Hey Reader!
I hope your week is off to a good start! I've been quietly working on something behind the scenes, and I'm finally ready to share where I’m headed with Bearfoot Theory and with my work more broadly.
Over the last year or so, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what I want the next chapter of my career to look like.
Bearfoot Theory has been my full-time job since 2014, and I’m incredibly grateful for everything it has given me. But if I’m being truthful, what it takes to keep growing an online business in 2026 just doesn’t feel very aligned with my values or priorities anymore.
For many years, being good at my job meant being on my phone constantly - posting, responding, watching what everyone else was doing, and thinking about what I should post next.
If you’ve been here for a while, you’ve probably heard me talk about my love/hate relationship with social media. The pressure to capture every hike, turn everyday life into content, and make things look more exciting than they really were has been wearing on me for a long time.
Last fall, I finally decided to see what would happen if I stopped using social media. During a family trip abroad, I deleted the apps from my phone...and the difference has been HUGE. Since then, I've had more time, I’m happier, I compare myself to other people less, and I’m much more present in my actual life. I’ve felt so much better since stepping away that I haven’t been able to convince myself it’s worth getting back on.
I also have a three-year-old son now, and I think a lot about the example I want to set for him when it comes to my relationship with my phone.
Then there’s gear. The reality is, selling gear is a big part of how Bearfoot Theory makes money and how I support myself financially.
I literally get dozens of emails every day from brands asking me to promote a new color, a slightly updated model, or another product that’s only marginally different from what came before it.
After more than a decade of writing gear guides and reviewing products, I’ve started feeling sick about how much stuff we’re all being encouraged to buy.
There’s obviously gear you need to be safe and comfortable outside...but at some point I started wondering: how many new backpacks, jackets, shoes, tents, and gadgets do we all really need?
It’s become harder to ignore the fact that part of my job is encouraging people to consume more...while in my own life, I’m trying to buy less, live more simply, and make choices that are better for the planet.
And finally, there’s the responsibility that comes with sharing outdoor destinations with a large audience. I’ve always tried to be thoughtful about what I write about and how much detail I share. But over the last decade, (like you) I’ve watched so many amazing places become more crowded than they can handle.
I’ve struggled with the contradiction of wanting to protect those places while also running a business that succeeds, in part, by telling more people exactly where to go.
Eventually, I had to ask myself: what parts of this work still feel really meaningful to me?
Some of the best emails I’ve received over the years are from readers who tell me Bearfoot Theory gave them the confidence to do something they didn’t think they could do - whether that was to go on their first backpacking trip, tackle a harder trail, pursue van life, or simply make getting outside a bigger part of their life.
I've realized that what I love most isn’t necessarily teaching people which trail to hike or what to pack. It’s helping people build confidence, push beyond what they thought they were capable of, and see new possibilities for themselves.
The more I thought about that, the clearer it became that I want to spend less time producing content and more time working directly with people.
And that has led me down a completely new path.
I’m excited to finally share that I’m pursuing professional certification in leadership and transition coaching and have launched my new practice, Silent Trees Coaching.
When I look back, a lot of my own career has involved taking risks and figuring things out as I went.
I left a stable career in Washington, DC to start Bearfoot Theory with no idea whether it would actually work.
Then I had to learn how to actually run and grow a business - building a team, hiring and letting people go, managing different personalities, deciding where to put my time and money, and taking on projects that stretched me in completely new ways.
Open Roads Fest was probably the biggest example of that. I went from writing blog posts to creating and leading a weekend-long event with a team, vendors, sponsors, and hundreds of people counting on us to pull it off - all while I was 14 weeks pregnant!
As the business grew, I had to grow into becoming an effective leader, and a big part of that was confronting my own shortcomings. I had to learn to delegate, have tough conversations, trust people to do things differently than I would, and recognize when my instinct to jump in and take over was actually slowing the team down.
I also learned what happens when you don’t pay enough attention to the rest of your life while you’re chasing the next goal. There were stretches when I was working constantly and putting way too much pressure on myself. Eventually, I got pretty burned out, especially after becoming a mom.
Over the last few years, I’ve spent a lot of time looking at my own patterns...my perfectionism, why it’s so hard for me to slow down, and why I tend to move the goalposts as soon as I accomplish something.
I’ve been working on being more present instead of always thinking about what’s next, and setting better boundaries between work and family. I’m also making more room for myself, including doing things simply for fun without feeling like everything has to be productive.
All of that is a big part of what I want to bring into my coaching work.
With Silent Trees Coaching, my goal is to help people thrive at work and flourish in life. I work with ambitious people who want to keep growing and doing meaningful things, but who also want to be more intentional about how they lead, what they’re working toward, and how work fits into the rest of their life.
That could mean:
- You want to leave your 9–5, start something of your own, or make a big career change
- You’ve worked hard to get where you are, but you’re starting to question whether this is still the path you want
- You’re stepping into a bigger leadership role and figuring out how to delegate, communicate clearly, and lead people who work differently than you do
- You’re carrying too much at work and need to figure out what actually requires your attention and what doesn’t
- You’re facing a big decision and feel stuck between too many options
- You want to keep growing and achieving, but you also want your work to fit into a life that has room for the people and things that matter to you
And if one of the things you want more room for is hiking, travel, family, or simply having some space for yourself, we can work on that too.
If you’ve never worked with a coach before, my role isn’t to tell you what to do. It’s to help you get out of your usual thought loops, see things from a different angle, and get clearer on what you want and how to move forward.
I’m currently completing my professional coaching certification through the Hudson Institute of Coaching, a rigorous ICF-accredited program grounded in adult development and behavioral change.
As I work towards my certification, I’m looking to bring on a few new clients at an introductory rate. If any of this sounds like something you’re working through, you can learn more at my new website or book a free 30-minute intro call with me to talk about where you are, what you want to change, and whether coaching might be helpful.
And if coaching isn’t something you need right now, but someone came to mind while reading this, I’d be really grateful if you passed this along.
Bearfoot Theory isn’t going anywhere. I still care deeply about helping people get outside to experience the benefits of nature, and I’m excited to see how that work evolves from here.
Mostly, I just want to say thank you. So many of you have been reading Bearfoot Theory for years, through a lot of different versions of my life and this business. It means a lot to be able to share this next chapter with you too.
Thanks for being here.
Kristen
