Keep your doctor—and loved ones—in the loop
Checking in with your provider before going off on an adventure is always a smart idea. They can confirm it’s safe for you to go and recommend any necessary tweaks to your treatment plan. “I had a trip to Germany, and it was going to line up with when I needed to go to do an injection of medicine for my ulcerative colitis, so I reached out to my pharmacist and…they told me to bump the dose forward so I could do it before my trip,” says Reeve. Also clue in your loved ones to your plans, especially if you’re traveling solo. “I tell my husband exactly where I am going to be at different times, and I have a Garmin inReach Mini, which is a small satellite communication gadget that lets me tell him I’m safe or if I’m changing my plans,” says Wilson. “Knowing I still have a way to contact the outside world while I’m ‘off the grid’ gives me tremendous peace of mind and empowers me to be more independent and adventurous.”
Think creatively
Just because one approach isn’t doable for you doesn’t mean you have to sit things out. “There’s an incredible area of national park in New Zealand called the Abel Tasman, and people go on a 60-kilometer [about 37-mile] hike over four days to get to these golden beaches. But that’s not sustainable for me, and I thought, ‘I’m never going to be able to see this place,’ which really upset me,” says content creator and podcaster Jess Brien, 31, who is currently traveling around New Zealand in her van while managing multiple sclerosis, which causes chronic pain in her back and legs. “But then I found out you can get to some of the different bays with a water taxi! So I’ve gone there for some adventures the last two summers and only had to walk about 10 kilometers [about six miles] total.”
Know your limits
For someone without a chronic condition, pushing themselves too hard on a trail might bring on some muscle cramps or achy feet, but that’s usually about it. For someone with a condition like arthritis, however, overextending their body can worsen symptoms. Wilson learned that the hard way when a hike the internet said would be five miles was actually closer to eight. “I got to mile six and my foot started feeling like, ‘This is your limit,’” she says. “I ended up, obviously, making it, [but] I was really uncomfortable at the end of it.”
Mishaps like this one have also changed how Wilson researches her hikes. “I make sure I get my information on distance and elevation gain from a reputable source—one that gets their data from experts instead of just crowdsourcing it—like a trail association,” she says.
Change your perspective
Ditch the false idea that you need to do something hardcore to enjoy nature. You don’t need to trek through mountains for days with a 50-pound backpack to be a hiker. In fact, you don’t need to hike at all to enjoy the great outdoors! “My camping trips now don’t [always] revolve around a giant hike. They revolve around getting to a pretty spot where I want to sit and read my book.… That fills my cup a lot,” says Wilson.
Another perspective shift to consider: It can be easy to think about what your chronic condition has taken from your life, but there may be things it’s given you as well, like an appreciation for the present. Brien wears a necklace that says, “If you can, you must,” which is a quote from a woman named Em Carey who survived a horrifying skydiving accident. “I am definitely inspired by the fact that we literally have no idea what’s going to happen to us,” Brien says. “You Google symptoms and see other people with the same disease and their trajectory. Even though I’m doing so well, it’s hard not to sink into that. Occasionally, I joke that a lot of people retire in their 60s and travel then, but I’m living my best retired life and travel now, and I’ll settle down when I’m older.”
