to Maine. He was a professor up in Dartmouth, new Hampshire, and the trail was literally right outside his backyard and he would be washing dishes and he'd see these hikers going back and forth. And finally he said what is going on back there? And he headed out and he saw this sign that said Appalachian Trail, georgia a bunch of miles that way, maine, more miles that way. And so he wrote about it. He got kind of infatuated with understanding why would people ever want to walk that far? And once he started really doing his own research and discovering it sparked something in him. And there's this passage that he talks about. And at this point Bryson was a professor at Dartmouth, he had already been a really well-established writer and known family, all great things. But he says that he still had some things within him that he needed answers to, that he was still seeking answers for. And essentially he says maybe a long walk would help me find those answers.
Speaker 1:And I read that and it hit me hard. It struck me in such a way and I kept reading and I said why not me? Bryson had never really hiked at all and I had no experience with hiking. I often say my jungles were. I ran a nightclub in Times Square for two years. That's about as far as jungle as I've gotten to.
Speaker 1:But in the same way I said this isn't about what you've experienced. This isn't about understanding of nature. This is about what you need for yourself, and maybe you just need to take some time to walk and be in a place that seems to really inspire people and uplift people. Because now I'm deep diving myself and I'm reading blogs and I'm watching videos, and there's this common theme of what nature's done for me for the better, and I'm like, well, I need a long walk and I need that.
Speaker 1:And so I had the moment I woke up and I said I'm going to go hike the Appalachian Trail. I'm like, wow. And so it felt great. And then I was like now I got to go tell everybody I'm going to go hike the Appalachian Trail. Whoa. And as you can imagine, as I started talking to family and friends, everybody was like what? You're going to quit your career, you're going to go buy a backpack, you're going to fill it with essentials and you're going to go walk from Georgia to Maine, yep.
Speaker 1:And so it wasn't as simple as that. I still wasn't ready. I still wasn't ready to open up fully. But I said enough. I told my mom, I told my dad, stepdad and family. I said, look, I'm not really quite sure what I'm doing with my life. I run bars and restaurants and for me, you know, I don't feel fulfilled. I'd like to believe, when it's all said and done, that I've left something on this planet that will be remembered, and I want to go find what that is because I'm struggling in senses with who I am. And I want to go find what that is because I'm struggling in senses with who I am and I want to have a better understanding of who not only who I am, but more so who I can be and I think I need a walk to do so.
Speaker 1:And it took a few days for everybody to kind of digest that. But you know my dad in the same way. He jumped right online, started researching the Appalachian Trail. Like literally a day after we talked, he goes. You know what man this, the Appalachian Trail. You know, like literally a day after we talked, he goes. You know what man. This seems really amazing Like, let's do it, let's do it. He was like let's do it. I was like are you coming? No, no, no, no, let's do it. My dad is fully invested in my hiking life. He even has the triple crown AT stickers on his car. People go you've done that, he goes. No, my son has, but I technically I feel like I have.
Speaker 3:Proud dad.
Speaker 1:And so you know it wasn't right away, but it was. You know I prepared myself and roughly three months after this decision was made, like I said, I took the Amtrak down to Georgia with a backpack, made my way to Springer Mountain, got to the peak and turned around and said it's time to walk to Maine and I started walking. I started walking, wow.
Speaker 2:Jesse, thanks so much for sharing all of that and just the vulnerability of opening up your story, and I'm just thinking as I'm hearing you for our listeners. So much of what started in your journey are just some of those just very normal daily things of like you know, I've got kids that do sports and lose games and they come home in tears over those things. Or you know relationships that fall apart or those kind of things Like, yeah, how did you start to recognize that there was something deeper?
Speaker 2:than just a frustration or a disappointment.
Speaker 1:It just felt like a seed that was always in me, you know, and that water seemed to just keep flowing on that seeding and letting this grow.
Speaker 1:You know, it wasn't so much festering Like I said, this is something that I carried with me for a long time and and look, I'm going to be.
Speaker 1:I'd love to be really honest with you because I'm starting to talk about this and and the first step that I that I've taken recently is to sit with my family and talk about it, who have been in the dark when I, when it comes to the struggles that I have endured and and and where the darkness come from, and honestly it's it hasn't been said out loud yet, but I'm taking those steps now and it's beautiful that I have people in my corner that support me and encourage me to do this.
Speaker 1:So I'm not quite ready to give the details out, but I did go through many years in my early childhood of childhood trauma, and so I've always recognized that. I've always known it was the root of the issues that I was facing. When you go through this type of trauma, obviously you're not naturally being wired as a child and growing into the way that you're supposed to learn things, you're taught things, you're wired in a sense, and it's tough to deal with that wiring when you're not developed right, when you're a child and you're confused and you're scared and you think the worst of if you said I don't like this or I need help.
Speaker 1:You know like. You think that you'll get in trouble. You'll think that your parents would be so you.
Speaker 1:You can create a lot of different things in your mind, to to tell yourself don't speak up, don't open up about this stuff, and that was me and, honestly, as I'm telling you this, this is something that I've really decided to really open up about over the last few months, and it's so it's.
Speaker 1:It's been 50 years of me not speaking openly about my entirety, who I am and why I've been on this, this, this journey of life, and and what has caused darkness compared to what has caused light. So when you ask that question, I I'm aware of where it started. You know it's not an excuse. I don't use it as an, as an excuse, right like but it's certainly a massive part of what I've been through and and and. In the same sense, when you go through, um, when you go through trauma as a child and you're afraid to talk, to talk about it, it's no different than when you struggle as an adult with mental health and you're still afraid to talk about it. Look, I'm opening up about this, I'm telling you my story, but there are a lot of people who aren't telling their story, and that kind of goes back to what we're doing with Hike the Good.
Speaker 1:Hike, right is trying to encourage and inspire people to talk openly about the things that they've been through but, more importantly, find those, whether it's family, whether it's friends, whether it's community, whether it's therapists, whether it's groups, to find that place that you're comfortable finally taking those steps to open up, because it is and I can tell you from every step that I've taken and what I've opened up about, and definitely specific to what I've just recently talked to my family about the weight that you lift off your shoulder is immense. Yeah, just.
Speaker 1:Yeah, even though it's challenging and hard, it's an incredible feeling to be able to let it go, absolutely Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well.
Speaker 2:I think, what we know and what you know and what you're finding even more, is that when you shine light onto darkness, that's where you can change the power. Right, right, right, that's where you can change that dynamic. So, again, thank you for sharing that. I'm so sorry to hear that those things happened to you. Again, as you think about our listeners and viewers, what would you encourage maybe family members, parents, those people who are looking in on you and your story as they're seeing people in their life where they think something's off, something's not right? What would your encouragement be to them of how should they engage into the story and effectively?
Speaker 1:Yeah, listen, I wish there was a blueprint for how that goes.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think every situation is different and I think that's why it's really important the work that I'm doing and what I'm trying to create with Hike the Good Hike because what I do understand is there are a lot of people out there who don't have anybody to talk to.
Speaker 1:I've told you about my family in this podcast incredibly beautiful, supportive family, and it took me 50 years to finally come completely clean with them, and that's with people who love me to death, and I probably knew that they would support me, but I was still afraid they wouldn't. So imagine the people out there who really don't have that, and that's a lot of people. And so they're seeking, they're seeking, they're seeking a place to find at least a little bit of light, like you said, some answers, or just a place to feel comfortable, being able to say some things, and it doesn't all have to be all at once, right, like I've baby stepped everything. Like I told you before the AT I just said, I just need to have an understanding of who I am and what I'm supposed to be doing with my life, and then the next step is after the Appalachian Trail. It was still a year and a half later until I actually said to my family I was suicidal. These are the things that I was dealing with.
Speaker 1:This is how I treated women. Like that was a challenge in itself and you know my family was surprised because I was able to hide it. I was a great actor back then and so like. And then, obviously, like, I went through that and talked a little bit more about some of the personal things that I was going through and then recently opened up about these things, and so what I would say is it doesn't all have to come at once.
Speaker 1:Like, what I've recognized is that little by little, when you speak about things that you're trying to kind of navigate and understand about yourself and ultimately change for the better, the little things can really feel big. When you're able to say a little thing, you might be holding on to a lot, but when you're even a little part of those things that you're holding on, when you're able to say that out loud, there's just this massive feeling of goodness. Like it's the feeling and the relief that you feel is so much bigger than the small thing that you're letting out. So letting little by little out, it adds up to life-changing experiences.
Speaker 1:I don't think I can find a better way to say that it's freedom. It's freedom. That's a great way to put it.
Speaker 3:I'm so grateful that your family was there for you through it all too, and I mean what a pleasure it is to even speak to you today, just knowing that there's another. There could have been a different reality right. And you're impacting others because of it.
Speaker 1:You know, if you don't mind, I'm lucky, I know it's, I know it's. I have a hard time really grasping who I was to the steps that I took to become who I am now. Like I, I can look back at the last 10 years and still be like, ah, really, I did that. Like it's hard for me to understand. I think, matt, you had this question earlier and it kind of triggered like another response for me. But I think when you've given up on yourself and you've lived so many years of giving up on yourself to even get to that start of the Appalachian Trail was such a monumental success for me that I actually followed through with something that was usually not the case with me. I never followed through.
Speaker 1:I want to go hide in the corner.
Speaker 1:I don't want to challenge myself in any ways, but even just to get down there was so incredible for me and I was like, wow, when I took these steps, like those first steps, I was thinking to myself you're in Georgia, you're about to walk to Maine.
Speaker 1:Man, like you're doing this dude, like this is happening. And I remember thinking, wow, a month ago you wouldn't have done this, you couldn't have done this, you would have found that corner to go crawl into and now, a month later, you're walking 2,200 miles and when you have had this, oh just this feeling of never really believing in yourself and to have that brief moment of I do believe in myself, I do believe that I can move forward. It's really incredible that hiking is the thing that I found, because it's all I really care about. I always just want to move forward in all ways, in all aspects of life. I'm just trying to move forward and navigate life the best I can, and it's weird that hiking was the thing that helped me discover not only that I wanted to do that, but I could do it.
Speaker 2:Yes, right, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So take us back to that, that hike moment again of what you found and then how that led you to. This is what I'm giving my life to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I started realizing, understanding that I had to really strip myself down to my core and I don't want to say rebuild. I think there was a lot of discovery of the person that I actually was. I mean, there was part of me. I was a good runner. I mean I knew how to train and I knew how to outkick people. I could persevere. It was there, it was in me. I just had to tear myself down to kind of to find it, to really find it.
Speaker 1:Yeah and so you're moving forward like the whole, the whole. I was teaching myself a whole new way of life and almost thinking to myself a new way of life is what I need. Blind leap is what I need I'm. I'm a guy that grew up in the Boston area, lived in New York City, ran bars and nightclubs. I'd rather be sitting at Fenway Park drinking cold beer and now I'm in the middle of nowhere carrying my life in a backpack, meeting people very different than who I am, and I am taking on something that's going to be there's no way to put it other than this that is going to teach me daily lessons. There will never be a day that comes on trail where I'm not learning something new, whether it's about the world, people or myself. I am relearning how to be a human being, and that is going to play a significant role as I take this trek. Just learn, take it all.
Speaker 1:In the first time I ever slept in a tent night, one on the Appalachian Trail. I was a newbie oh gosh, how'd that go? I hiked with the crew for the first month and a half these guys and I remember about a month after we started, one of them said can I tell you something, man, I was watching you night one trying to set that tent up. I go, this guy's going to be done in three days and I said, well, we're a month in now, so no turning back. And so, yeah, it was all very interesting lessons, but I was thriving, I was enjoying it. You know, it beat me up, it was the greatest challenge of my life. It still is. No matter how many hikes I take on, there will never be the Appalachian Trail, because it was new to me. It was the walk that saved my life. And so, as I learned these lessons as I went along in there, there's some really important lessons, really, about understanding that the trail, mother Nature, was going to challenge me. She wasn't going to hand me anything.
Speaker 1:I had to earn who I wanted to be and what I wanted to take out of this trail, and it took me six months. I hiked for six months on the Appalachian Trail and half a year living in wilderness, sleeping in a tent, dirty a bear down to here. I started at 181 pounds, I finished at 128. Wow, I literally stripped myself down, literally, literally. And it was the last day that I was climbing Katahdin, which is the ending of the Appalachian Trail, and the group that I was hiking with then we had been hiking together for about two months and I just said, hey guys, I'm going to take about an hour to myself to just hike on my own.
Speaker 1:I want to, really want to reflect on what these six months have meant to me, and so I took that time, and, you know, the first thing I said was you know, thank you, thank you to the Appalachian Trail, thank you to the universe. You guided me here. You knew what I needed. You put this book back in my hands for the second time in my life. You showed me a path, and I think it always was trying to show me a path my whole life.
Speaker 1:I look back now and there was all these little moments of nature that I was interested and intrigued by, but I never followed through and it just kept peppering me with signs and signs and signs until I finally listened.
Speaker 1:And so the second thing that I said, after all these thank yous, was you know, I understand something here. You showed me these incredible lessons. You showed me who I am and who I'm capable of being, but what I do understand is you didn't do this to keep to myself. In a sense, you want me to take what I've learned and share it with the world, because we all know that there are many and we mean many millions of people that are currently standing in the shoes that I was standing in six months ago. Yeah, and they need to find something. They need some help, and so I promised to the trail I'm going to dedicate my life to finding a way to share this, share what you've taught me, share my story, and I'm going to make something of it and I'm going to use it to the best of my ability to help people who are struggling with mental illness.
Speaker 2:That's beautiful Wow. It's really cool. Very cool, very cool. So then talk to us about launching hike the good hike and, um, yeah, just some of what you've experienced because you hike you, you found it in 2022, so you've been going for a few years now. So, yeah, just talk to this a little bit about how things have been going and what you've found through this journey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I wanted to keep hiking after the at. I said, man, yeah, I don't want to, I'm okay with Fenway Park, I've been there a lot, I don't need it anymore, you know. And then, and so I'm back in Boston and I'm like let me, you know, there are three major trails in the United States the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail. The United States the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail. So I take on the AT and now the seed is planted. Ooh, there are two other big ones, and if you hike all three, it's called the triple crown of hiking, and very few people have done it. I want to do that, and so the next thing I was gearing up for was the Pacific Crest Trail, and that was the next track I took on, and that's a 2,650 mile hike that I started at the Mexican border and I hiked across California, oregon and Washington to the Canadian border, and I knew the lessons that were going to come, and now it was time for me to understand how can I use this? And I did what most people do I got on social media and I started posting daily from my treks and I started talking about what these treks had meant to me, and you know, in 2017, I started talking about my mental health. I said it's time for me to really open up and I started telling my story through social media and I was writing and I was blogging and I was saying you know, this is who I was prior to hiking. This is how I found my way to hiking and this is what hiking is doing for me in my mental health. I'm stronger than I ever thought I could be. I understand that I can take things on and these challenges I may not overcome them every time, but I know how to work with challenges and find my way through them. And I just found a way to openly talk about it. And my following was picking up and people were coming out of nowhere and in my dm saying oh man, I came across you today. I needed to hear this. I needed like this is the stuff that I need. You know we, the world needs and you're like, wow, this is the promise I made. This is like I'm taking those steps. It's working. And so the hiking was a massive part, obviously, of everything I did, and so, with the last 1,300 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.
Speaker 1:Beforehand, I started talking to an organization called the Youth Mental Health Project and I talked to the founder and I said hey, I'm this person who really wants to grow as a mental health advocate. I want to use my hiking to really bring awareness to mental health. I'd like to raise some money with these 1300 miles. And it's almost like a test run because I think I have the makings of a nonprofit. I just want to see if I can gain attention and raise money and do some good with it. And so I offered to raise money for their organizations and we would work together. And the first thing she said is what's the catch? I go, there's no catch. I'm going to go walk 1300 miles, I'm going to raise as much money as I can and it's all going to your organization. And she goes well, of course.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're happy, yeah, happy, yeah, come on, let's do it yeah, and uh, I came out of that raising just over thirty thousand dollars for the youth mental health project. Wow and uh, that's when I knew I was like hey man yeah I don't.
Speaker 1:I still don't know what you're gonna build with hike the good hike, but you've got something here, like you're, you're following through with your promise. Like, keep following through. And um, I continued on and I started hike the good hike. It was still with like a vague idea of what I wanted. I knew I wanted it to mirror my experience of the appalachian trail. I wanted I wanted to create something where I could say we are here to help people create their journey through hiking or anything. Honestly, we're going to expand out.
Speaker 1:We want to help mountain bikers, runners, kayakers we're here for everyone. But I said I want to be able to help create that story. I want to tell that story through our platform and I want to inspire. I want something that's going to inspire. And so I created it and I was like all right, we're going to figure out the details of it while we're deep in it and in 2023, I hiked 5,000 miles for my organization and to bring attention to mental health and, look, it was a worthy cause.
Speaker 1:We did well with it. We didn't do great with it, but I think when you start an organization, there's going to be a lot of growing pains and hard lessons. I've definitely been going through them since we've started Peaks and valleys. I try to do a lot of things on my own, but these lessons are important and, again, there are a lot of struggles within that stuff that I'm like well, thank goodness, I've learned how to persevere, because you need that when you're trying to create businesses that you don't have much of an understanding of. I just knew I had a root of something great and the last few months have been awesome. Man, we've really like.
Speaker 1:I understood that I needed to bring on people that had a really good understanding of nonprofit work and I have this incredible small team that has been working with me for the last year, in the same sense that I kind of stripped myself down and rebuilt myself. We did that with the organization, but staying true to its core. And now we're in this place where I talked earlier, like we have this first major programming being launched. We're talking to other organizations and programs in the country to partner up with, help each other, because I ultimately I push really hard through the narrative of my organization that it's not just finding yourself to nature but it's finding the community within nature. That's really beautiful, the community within nature. That's really beautiful. Because, honestly, if I took that hike on and I was, all by myself, for 2200 miles I don't think.
Speaker 1:I think some things definitely would have changed, but not in the way that they did, because what I didn't realize is how important the community of hiking was going to be in this journey of mine, and having these people and having the beauty around me and learning. Having these people and having the beauty around me and learning from other people and seeing people go through very similar things but things that are very different, but ultimately, we're all trying to find, yes, ways to improve ourselves and our well-being, and that's been incredibly important to me.
Speaker 1:So I I love the concept of partnering with other organizations and programs, because we don't want to try to do it on our own, we want to try to do it together, especially when it comes to chipping away at the stigma of mental health. That takes more than a village. It takes an army. And you know, hike the Good Hike. Our goal is to become the leader of developing that army, so to speak.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, and I love. What just seems so obvious to me is you have this common thread of community throughout your entire journey and story. Right a really dark place and holding and hiding things, you still had this amazing family that were supporting you that threw this party for you that was kind of this wake-up call, and now the hiking community, and now the organizations around you, so obviously clearly so much power in what it? Means to have community around you.
Speaker 1:Massively, massively. Yeah, I wouldn't say one is more important than the other. They're hand in hand, they're both needed. I need community, I need nature. Those things are instrumental into my mental health and this is really important to say, because I have to be clear about this Hiking is a part of my therapy, it's not the whole part.
Speaker 1:It showed me, this is as far as we can take you. Now it's up to you to take the bigger steps to better your mental health. And so then I was able to get into therapy and really invest in myself and the work that I had to put in. Then I did join online men's groups to talk openly about what I've been through in my trauma. It showed me that I could take those steps and take them very seriously along the way.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I appreciate you saying that. That's great. Okay, so you, as we're wrapping up here, you have a project on your website. I saw the trailer. I'm so excited about this. It's called Lowest to Highest. You are about to embark on another amazing journey in the fall of this year with a film crew to do a documentary. So tell us about this thing. What are you guys doing?
Speaker 1:still figuring it out well, no, it's just, it's surreal. It's just, yeah, it's surreal. You guys just heard my story, man, right like 10 years ago I I was trying to set a tent up thinking I could hike 2200 miles, and now we're making a movie and so it's called L2H, lowest to highest, and it's 150 mile trail from Death Valley, which is the lowest lowest point, 240 feet under sea level in the lower 48.
Speaker 1:And we hike to the peak of Mount Whitney, which is the highest peak in the lower 48 of four, almost 14,600 feet. Almost 14,600 feet. And so it's myself and two other hikers, Lolo and Jocelyn. The three of us have really compelling stories of struggles with mental illness and identity and finding our way to hiking.
Speaker 1:And so Andy Lobb is the filmmaker, three-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker, considered one of the best outdoor filmmakers in the country. Emmy-nominated filmmaker, considered one of the best outdoor filmmakers in the country. It's going to be. You've got to go look up Andy Lobb and look at some of his work to truly get an understanding. The beauty of what Andy can do is he uses nature as a background, which is really wild to think, because nature is always going to be more than just a background. Nature is something else and it's and it and it's on its own, it. You can just. You know, I always think about um sunday morning on I think it's abc. I think they always do like the last minute of the show. They just do a nature scenery with no, no sound. There's just the sound of nature, but no one's speaking and so that's what I always think of nature.
Speaker 1:Nature can be its movie. You don't need anybody talking about it.
Speaker 1:But we're using that and what Andy does is he's really incredible at using basically nature as the stage and telling very compelling human peace stories, and so that's what we're doing. We're telling our story as we take this hike on. It's going to be a full-length feature movie. We are having incredible conversations. We've got major companies behind us z packs, which is probably one of the biggest ultralight companies, uh, hiking companies in the world, hoka shoes hoka shoes, which has been really important to my journey the last few years, and they've been very supportive of hike the good hike, amongst some other companies.
Speaker 1:um, but yeah, we filmed that the last two weeks of October and it'll be, released in 2026 and we'll be doing a 15 to 20 screening tour and hopefully we're going to try to get it premiered at one of the major film festivals in the US. So it's surreal, man, it's just awesome, yeah, congrats. Thank you. Thank you, it should be fun.
Speaker 2:That is so, so cool. And here I'm going to say give a quick another plug on the Warsaw Growth Summit. You are coming off the mountain from this lowest to highest movie Straight to Warsaw. Straight to Warsaw to come speak at the Growth Summit. That's true. I just think you can't miss this event because I imagine you're gonna have a few stories that you're gonna be, uh, coming in.
Speaker 1:Pretty sure he's gonna roll in with his backpack. I was wondering, maybe you guys should tell me and I talked to keith but should I like keep the beard and everything? Should I look this, this? Should I literally look like I came off trail? Should I? Should I clean up a little bit?
Speaker 3:oh man, no, I'll let Keith make the final call, but I'm leaning towards go for it.
Speaker 2:Man Like I think, just come in, yeah Be gristy with it.
Speaker 1:I think that's awesome, because this is very clean for me. I'm a very different human when I'm coming off a trail. That's so funny.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. That's so good.
Speaker 2:That's so good, that's so good.
Speaker 3:We'll have to get a photo before and after Before and after there you go.
Speaker 2:Well, jesse, thank you so much for your time, for your vulnerability with us. Your story is just so, so powerful and meaningful, so just grateful to meet you and can't wait to meet you in person here later this year. How should people connect with you if they've heard something here today and they're like I want to know more. I want to connect with Hike the Good Hike. How should they connect?
Speaker 1:with you. Yeah well, it's pretty easy, right? It's hikethegoodhikeorg. That's our website. Tons of information there. And then social media. Instagram is where we're most prominent, and that that's. At hike the good hike as well, the team is doing incredible things to showcase what we're talking about, how we're putting it out to the world. And, you know, people should really really get involved, especially if anybody out there is listening who's thinking oh man, I've really always wanted to take on a lawn hike. We're going to be launching the applications and nominations for the 10 hikers this fall and it's the requirements. There's a bunch, but if you're hiking 250 miles or more, come talk to us and if you think we can help you, we would love to chat with you. And if you're a writer, if you're a filmmaker, if you're an influencer however you like to tell your story, we can work with that Awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, Jesse, thank you so much. We really appreciate you.
Speaker 1:Thanks, guys, I appreciate you. Having me on it means a lot.
Speaker 2:And to all of our listeners and viewers. Thank you so much for joining us for another episode of Stories that Move. We'll see you next time. Thank you for joining us for this episode of Stories that Move brought to you by Dream On Studios.
Speaker 4:Make sure to subscribe so that you don't miss the next episode. And remember, if you or your organization have a story you're eager to share with the world, Dream On Studios is here to bring that story to life.
Speaker 2:Don't hesitate to reach out. You can find us on LinkedIn, instagram, facebook or visit our website at dreamonstudiosio. We understand how overwhelming it can be trying to bring your vision and story to life, but that's why we exist, and we've walked alongside hundreds of clients doing that very thing.
Speaker 4:Yeah we believe every story has the potential to inspire, to move and to make a difference. Let's make yours heard.
Speaker 2:Until next time, keep moving forward and keep telling those stories that matter. Take care everyone. We'll see you next time on Stories that Move.