I could make an entire website dedicated about my time living in Alaska, and I was only there for 3 years. I had zero expectations or no real knowledge of Alaska before moving there other than it has beautiful mountains, gets insanely cold, and has fascinating wildlife. Coming from the middle of nowhere-flat as paper-no scenery Illinois, I knew my heart would love it here. Without getting too into the weeds in this post, I just want to highlight a few things that stick out to me when I think of my time living in AK.

• Seeing the Northern Lights on several occasions – even right outside my front doorstep & on my birthday
• Going on 2 helicopter glacier tours; one of those tours, my now-husband proposed to me
• The endless activities – ATVing, ice climbing, camping, glacier cruises, kayaking, ziplining, and so much more
• Teaching myself how to snowboard and really embracing it as my new favorite hobby
• Experiencing the many, many hours of daylight during the summer – seeing the sun at 1am is crazy!
• Eloping in the mountains with my husband with the most wonderful photographer to capture the day
• The countless hikes I did with my husband, friends, and coworkers

I am grateful every day that I got to experience living in this beautiful state when I know some people never even get to visit it. It is truly a masterpiece, a “you just have to see it with your own eyes” type of place- all the pictures in the world really don’t capture how stunning it truly is. Even 3 years doesn’t feel like enough time to fully capture the essence of AK, but I yearn for the day I can go back and visit again.

Aside from my explorations, I learned a lot about myself in those 3 years. I met lifelong friends that continue to this day, released relationships that did not bring me joy, went out of my comfort zone by trying new things, felt severely burnt out from work, acknowledged that my anxiety was ever present, and learned to ask for help from my support system. Looking back now, this is truly where my healing journey began within myself.

Though I had lived on my own for several years prior to moving to AK, this was the first time I truly felt like I was on my own; this was a liberating and exciting time, yet utterly terrifying. I met my husband one month after moving here. We started dating one month after that, and by month 6 of dating, he had deployed for what would be 7 months. These 7 months of being physically alone was the beginning of learning how to love my own company, get out of my house and socialize, and immerse myself into hobbies outdoors.

In hindsight, those 7 months were revolutionary for me as an individual as I was forced to reflect on what makes me truly happy, what attributes I look for in my social circle, what activities fill my cup, and what I want my future to look like. In the midst of all this self discovery, I focused TOO much on work and began to feel burnt out and completely out of tune with myself. My anxiety was on 100, and I had never turned to any sort of therapy or counseling before this transformative time of my life. I am so glad I broke that seal and reached out for behavioral health counseling; this would be the first step in my adult life toward inner healing.

If you made it to the end of this post, thanks for reading! My hope for this blog is to inspire individuals, couples, and friends to book that trip you’ve always been dreaming of but have been too scared to do it. Time is precious, don’t waste it – book that trip! Who knows what pictures and stories you’ll have to tell for a lifetime.