Aug 26, 2026
Strength in Community
The strength to keep going. The wisdom to stop.
One of my favorite things about b-untethered is what happens after the trip is over.
This past weekend, four women who met on b-untethered adventures in Patagonia and Kilimanjaro between one to three years ago decided to reconvene.
They have all spoken of the transformative nature of that first trip. For many of them, it was their first experience on a multi-day trekking adventure and it changed their life. It made them feel empowered and opened their eyes to what they are capable of.
This weekend, they came to New Hampshire, stayed at my house, and took on the Presidential Traverse together. This time, they planned it themselves. I went along for two days.
It was everything you want in an adventure: beautiful mountains, a hut-to-hut experience, ridiculously good food, laughs from trip mishaps and nightly skits performed by the hut staff. And, of course, some very hard hiking.
The second day turned into a 12-hour day on the trail. I had left them in the morning to return to work, and then was intending to connect with them again at the Zealand Falls Hut on the Appalachian Trail the next night. When I found them, they were tired. Really tired. But they kept going, encouraging one another and reminding themselves that we can do hard things.
What is most interesting is this real life application of what Dr. Robert Waldinger – a Harvard professor and one of Time magazine’s top picks for Longevity expertise – says about “community”. Dr Waldinger has studied the effect of relationships on aging and suggests that – more than cholesterol levels or blood labs – the strength of our relationships determine whether we’ll be healthy at age 80.
The Harvard Study of Adult Development followed people across their entire adult lives, measuring not only their relationships and emotional wellbeing, but also their physical health—using everything from medical records and blood tests to stress hormones and brain scans.
And one finding keeps showing up: people with stronger relationships tend to stay healthier and live longer.
I see this played out again and again with women on our adventure trips. Women live longer – yes – but we’re also community-focused; partnered.
So- whether your life is running smoothly, or there are large bumps in the road, don’t overlook the biggest asset you have – your girlfriends, sisters, aunts, nieces. They just might be the missing piece that pulls you through.
