Episode 203: Embracing a New Life in the Subarctic – Kristen Berkeley

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INTERVIEW WITH KIRSTEN BERKELEY

Sometimes adventure looks like picking up and moving 5000 miles away from your home to live in the subarctic. Four years ago, Kristen Berkeley was living in Toronto and blogging about fashion, makeup, and cooking. On a whim, she took a job in Yellowknife, a small city in the Northwest Territories of Canada. 

As a Black woman, Kristen was a bit nervous to move to a city that lacked the diversity of home, but she found herself surprised along the way. Yellowknife ended up being her gateway to incorporating the outdoors into her adventurous spirit, and she’s since started a company called Amplify Outdoors to help invite and uplift more Black, Indigenous, and People of Color into the outdoors with her.

About Kristen: Kristen Berkeley (she/her) is originally from Toronto and has been living in the Northwest Territories for nearly four years. Kristen is a former journalist that enjoys writing about social issues and outdoor lifestyles. When she’s not cooking delicious meals, Kristen can be found exploring the Northwest Territories and promoting diversity in outdoor spaces with her organization Amplify Outdoors.

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Featured in this episode: Kristen Berkeley

Hosted & Produced by Gale Straub

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Kristen Berkeley

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TRANSCRIPT

Note: This transcript was lightly edited and created using a transcription service. As such it may contain spelling errors.

Gale Straub – Narration:

This is Kristen Berkeley, founder of Amplify Outdoors. Kristen reached out to me last fall because she wanted to share her story of turning her life upside and moving to the subarctic. When we first connected, I realized that I didn’t know anything about the Northwest Territories in Canada, what it’s like to recreate there, or the kind of wildlife you might stumble across. Kristen didn’t know a whole lot either:

Gale Straub:

So how did you come to live in, in Yellowknife?

Kristen Berkeley:

I think that’s like the famous question. Everyone asks me all the time. Like what happened? <laugh> how did this happen? <laugh>

Gale Straub – Narration:

The short answer – Kristen was offered a job opportunity to work in the subarctic, but the longer answer speaks more to her nature. It wasn’t just about the job – she ended up deciding between an offer in her hometown of Toronto and this one in Yellowknife. One would turn her life upsidedown – and she chose to see what was there.

Kristen Berkeley:

It just seemed like one of the, those things where you just figure, let’s try it out. Let’s give it a chance. Cuz like how often are you gonna get the opportunity to work in the sub? So I jumped out the chance. I really didn’t even think about it. To be honest, it was like, uh, like I didn’t second guess that I was like, yes, I’m doing this. Um, and then I told all my family and friends <laugh> and they were like, oh, oh, okay. <laugh>.

Gale Straub:

So at that time you were looking for a change cuz you grew up in the Toronto area too. So this was a really big change for you.

Kristen Berkeley:

Yeah. I mean, honestly I wasn’t expecting the north. Like it’s almost like it called me because I, I wanted change. Like I knew, knew I wanted to, to leave Toronto and I wanted to live somewhere else. I just felt like I wanted to get away. I did not expect I’d be moving to the Northwest territories. I was just really trying to gain some new life experience.

Gale Straub – Narration:

Adventure takes a lot of different shapes. On She Explores, I’ve talked with women who have traversed Antarctica, climbed the 7 Summits, devoted themselves to fighting the climate crisis, find peace and tranquility painting in the outdoors. Adventure can also be taking a leap and moving almost 3000 miles from home in one of the coldest months of the year:

Kristen Berkeley:

I remember in the interview, they were telling me things because they’re like, oh, you know, we also have a summer here just so you know, like, and we also have this like I guess cuz I was also gonna be moving there in the dead of winter, which I should also highlight. And I think that they were kind of nervous that I wasn’t going to come because they know that it’s cold. I was moving there January and January is like one of the colder months

Gale Straub – Narration:

To give you some context, as I record this, it’s January 25th and the high is a balmy 7 degrees fahrenheit. On monday, the high will be -26 degrees. The average temp is -12 degrees F. I honestly don’t even think my brain can comprehend that. Kristen figured, well it’s cold in Toronto too. I’ll invest in a heavy duty jacket and I’ll be good to go. She didn’t have a lot of preconceived notions about the submarket, but she was wary on one point.

Kristen Berkeley:

Maybe the only thing that kind of briefly crossed my mind was okay, I guess I’m gonna be the only black person there. Like maybe there’s not gonna be a lot of us out here. Cause I think as a black, like I’m very aware of my visibility

Gale Straub – Narration:

Yellowknife is majority white, with a large indigenous population – 23% as of the last census in 2016. Yellowknife is in Chief Drygeese territory. From time immemorial, it has been the traditional land of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, and more recently, the homeland of the North Slave Métis Alliance. I’ve linked a resource in the show notes if you want to learn more.

Kristen Berkeley:

I think it’s definitely increased to be honest in the last couple years since living here, I’ve been living here now for almost four years, January will work my fourth year of living in the north. I can say that like when I walk down the street, I will often see other people of color and Yellowknife is kind of a more mixed demographic because uh, we have indigenous people, but we also have like other different ethnicities living here. Um, I’ve seen Asian people and there’s a Spanish community here. There’s an African community here. I believe there’s also a Caribbean community here. I don’t know too many Caribbean people here, but I know there’s quite a large African community here. I, I don’t know the exact numbers, but I kind of feel like I’m in Toronto at time. That’s how diverse I sometimes feel it is because we’re the capital. And we’re like the city. I think you have more people from like different areas coming here and staying here. Whereas I think like other communities you’re not gonna see as much diversity

Gale Straub – Narration:

Four years ago, Kristen shares that she had a very different relationship with the outdoors. She hadn’t grown up doing outdoor recreation activities like hiking or camping. Back in Toronto, she had a lifestyle blog where she wrote about fashion and makeup and cooking. Getting in the outdoors hadn’t crossed her mind, though the north held an appeal regardless. But when she arrived, she experienced short, brutally cold subarctic days for the first time. The sun rose after 9AM and set around 4pm.

Kristen Berkeley:

It definitely was like a very interesting first couple of like weeks of trying to adjust to life in the north because of the darkness. Right. And then like, you don’t really wanna like adventure as much cuz it’s cold and it’s very new. And you’re like, okay, I don’t wanna spend too much time getting like too much time outdoors of being lost. Right. And then slowly like for the first like six months of being there, I was just like, I started to like make friends and like I started going out. That was great. And then, uh, one day one of the girls was like, Hey, let’s go on a hike to Cameron falls, which is this really beautiful waterfalls in the Northwest territories in yellow knife, I should say. And I was like, okay, cool. So we go and I’m like, wow, this is really beautiful.

Kristen Berkeley:

And that was like my experience, hiking outdoors. That was the first time. And I really enjoyed it, but I didn’t like, again, really know how to know how to continue going with that. I didn’t have a vehicle at the time. And most of my friends didn’t seem to be interested in that. They were really more into like the whole restaurant kind of vibe. It took me a while. But once I started to make me more friends that were into the outdoors, I would ask them like, Hey, do you wanna go camping with me? And then that’s when like things really started rolling. And then I was like, wow, like I really enjoy this. Like I really enjoy hiking. I really enjoy camping. I really enjoy like this water activity. I just started to try different things that I had never done. And then, you know, like I just got super curious and it’s like, if I haven’t tried this and I dunno if I’m gonna enjoy it, let me do it now.

Kristen Berkeley:

And, and let’s like, give it a go and see if it’s gonna be something that I’m gonna wanna start to like participate in more often. So it started off slowly. It grew into this like big passion, like this love that I have for the outdoors. And I never would’ve imagined that I would’ve gone from like the girl, like in the city that never did anything outdoorsy at all to someone that now is like, I wanna winter hike, hike, and I wanna camp in the winter and I wanna like, well I wanna camp all year round if I can. But like, you know, like I wanna like just be outdoors all the time and like, I love it. And it’s like, <laugh> like, it’s just like such a different experience. You know? I just never would’ve thought that would’ve been who, who I am today. So yeah, it’s been really nice to kind of like see that transformation happen. You’re living in a remote community and it’s like, they built a city in the wilderness in a sense,

Gale Straub – Narration:

Yellowknife is a city of 21000 or so but it doesn’t take long to access nature, whether via trails or when it’s wandering on four legs through your backyard.

Kristen Berkeley:

You could just drive out for like 10 minutes and then you go on like a, there’s a road and it’s called the Ingram trail. There’s just like campsite and all sorts of different trails. And it’s really cool. And there’s parks and stuff that you can go to you and like fish or like do some bonfires and stuff like that. And you really do get the sense that like we’re just steps away from wilderness. And um, like my backyard, I feel like, looks like I’m in the forest or the woods, cuz it’s just, it has like a very rustic kind of look with like rocks and big rocks and you know, and lots of wood and trees and, and lots of Bush. And like, it just feels like you’re really in the forest really. We, because it’s like a city and there’s lots of people. We don’t get a, like a lot of wild animals, but we do see foxes.

Kristen Berkeley:

And sometimes, um, the summer specifically we had a lot of bears that came into town. So now we’re fan starting to see that and, and they would primarily be close to dumpsters, but I haven’t seen like wolves or anything like, like that. Although I know in some communities like they see wolves often, I know that there was, I think like a Wolverine sighting maybe a year ago, I think in a neighborhood <laugh> so there’s like different types of like you do see different animals, but I think for the most part, people feel quite safe. Uh, I’m sure in different communities, it really just differs on like the landscape and like the animals that are feeling more comfortable to come out and yeah, it it’s, it is nice to kind of just see like different things that I wouldn’t see living in a big city, if I’m on a road trip, it’s, you know, there’s a good chance I’m gonna see buys in if I’m driving in the Northwest territory.

Kristen Berkeley:

So it, it is interesting for sure. I remember going on a hike this summer and spotting, uh, a black bear on a trail that I was on and we were able to kind of like just back away and get away from the bear. But, but yeah, you definitely just never know what you’re gonna come across and you just have to be smart. Like it, there are real dangers out there and, and I’ve just been taught like very early on from one of my colleagues who told me you’re living in the wilderness. Like don’t be fooled because like a lot of people think that because they’re in the city that like, there’s no real threats, but you should be very aware, like be very careful with where you go and like let people know. And like, you kind of gave me like a rundown of like just wilderness 1 0 1, I’ve been enjoying the adventure. For sure.

Gale Straub – Narration:

We’ll hear more from Kristen about how she embraces the cold to get outside her organization, amplify outdoors, and more after this.

Gale Straub:

We’re back. So coming into your fourth, I guess it would be your fourth winter. You, if you’re entering your fourth year, what are some of the things that you do to embrace the cold? Because I think that’s something that a lot of people around the country could ease advice. <laugh>

Kristen Berkeley:

I mean, <laugh>, we’ve been definitely a lot warmer lately, to be honest, it’s been warmer weather. So I think it’s like been a little bit more shock on the bot as I’m adjusting to like the temperature change a lot here. I think like it just takes time to ease yourself into the cold. I would say like the best way for you to enjoy the outdoors. If you’re gonna spend time outdoors, this winter is to just stress appropriate for the outdoors. That’s really made a big difference for me. And that’s how I’m able spend time outdoors, like, you know, going on long hikes and stuff like that. I would just say like, make sure that you bundle up like wear layers. Um, that’s the trick to living in the north, especially in the winter, you need to layer up, have some good boots, have a, you know, some sweater, good parka and you know, cover up your face.

Kristen Berkeley:

Like I tend to cover up, uh, with a scarf and I wear a hat and, and gloves. And I think it’s just like do things that will keep you warm. Like if you need to put, there’s like these little heaters that you can put into your, um, your MITs and you can even put them into your shoes. Like I would advise doing something like that. If you wanna be extra toasty, just make sure that you like really protect yourself. I think that that will really help you and try not to. I think some people get really freaked out by the cold. And I mean, I’ve been there, done that, you know, like definitely it’s an adjustment. So like try not to go out there with like a very negative attitude, have a positive attitude about like your day and your adventure and what you’re trying to do when you go outdoors so that you can actually like enjoy your time out there and wanna continue to do it because it’s great exercise.

Kristen Berkeley:

If you get to be outside in the winter, you know, like you shouldn’t just confine yourself to being inside when it’s winter time. Because like you’re too afraid of like the cold, I think like you’re really missing out on some stuff. So really made it a point to like go out a lot last year in particular and just spend time hiking and snowshoeing and just like really being outdoors and en and embracing the winter and the cold. And I know it’s not like a very easy thing, but yeah, like just start off like very slowly. I wouldn’t say you have to do anything like too adventurous or you like long go for a, a little bit of a walk or, you know, a small, like a little small hike or something and, and just be comfortable. And, and if you need to, you can like make a little fire if it’s in a good space that you’re allowed to do something like that, you can do that and have marshmallows and, and hot chocolate. And that’s something that I do and you can enjoy it. Like you can definitely make an enjoyable experience, but I think a lot of it is your mindset about it.

Gale Straub:

Hmm. Oh, it’s such a good reminder that doesn’t have to be a suffer Fest cause yeah. You just see the temperature and you feel like it it’s going to be, but now if you have the right gear, if you, if you also, aren’t thinking about how quickly can I get back and sometimes I’ll do that. If I’m just, if you’re just trying to accelerate something so that you can get back indoors, it’s not, yeah. You might, might as well not do it. <laugh> so that’s all really good advice. <laugh> another thing that really was fascinating to me about the place that you live is, you know, you said that it took a little bit longer this year for it to get, to be, to start to feel like winter for it to, to start to get as cold as it normally gets. Um, would you be able to describe what it’s like living in a place where you might be a little more attuned to climate change than, than we are in other parts of, of north America?

Kristen Berkeley:

Yeah, for sure. The weather started to act kind of strange when I first moved here. Like I remember my first summer, it just like rained every single day for weeks. And it was strange because everyone kept talking about how beautiful the summers are and how like nice it is. And it’s usually really sunny, but it was like constantly raining and they had said it was like record amounts of rain. So that summer, for sure, I wasn’t gonna be like spending time outdoors for sure. It was like the years went by and it started to get less wet. Like we would still wet summers, but it, the sun would come up more and it was like, you could do things. I started to like, think like, okay, I think a lot of this is probably linked to climate change, but I wasn’t too sure most recently, like it’s just been getting a lot warmer and it’s really apparent that there are some IM like you can really see the impact of climate change in the north.

Kristen Berkeley:

For instance, one of the rule of thumbs is that like, by Halloween, you’re always gonna have snow on the ground. Well, this Halloween, we didn’t have snow on the ground, which is really I’m sure great for the kids, but it was very noticeable to people that like something is going on that we didn’t have snow on the ground by Halloween. It’s not as cool as a should be. And it is like concerning because we also rely on frozen lakes to travel on. So a lot of people will leave communities that they can’t like just drive out of. Uh, they usually have to fly out. So they’re called flying communities. So now a lot of people that are like relying on these roads, they’re not secure to like to drive on because they’re waiting for these frozen lakes to like turn into like solid ice so they can drive their vehicles to get to other communities or to like, you know, like leave and go wherever they need to go.

Kristen Berkeley:

So we see the impact that that can have on people that are like now just kind of like waiting for it to be secure and safe for them to like drive long distances on this frozen lake. And also it impacts things like shipping. Like if you think about like food supplies and things like that, like we have lots of trailers and like big trucks that come up here and they’re like delivering things and shipping things. But like if these lakes aren’t frozen, like it completely can impact people in terms of like their food supply and, and different things that they’re looking they’re waiting for. So yes, there are impacts and implications and people don’t realize it and I’m seeing it in the north and then we’ve even had most recently, um, we had flooding when the, um, in one of the communities, I think either when the ice started to melt it like, uh, flooded a community or there’s just maybe rising levels of water, but there’s just a lot of things that are happen.

Kristen Berkeley:

And, and I’m seeing it in the north. There are like the Northwest passage, for instance now, like there’s like these large pieces of ice, like they’re always in place and they, they’re not starting to melt. And now like cruise ships are starting to pass through and cruise ships never were able to pass through the Northwest passage like that before. It was like pretty much blocked off with these large pieces of ice. So it’s really crazy that like, you’re just seeing how much warmer it’s getting in the north. And I remember traveling to Nunavut long time ago when I was a reporter and I was talking to someone and he was telling me like, he’s starting to see things grow in places. He never saw things growing. And it was like, wow, like, you know, we just don’t realize that this planet is really starting to warm up faster and it’s really changing. And, um, and it’s concerning. And you know, there’s some communities that are completely like the water is rising, so a much faster, um, that they are, they have to move their homes because, because a fear of flooding. Right. Of, and so, yeah, like it’s, it’s, I’m definitely seeing it in the north. Like I’m definitely seeing what’s happening with the warmer weather, uh, lately and the impact it has. And it is really alarming. And yeah, I, I, I think that we’re gonna start hearing a lot more conversations about this.

Gale Straub:

Mm yeah. And it’s really good to, to share those stories, like you just shared so that more people are aware of it, because from what you told me, it can feel like you’re in a whole different area of Canada. It’s, it’s a big country for one, and then two, it’s just like a whole different lifestyle that a lot of people are living. So it can, I think you told me, it feels like the rules at times. Like, I feel like the rules don’t apply up where you are. <laugh> so it’s, it’s just good to, to share, share that far and wide when you can,

Kristen Berkeley:

For sure. Yeah. It’s definitely very different at times. It’s very much the same indifferent at times. You know what I mean, living here, I I’m noticing these things and I’m sure other people are too. And, and it’s just, it’s really concerning when, you know, you’re living somewhere and you’re like, whoa, like I like it being warm. I really do. But you do know that like, there are, there’s an impact, you know? And I feel like when I lived in a, when I lived in Toronto, I didn’t really notice things as much. Like I sometimes would say like, oh my God, it’s so hot. And it’s cuz of climate change. But I wasn’t like relying on an ice road to travel to another community. And like I used to work in a different community. So I, I too rely on that, um, ice road sometimes in the winter just to get back and forth from, you know, home to work in the morning. It is, uh, definitely you see the differences for sure. And it’s definitely an interesting culture for sure.

Gale Straub – Narration:

Kristen is someone who believes in amplifying issues that affect her and her communities. And diversity in the outdoors is no exception. You heard that she took a leap to move far from home to what she calls a city in the wilderness – a place with a growing amount of diversity but that the average person might not know a lot about if they thought about the subarctic. The outdoor recreation world is similar – there are people from all racial and ethnic backgrounds out there, but there’s a lot of work to be done to increase representation and amplification. Kristen decided to start a company, Amplify Outdoors, in 2020, to help spread the word and gather community in the outdoors. Kristen shared a bit about it with me:

Kristen Berkeley:

So I started amplify outdoors because I wanted to help promote and amplify diversity and inclusion and outdoor spaces. There are a lot of different barriers that prevent people from the bipo community. So black, indigenous and people of color from accessing the outdoors. And as a result, we’re just underrepresented in outdoor spaces. So five outdoor seeks to kind of like close that gap and create more awareness and to really promote the outdoors and make it a safe, inclusive space for everyone it’s coming close to one year, December will mark the one year anniversary. And, um, yeah, it’s been a really great, um, experience so far. I’ve found that people are very supportive and um, it’s just been really nice to grow the community and to like just see people, you know, showing a lot of passion outdoors and being able to really highlight and amplify that.

Gale Straub:

Hmm. And, and one of the ways that you amplify people of color in the outdoors is through working with designers to create merchandise. Could you tell me a little bit about that?

Kristen Berkeley:

You know, I kind of, I I’ll just say, like I kind of woke up one day and I, I was just really frustrated. I think this was because there was so much going on. This was around the time with George Floyd and black lives matter. I am sometimes, you know, like vocal about the fact that I’m unhappy with what’s going on in the world, especially when it comes to the treatment of, of black people, but of, you know, of everyone like of people from the BIPA community. And I was just frustrated. I was so upset because I, I recognized that there was this barrier outdoors for black people to be able to, um, black people and indigenous and for people of color to, um, experience outdoors and its beauty. And I don’t know if I had seen a visual or something or what happened, but I literally just like, I felt like I woke up really just, you know, like upset about the fact that this was happening.

Kristen Berkeley:

And I was like, I’m gonna make a difference. Like I’m gonna do something today. And you know, I did not expect to start this me line. It’s not at all like something that I was like, thinking would’ve happened. And I decided, you know what? I wanna create representation. I want people to feel like they can see themselves. I wanna bring like this, this issue to the forefront and really highlight this, this problem. So I decided to start a collection that I call the trailblazer collection. So it’s like the, for collection I created there’s one that’s called a trailblazer man and a trailblazer woman hoodie. And t-shirt so you can basically get the option of like a hoodie or a t-shirt, but I probably will add more items. But anyways, that was what I kind of started off with. And the idea is to see a person of color on it.

Kristen Berkeley:

So, um, depending on which one you you’re interested in, you would see like an individual of color on there, and this could be anyone really, it was just to like really highlight, uh, diversity outdoors and, and to kind of fill that gap and to kind of create that of like the lack of visibility of us or, or like, not even there. So two things, one that like it was to fill the gap that, you know, there’s like a large amount of underrepresenation from people from the bipo community outdoors, but also to highlight the people of that are outdoors already. So the people that are like from that those community to feel like, Hey, I’m important. I am visible. You can see me. And to like, to feel like really excited, like, and feel good about themselves when they’re outdoors to kind of like continue to perpetuate like, yes, this is a space that I belong in and you have that trailblazer t-shirt with that person of color on there that you can kind of look back on.

Kristen Berkeley:

Right. And, um, so what I’m doing is we’re 80 10% of proceeds from, um, the items that are sold each item that sold 10% goes back to a charity that I’m I’m working with right now, and they’re called empowerment squared. And it goes towards their sport and recreation programming for, uh, marginalized youth and refugee, uh, youth. And basically, uh, you know, it’s just trying to give back and get like people outdoors and exposed to that. But I’m, I am hoping to work with other charities, you know, in the future and be able to give back to them as well and help to amplify their causes and really with amplify outdoors, like as I continue to grow, like the idea is that, like, we can also use some of those proceeds to toward, you know, maybe creating a scholarship or some sort of fund that we can like give back to the communities at the end of the day.

Kristen Berkeley:

So it’s just really important. And like, I just really want to continue to like get people outdoors and really highlight that, that, um, initiative, like, it’s just, I feel like nature has so many benefits that a lot of people don’t get to experience. So I just really wanna like put it out there and continue to like really have those conversations that could be very uncomfortable for people. And I do have people that sometimes say, well, you can just go outdoors. It’s just easy, just go outdoors. And I’m like, actually there are a lot of barriers to accessing the outdoors and then you explain it and they’re like, oh, I had no idea. So I think it’s just to create that awareness and to really like have those conversations. I think that is like, kind of like what amplify doors is trying to do right now.

Kristen Berkeley:

So yeah, we do merchandise. I’ve also released a dreaming color collection as well. I’m hoping to release more collections in the future months coming up. Another thing that we’re gonna be doing is events. So I know with COVID, it, it is difficult to do events. I’m trying to do like virtual events and initiatives. So right now I have the outdoor dance challenge that I’m doing, where I’m asking people to like, just show me their, their joy outdoors, and to send me videos of them dancing, outdoors and celebrating outdoors because the outdoors is a beautiful space and it brings so much happiness. So I’m, I’m doing like this little challenge to just get people outdoors and excited and, and hopefully inspire other people to come outdoors. Like the idea behind it is to like inspire others, like bring your friends, have them come and dance with you.

Kristen Berkeley:

Like just, you know, show that joy that you feel out so outside. So I wanna do more, you know, virtual initiatives and events, and then like also hopefully do some more like actual outdoor events. That’s what I’m hoping to be doing in the next coming months. And then, um, another thing too, that we provide are like, you know, resources, but also consultation service, um, for organizations. So we provide anti-racism and D consultation services to organizations or businesses that are looking to like get in getting more knowledge and information about like, how can they be more inclusive in their marketing or more inclusive in their, and, um, and employ like diverse initiative in their organizations. So like, those are like the things that right now amplify outdoors is working on. Um, and it’s been a really great experience. It’s been a lot of work to be honest, but it’s been really nice and the community is so supportive. I look forward to growing the community. I really look forward to like really creating some real change and hopefully having these conversations and seeing some change from like outdoor brands as well, to be more, um, inclusive and to just have more representation. I wanna see more representation outdoors. So, I mean, these are the goals of amplify outdoors and, uh, you know, we’re starting out and it’s like taking time, but I think that like great things do take time. And I’m really excited with where it’s going.

Gale Straub – Narration:

Kristen also wants to emphasize that the Trailblazer collection is for people of all ethnicities, including white folks like me. She says a person of color represented on a collection like that, and all people out there wearing it, is one step that will help change the face of the outdoors. The last question I asked Kristen is one I’m asking myself, and I also encourage you to ask yourself as this long dark winter creeps along, getting brighter by the day:

Gale Straub:

Hopefully you still have time for yourself to be able to go <laugh> outside and

Kristen Berkeley:

Do the things that you love. Try to do it. I definitely try to make space for myself to take care of my mental wellbeing and like my health and so forth. Like every time I feel stressed out or if I’m not in a great mood, I go outdoors. Cuz I know like it’s like my therapy. Like I feel so much better when I’m outdoors. And I’ve learned also about like burnout and like just, you know, taking care of yourself. So I’ve seen it it, so I do have days where I’m like, I am not posting. Like I just need to rest. And at the end of the day I have to also take time for myself and to just like recognize that I’m a human being behind everything and that like, I do need to like make sure that I’m okay and that like I’m in the best health that I can be in. And I’m, I’m putting selfcare first because if you don’t take care of yourself, like no one really will take care of you. I mean, maybe you have people that can, but for the most part, like you really do need to take care of yourself because that’s when you are like your best self, when you like taking care of yourself. Right. I do really encourage people to, to take care of themselves, be outdoors if you can. It’s so therapeutic. It’s so beautiful. There’s so many benefits and yeah, just like continue to love yourself.

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