Life's a lot like a wintertime night trail run. The dangers out there are real - very real. But if we act like a Boy Scout, plan ahead and prepare (and act accordingly), most things just aren't as serious as our minds can make them out to be.

That's my hope for the current environmental crisis. If we can plan ahead, prepare, and change our actions to reflect greater human health and environmental sustainability, we can turn this ship around, and make these issues less serious than they are looking right now.

Today, I present to you three stories of businesses that are trying to create business solutions to human and environmental health. Many of you know that I have a natural aversion to business - I just feel that so often the objective of businesses is to sell people stuff that they don’t need. So at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market, I really focused on finding the companies that are doing something more, something bigger. Companies that are genuinely helping people lead better, healthier, happier, more productive lives and who, in doing so, are working to help solve the environmental crisis. These are them.

First up was Scott Baker from Icebox Knitting speaking about Xob. By using scraps and bits from old wool items that would have otherwise ended up in the landfill, Xob is able to make beautiful, sustainable clothing. Seriously consider getting some of their stuff for your next winter hat rather than a new item from a company that isn't B-Corporation certified.

Second was Kevin Brodwick from ThinkBaby and ThinkSport. It's so important that we are using clean products - products that don't have chemicals in them that can disrupt our hormonal balance - which I consider to be one of the most important factors in who we are. Kevin's companies are providing that.

And lastly, we had Beth and Sherry from Trust Your Journey. I've often said that everybody needs a community - you will never outperform your inner circle! Trust Your Journey is providing that community for people who need it the most. Positive energy has some amazing, sometimes unexplainable healing powers, and Sherry gives one description of those powers.

Join us! Episode 022:

Want to design your life around the outdoors? Look into starting a bike shop. CJ tells us his story today, including his career before bikes, soul-searching on sailboats, and finally opening his shop and having a former squatter in the building become his first 'employee' at Flagstaff Bicycle Revolution.

All of the music today was from Diamond Down String Band - CJ's work on the banjo makes their music come alive! Diamond Down is currently touring and looking to put out their first album - if you like their stuff you can get your hands on an album and other extras here!

Episode 015:

Close your eyes for a few seconds and take a deep breath, then come back and read this.

Back? OK, now imagine you are in the Himalayas hiking through deep snow drifts. You are cold, but the air is pure and refreshing. As you take another deep breath, you see in the distance a small wooden structure.

Upon arriving at the structure, you realize it is an abandoned Yurt. You open the door and peer inside, and find that high mountain flowers are growing. Close your eyes and take another deep breath, and take in the smell of the flowers and the old wood mixing together.

That's where Adventure Tea's Himalayan Oolong comes from, and what it makes you feel like. I have verified it.

Alex Davis, the founder of Adventure Tea, tells his story of creation in this interview. He also gives us some descriptions of the varieties of tea that Adventure Tea offers ... beware, though - your mouth may water a bit.

During the interview, we enjoyed some smooth, floral Hawaiian Volcano Green Tea, and as I write this now I am enjoying the transcendent Himalayan Oolong Tea. Yesterday I had "The Champane of Teas" - the Washington State White. Can I say WOW!?

The beautiful designs on the tea box labels were created by Saskia Bailey, and copy is done by T.J. Lowther. They make for great house decorations after you drink your tea!

Make sure to head over to Adventure-Tea.com for the inspiration and this amazing tea alike.

Episode 013:

This time of year, like most Americans I think, I try to take some extra time to think about what I am grateful for. I talk about this a lot, but gratitude itself is actually a powerful lifehack - it has been shown scientifically to help you get better sleep, reduce stress, have better eating habits, and even reduce your feelings of physical pain.
    I try to take advantage of this nice little fact, so I keep a ‘gratitude journal’ next to my bed - I start every day by taking two minutes to write down three things I am grateful for.
    Items on my gratitude lists this year include:
 my awesome family,
Danielle who is a little kid at heart and is the best girlfriend ever,
rocks
my mom who is the best mom ever in the world
Springs and Colorado for being the best otters / spirit animals in the world
a place to lay my head every night,
Springs not being mad that I was sleeping on top of him
opensource knowledge to learn with
Leaves and trees and streams and groves
the fact that that squirrel at our backcountry campsite didn’t eat our bacon that one morning
the ability to chase my passions
the chance to do something meaningful in life
my body which is in perfect working condition
delicious food that provides life and health
plants in my house
Fall time of year
Aspen trees
National Parks
Coffee shops
Yerba mate
butter
birds who sing
cold showers
farmers markets
a shot at changing the world
This year, though, seems markedly different from years past; I find only one consistent theme from year to year: freedom.

In my youngest of years I had a lot to be thankful for, but not that much that I was aware of. I should have been most thankful for my mom and dad’s love and guidance, but I was more thankful for the freedom they gave me on Thanksgiving Day to eat as much as I wanted. I would usually head straight for my Gran’s famous cherry coke salad - a wonderously sugary cherry jello made with coke instead of water, and topped with pecans and real cherries. Well, they were real from a can, but hey, I was 8 so I thought they were delicious.

As I reached High School, I continued to treasure the freedom of eating without reserve on Thanksgiving Day, which is probably why I became a football player to begin with. But it was always a different freedom that stood out - football season was over come Thanksgiving. The whole world seemed to open up and possibilities felt limitless - time sprang from nowhere and I could play pickup football on Thanksgiving Day with my buddies - actually getting to throw and catch the ball for once, and being able to run without fear of getting injured for the season in a stupid way.

    In college, that same freedom was defining, but at a new level as football was no longer a game or even a sport, but a cut-throat business. To have the stress lifted from my shoulders and to see my family and home for the first time in months, to play with our dog, to return to everything that was normal for me was absolute freedom.

    In the post-college world, freedom seemed as if it would be easy to find as the weight of football - both metaphorically and literally - was gone. But it’s not quite so. Job logistics, financial concerns, family obligations and physical distances all do their part to try to hold you back. As I was trying to figure out how to make my freedom work, I met a great friend and mentor, Peter.
    At 58 years old, Peter has followed his passions, his obsessions, for a lifetime. He loves to teach, and he loves to ‘go home’. Home, to the Grand Canyon. Since getting home to my family was proving to be challenging, he wondered, did I want to have Thanksgiving with him in his home?
    The idea was intriguing, but it was different than my classic view of Thanksgiving. I wanted it to be just the same as it had always been - the same food, the same pickup football game, the same home.

    I guess I had a lot to learn.
    A greek philosopher said: "You can never step into the same river; for new waters are always flowing on you.
No man ever steps into the same river twice,  for it's not the same river and he is not the same man."

Peter didn’t tell me this so explicitly, but after so many dips in the cold waters of the Colorado River in his home, he conveyed the message subliminally. A few weeks later, we headed down the New Hance Trail into Red Canyon. The rest is kind of details - we camped by Hance Rapid on Thanksgiving Eve, met a River Trip taking a burn day on their 21-day rafting trip who were all-too-happy to provide us with beer and paint our faces in order to match their pilgrim and indian costumes. We brought dehydrated potatoes, real cranberry sauce, real butter, and yes, two real pumpkin pies in our backpacks with us down a vertical mile of backcountry trails to consume happily on Thanksgiving Day. We created a new song - a spin off of Mulenburg County - “Daddy won’t you take me to the Grandest of Canyons,”

    It was different than anything I had ever experienced, and it was freedom in the fullest. There is nothing like taking a poop on top of a giant spire in the biggest, most beautifully intricately carved hole in the world. Just remember to respect the place and leave no trace - yes, pack out your poop, people!

    I have been thinking about this idea of freedom a lot lately. I have made a deliberate effort in recent years to design my life around service to humanity, and around doing the things that excite me. It’s the ultimate blend of meaning to my life, and freedom. But living this way takes deliberate work. It’s not easy to give up old ideas and accept change, not easy to change the way you view the world or directly fly in the face of what society is telling you you should do. There is an adage from the Wild West: “When freedom is outlawed, only outlaws will be free.”  Freedom isn’t outlawed in the U.S., it’s what we should be most grateful for, yet I still think about that old adage. In many ways, society’s preconceptions have caused chasing your own freedom to be unconventional.  Rolf Potts notes in his excellent work Vagabonding that “The more we associate experience with cash value, the more we think that money is what we need to live. And the more we associate money with life, the more we convince ourselves that we’re too poor to buy our own freedom. With this kind of mind-set, it’s no wonder so many Americans think extended overseas travel is the exclusive realm of students, counterculture dropouts, and the idle rich.” When freedom is unconventional, only those living an uncommon life will be free.

Just as the United States has to work and fight and lay everything on the line at times, for it’s freedom, so do we as people living in the United States. For me, it’s hard to accept change, to lay everything on the line for a dream, for freedom. It’s easy to give in to social pressures or a path of ease and not chase my passions, chase those things that excite me, chase my freedom from a life of ease and drudgery. But every time I do the work to chase it, I realize it’s worth it.

    Through the Brave Monkeys Speak Podcast, I am finding out that there is a huge group of people who feel the same way - they work for what they are passionate about, what they see as a life of service to humanity, and when they get tired they renew themselves by chasing freedom through adventure, through getting out of the comfort zone and learning about themselves. We are the people who are alright with redefining ourselves, who are going to redefine the world in the process.

Thanks for joining me y’all. Until next time, be well and have happy journeys.


If you have a story of inspiration, of chasing your own freedom to share with the community, head over to adventuroushabits.com and share it with us. You can find my email in the top right corner of the site and you can sign up for the newsletter on the page that says ‘free stuff’. We can’t wait to get you on board.

Episode 011:

Music by Mike McGill and my good friend Zach Schmidt.

Today we're talking about dogs being entranced by yoga masters and my journey in using meditation to further my ability to climb and take leaps of faith in my life and business.

In Episode 003 we're talking about dogs being entranced by yoga and my journey in using meditation to further my ability to climb and take leaps of faith in my life and business.
Music by 8 Ball Aitken - big thanks!