Episode 1: Trekking with Intensity and Clinging to Hope (ft: Alida Oegema Thomas)

On this show Alida talks about trekking in Patagonia and what the wind, mountains and overall experience of adventure teaches. Our conversation covers endurance sports, navigating grief, embracing intensity, rebuilding the very structure of life after burnout, and the freedom found in building the life you want. One of her values is awe! I am in awe of the courage Alida has to discuss her views on social norms around the nuclear family.

Alida’s career so far has included labour relations focused on human rights and workplace mediation and negotiation and international development focused on advancing gender equality for women and girls. Currently, she’s in grad school studying public policy and global affairs with a focus on gender equity and climate justice. She also has the honour of serving on the Board of Directors for a few amazing community organisations, working to empower newcomer women in Vancouver through the creation of food businesses and in braiding Western-and-Indigenous approaches to environmental research.

In this episode I loved learning how Alida has embraced her intensity and tenacity. Somewhere along the line it seems that women get told that being intense is bad. I believe intensity is beautiful, like the power of a waterfall! Alida said regarding intensity, “we uphold these norms, especially of what women are supposed to be in society. The norm of the culture I grew up in was that women are supposed to be soft, and soft spoken… and the intensity that I brought was seen as a direct contrast to that in a negative way. I think I've learned, from stepping back and looking at the wealth of women that I admire, historically and presently, that almost every one of them are intense in their own ways.”

Alida’s take on boldness is linked to awareness and hope; she still has hope in the work she is doing in both gender equity and climate justice -- that takes boldness! Alida describes boldness as the ability to “…show up with an awareness that the world is how it actually is, and then to choose to use that knowledge to do something about it in a positive way.”