How Thru-Hiking Changed My Perspective on Business and Life
- Jun 17
- 7 min read
Nicci is the founder of Lovingly Guided, where she helps women overcome limiting beliefs, build confidence, and step back into their power through mindset and personal growth.
In the summer of 2024, I hit pause on my life and set out on a completely new kind of adventure. I decided to hike the Appalachian Trail (A.T.), the longest hiking-only footpath in the world, stretching over 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine.
I had started my coaching business a year earlier and found myself feeling stuck and a little hopeless. I had lost trust in myself along with my confidence. For the first time, I found myself with no new clients, and my current clients were coming to the end of their coaching programs. I recall sitting at my computer, refreshing my email, hoping to see a new inquiry arrive. Each day that passed without hearing from a potential client seemed to erode my confidence. Even though I knew better as a mindset coach, I found myself questioning everything. Was I good enough? Was this business actually going to work? Had I made a mistake by following this path?
Looking back now, I can see that fear had started running the show, but at the time, it felt very real. Fear and negative self-talk slowly started creeping back in until one day I stopped and thought, Wait a minute. Why not use this as an opportunity?
I had wanted to hike the A.T. since high school, so why not do it now? I could use this experience to rebuild my confidence and strengthen my self-trust. What I wasn't expecting was to walk away from the trail with a completely new mindset about business as well.
Lesson one: Learning how to receive
I didn't realize how much I was blocking myself from receiving before I hiked this trail. The ability to receive is huge for an entrepreneur. For me, I had attached my worth to my work. I wanted a four-hour workday, but at the same time, I felt guilty accepting money if my days weren't packed full. I was contradicting myself. My conscious mind was saying one thing while my subconscious mind was saying another, so I was constantly battling myself.
On the trail, there is a term called "trail magic." This is when someone, also known as a trail angel, or a group of people comes together to help hikers, usually by providing food. They might offer snacks, drinks, or even full meals.
The first time I came across trail magic, I felt guilty accepting the food, even though I was starving. That was the first moment I realized I had a problem with receiving it. It took me about a month to become comfortable with it and realize that these people genuinely loved helping hikers. It made them happy to give.
When I got off the trail and took a hard look at my business, I was able to pinpoint where my inability to receive was hurting me. I realized I had been underpricing myself and overdelivering because I felt like I constantly needed to prove my worth. Even though I had invested years into my education, coaching certifications, and personal development, part of me still believed I had to work harder and give more before I deserved to receive more. That belief was creating an invisible ceiling in my business. Once I recognized it, I was able to start making decisions from a place of value rather than guilt. Once I recognized the value I was providing, I was able to raise my rates without feeling guilty.
If you've been feeling stuck in your business, take a look at your beliefs around receiving. Maybe you're undervaluing your service or product. Maybe it's time to increase your prices accordingly and allow yourself to receive the value you've worked hard to create.
Lesson two: Learning how to trust the process
Before setting out on my journey, I sat down and planned everything. I mapped out how many miles I would hike each day, where I would sleep, and what towns I would stop in for food resupplies and showers.
Day one completely ruined my meticulous planning. A major storm was rolling in that night, bringing dropping temperatures and heavy rain. A woman I met at the lodge told me she planned to come back to the hotel and already had a ride arranged. She asked if I wanted to join her.
Luckily, my mom was still staying at that lodge for a few more nights, so I was able to ride out the storm there rather than starting my hike cold and soaked. The weather was one thing I hadn't considered in all of my planning. It was completely outside of my control.
After that first day, I realized I would have to take the trail one day at a time. I couldn't get upset every time my plans changed. The trail taught me flexibility. The storm wasn't the only time my plans changed. There were days when I planned to hike fifteen miles and only made it ten because my body needed rest. There were other days when I felt strong and hiked farther than expected. Sometimes shelters were full, weather conditions changed, or I met people who altered my plans entirely. The more time I spent on the trail, the more I learned that success wasn't about sticking perfectly to a plan. It was about responding to what was actually happening in front of me.
Similarly, your business is not always going to go according to plan. There will always be factors outside of your control, no matter how hard you plan or prepare. You'll need to know when to buckle down and ride out the storm and when it's time to pivot and change direction.
Your plans are simply a suggestion or a rough draft, not a final version. You need to remain flexible and open-minded enough to adapt when necessary.
All you really need is a rough outline of your business and the next step in front of you. The steps after that will reveal themselves as you move forward.
Many successful people are willing to take risks, and they understand that speed is often more important than perfection. Don't allow yourself to get stuck in an endless cycle of planning, learning, and preparing only to never actually begin.
Lesson three: Learning how little I need to survive
You're probably sitting there thinking, Okay, Nicci, what does this have to do with business? Let me explain. Spending five months carrying everything I owned on my back showed me just how little we truly need to survive and be happy. At the end of the day, the essentials are simple, water, shelter, and food. This experience shifted my mindset from scarcity to abundance.
After a few months on the trail, I stopped thinking about most of the things I owned back home. I didn't miss them nearly as much as I thought I would. What mattered was having enough food to get to the next town, a dry place to sleep, and people around me who understood the journey. The trail stripped life down to the essentials, and in doing so, it showed me how much of what we think we need is actually optional.
When I came back to my business, I realized I had been approaching it the same way many of us approach life. I thought I needed more certifications, more systems, more strategies, more content, and more complicated plans before I could be successful. The trail showed me that success is often found in simplicity.
My business didn't need to be more complicated, it needed to be more focused. Instead of trying to do everything, I needed to focus on serving my clients well, building meaningful relationships, and consistently showing up. Those are the things that truly move a business forward. Everything else is simply a tool to support that foundation.
I also realized that my business didn't need to be so complicated or follow every current trend. The most important part of any business is providing value to your customers and having a strong foundation to support that value.
It doesn't matter how fancy your systems are if they don't serve your customers. Likewise, it won't matter how impressive your marketing looks if your customers aren't receiving real value from your product or service.
We often overcomplicate things when simplicity is exactly what we need. The trail taught me that success doesn't come from having more, it comes from making the most of what you already have.
Just like on the Appalachian Trail, business becomes a lot easier when you focus on the essentials, trust the process, and allow yourself to receive support along the way.
Conclusion
When I stepped onto the Appalachian Trail, I thought I was hiking to rebuild my confidence and self-trust. And I did. But somewhere between Georgia and Maine, I learned much more than how to navigate mountains, endure bad weather, or live out of a backpack.
I learned how to receive without guilt. I learned how to trust the process when things didn't go according to plan. And I learned how little I actually need to be happy and successful.
Those lessons didn't stay on the trail when I finished my hike. They became part of how I approach my business, my relationships, and my life. Looking back, I realize the Appalachian Trail gave me far more than an adventure. It gave me a new perspective on what it means to build something meaningful one step at a time.
Read more from Nicci Lee
Nicci Lee, Founder of Lovingly Guided, Love and Authenticity Practitioner
Nicci is the founder of Lovingly Guided. She helps women overcome limiting beliefs, build confidence, and trust themselves again. Drawing on her experience overcoming depression, anxiety, and PTSD, as well as her business and coaching expertise, she combines mind, emotion, and energy work to create personalized coaching programs that empower women to step back into their power. She is also the author of Rewriting Life's Rules: How to Break Free from Society and host of the Lovingly Guided podcast, where she shares personal breakthroughs and practical tools for shifting mindset and creating lasting change.
