My Story

Well, hello! My name is Jessy. I’m a bubbly, excitable, happy person, who is terrified of everyone and everything. Nice to meet you!

Let’s start with some basics. I am 31 years old, and I have a wonderful husband named Adrien who does his very best to keep me sane. Bless him. I also have 2 adorable cats, Nugget and Archie, who act as my safety blankets. In my honest opinion, there is nothing more soothing than a kitty’s purrs when you’re feeling stressed. The people who know me best say I have a dichotomous personality. I should have been born a Gemini, but alas, I am just an outrageously stubborn Taurus.

I grew up in Miami, FL but barely ever went into the ocean because there were billions of sea creatures hidden just below the murky surface waiting to eat a crazy cuban with self esteem issues. Then I lived in Chicago for 7 years where there was nothing but skyscrapers and bars (I’m not really a skyscraper and bar kinda girl). And then, in 2021, we moved to Boulder, Colorado, and my whole life changed.

I lived an extremely sheltered life as a kid. I grew up hearing the terms “you can’t”, “that’s not safe”, and “you can literally die” pretty much everyday. My mom taught me that everyone was out to kidnap and/or murder me, and my dad taught me to not go to sleep with my hair wet because I would undoubtedly catch pneumonia and die. They should have won the “Best Performance in Scarring Your Child for Life” award from 1992 until at least 2014. Don’t get me wrong, I love them to death and can honestly say they’re my best friends. They just made the teensy mistake of making me terrified of everything. (Oh and did I mention my mom has 53 cats? My mental instability is starting to make sense…)

So when I moved to Boulder at 29 years old, I was scared of actual grass. There could be poisonous…things in there. The most annoying part? I knew I had an adventurous soul… Not exactly the best thing to have when you are terrified of heights, bodies of water, insects, or going anywhere alone. Not to mention I was woefully out of shape. I didn’t trust my body to do anything. I was always afraid that my feet would simply walk me off a cliff by mistake. 

My mind was constantly at war with itself. I WANTED to be fun and adventurous. I wanted to be in nature and create incredible memories. I wanted to push my body to do amazing things. I am fun, outgoing, talkative to the extreme, but I am also moody, anxious, and a stark pessimist. My brain liked to sabotage me by thinking of all the things that could go wrong constantly, on a never ending loop. 

To top it off, I’d recently been diagnosed with ADHD and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Surprise, surprise! My ADHD makes me forgetful, scatterbrained, unmotivated, and does a great job of adding to my overall anxiety. And GAD makes me catastrophize every single situation.

When we first moved here, I went on a few hikes with my husband. They didn’t go well. I was slow, I was on edge, and I thought every little sound was a bear coming to eat me. I also froze in fear whenever there was a steep drop-off near the trail.

Then, I met a few girls from my apartment building. They grew up very differently than I did, and they all loved the outdoors. We did a few small hikes together, and I started building up my confidence, because I couldn't exactly panic and cry in front of my new friends. I was trying to impress them! But they totally saw right through me, and loved me anyways. One day, they had this horrible idea that we should climb all the way to the top of a mountain. I tried to back out a few times. I even tried to cancel the morning of. But my husband threw the covers off of me and practically kicked me out of bed saying “You can do this! You HAVE to do this!”.

He was right. My friends had reassured me that I could do this hike, that there was nothing scary about it, and that if I wanted to turn back at any time, we could. So I got up, brushed my teeth, and glued my false lashes to my eyelids to get some semblance of normalcy. (Also because if I died, I wanted to be a pretty corpse). I met my friends outside in the crisp morning air, and in the 5am darkness, we began our drive towards Rocky Mountain National Park.

As we approached the mountain, I almost quit right then and there. It was MASSIVE. And the trail started at the base. It was going to be HARD, and I didn’t know if I was up for the physical, let alone the mental challenge. With my ragged breath fogging up the window, I made one last plea to turn the car around… They weren’t going to let me off that easy.

So, we got to the trailhead, and we started walking. We walked, and talked, and laughed, and did some silly dances. And soon I had no idea what I’d been so scared of. Yes, it was a long hike. Yes, it was pretty remote. But I was among friends, the weather was gorgeous, and I felt invigorated. After 3.5 hours, we made it to the top. I had to do a bit of light scrambling to get to the peak, but I was so excited that I barely had time to notice if I was scared or not.

I changed on that peak. As I looked out into the vastness of the valleys and mountains in front of me,  I realized why people love doing this. I felt so small, in such a big, beautiful world. My anxieties, my fears, my grief over losing my father just a year ago, seemed so insignificant in the face of all that beauty. All that stillness. The climb had been incredibly taxing, and this was the reward. With shaking knees, I stood up tall at the very top and took it all in. I decided then and there that I done letting my fears control me. I wanted to chase this feeling for the rest of my life.

And I’ve done just that! Now, I’m not going to lie to you and say that I never get anxious anymore. I absolutely do! I’m a work in progress, but the more I hike and adventure, the more confident I become in myself.

Since then I’ve hiked over 50 new trails, gone snorkeling, went paddle boarding in the Mediterranean Sea, conquered trails with narrow paths and steep drop offs, I’ve crossed freezing cold rivers, gone camping twice, done a mini-bungee jump, zip-lined, traveled to South Africa, climbed a 13er, road-tripped around Ireland, swung off of a cliff, walked a wolf (yes, you read that right), went on a girls’ trip to Costa Rica, and more. I’ve begun living a life full of adventures. And there is still SO MUCH MORE TO DO!

I cant’t wait to continue facing my fears, and documenting everything as I go. I hope to inspire you, like that damn mountain inspired me.

So glad that you’re along for the ride :)

xoxo Jessy

P.S. you can click this link to see my Instagram story highlight of that first summit hike :)