Runaway Teacher Turned Adventure Girl (with Amy Friedl)

In this episode, author and former teacher Amy Friedl shares her journey from teaching to writing children's books focused on connecting girls to nature. Amy discusses her transformation and healing through nature, her book series 'Strong Girls Travel,' and her efforts to empower young girls and families to embrace the outdoors. 

00:00 Introduction to the Liberation is Lit Podcast

00:43 Meet Amy Friedl: From Teacher to Adventure Girl

02:39 The Healing Power of Nature

06:36 Strong Girls Travel: Empowering the Next Generation

14:48 Upcoming Books and Future Plans

17:55 Advice for Making a Positive Impact

18:42 Closing Remarks and Where to Find Us

Amy’s Books

Strong Girls Travel: AJ's Birthday at Congaree

Strong Girls Travel: AJ's Steps at Great Smoky Mountains

Strong Girls Travel: AJ's Adventures at Indiana Dunes

Strong Girls Travel: AJ's Plans at Mammoth Cave

Strong Girls Travel: AJ's Connection at New River Gorge

Where to Find Amy

https://www.stronggirlstravel.com/

http://facebook.com/stronggirlstravel

http://instagram.com/stronggirlstravel

https://www.tiktok.com/@stronggirlstravel

Thank you for being part of the Liberation is Lit podcast! If you have stories to share, want to suggest topics, or just want to connect, find us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok @liberationislit or visit our website at liberationislit.com. If you enjoyed the episode, please consider leaving a review! Remember, your voice matters, and together, through the lens of stories, we're making a difference in the world.

Transcript

0:07

Hey y'all. Welcome to the Liberation is Lit Podcast, where this power storytelling meets the force of social change. My name is Tayler and this podcast we believe in the profound impact of stories. And I'm excited to be here today with Author Children's book author Amy Friedl and we're gonna talk about kids books, and. And getting back and connected to nature. So I'm excited for this conversation. Hey Amy, how are you doing Good morning. I'm good. How are you? Good. Good. to kick us off, can you tell us a little bit about yourself as a writer and why Children's Books. Sure. So I, I proclaim myself runaway teacher turned adventure girl. I am like, there are some women out there doing extreme sports and that is amazing. That is not me. I'm just been on a mission to figure out like what I'm capable of in the outdoors, in my. Almost 50 years, just a few years ago took to being outside and found the power and the, the connection that I had out in nature. And so now I'm like, well, what else can I do out here? I tend to find a story or some lesson about life wherever I go, whether I'm like on the trail hiking and I notice a couple trees leaning together. I'm like, huh. There's like a metaphor there about how we're supposed to live and how women are supposed to encourage each other. There's something there. Or if it's out, I've taken to national Parks recently, which is what my book series is set in, and, finding some, some lesson about life. Like I wish there was some list of like. Every, every lesson, like the top 100 lessons, every little girl should learn before she adults. But that doesn't exist. And honestly, it was, I'd like to think I'm writing part of it anyway. Yes. And as someone who, I didn't grow up outside, I was very in the house and, it was like almost outside was unsafe for Mm-hmm. had, like, I spent a lot of time at my grandma's house down in the country and one of her next door neighbors, had fighting dogs. So Oh my gosh. always like, oh, afraid that. Me or my sister or my cousins would be outside playing and then one of them would get out. And so outside was associated with a lot of fear for us. Absolutely. an adult, I'm like trying to get back out there. I bought a hammock and I read outside. I go for walks. So I'm trying to heal that relationship with nature. And so I love the idea of your book series, and I wanted to ask, why do you believe in connecting children to nature, specifically for your books, but just people Mm-hmm. nature? Yeah. I love the fact that you, by the way, that like your intentional, like I hammock and I'm gonna choose to not be afraid. Like I love that. I love that. I have a little bin in my, in the back of my car. It's got two sides. One is like emergency stuff and water. And Jackson. The other is hammock chairs, hiking pole pillow, blanket, because I don't know where, you know, I'm gonna wanna just pull over, take a roadside nap. So if I can back up a little bit, the reason I feel. So strongly about connecting kids and people in general. And I think especially girls, honestly, like, I think a lot of that fear, right? Fear has been bred into us for how many generations and no, stay back, stay back, stay out of the limelight, or out of the way. 2019 and 20 like pre covid was actually my lowest point mentally in my mental health journey. And it wasn't until like my oldest daughter at the time, she was, she was shifting a college major, an intended major from. Musical theater to something outside. She hadn't quite figured out and so she was actually really instrumental in literally dragging me out of bed. This was actually during Covid, because my teaching career had kind of had shifted obviously, and had a little bit more time to deal with the stuff that I was dealing with personally and not just my career wise. She was really good at literally dragging me out of bed. And I remember one day she said, look, we need to, let's just, let's go drive, let's get to the Mississippi River. I'm like, I'm, I'm not driving, getting in a car for three hours. That's not it. I'm up in Wisconsin. So like we're surrounded by big, beautiful things and she's like, okay, fine. Then we're going to Lake Michigan. Because I remember she said, you need to be by something bigger than you are. And. Eventually I got out. We went there and there was something, something clicked when we were up. We're on this bluff, which is now my favorite place in Wisconsin because it holds a piece of my heart and my brain. We're up on this bluff and overlooking the mis, the, no, lake Michigan, which if you've not been to the Great Lakes, it feels like you're staring at the ocean. Because it is so huge and we're up overlooking and there's just the awe and the massive and the beauty of it. And then we go down this trail, which I, I coined like a cedar rainforest almost feels like. And you're going down these steps through the woods and then out into the beach and you're at your feet in the water. There was just something when I was there that clicked and I felt connected to something. I felt a part of something. I felt like I have purpose, I have importance, I have a value I'm seen here where I may not be seen in my job. This has a connection. This makes me feel powerful and visible and, and I want that for everybody. Fast forward a year or so, my, the same daughter went and did, seasonal work around the country. And so she spent some time in the mountains, in the desert and watching her grow strong and figure out who she was and grow more confident and just empowered me as her mom. Like, you know, I think most moms want, you know, what we want for our kids, what we couldn't have for ourselves. Right. And watching her have that and think, okay. I can, I can have that too, and kind of did a reversal like, yeah, she has this, that I. I remember sitting, I went to visit her when she was working in Glacier National Park and sitting on a roadside wall overlooking the mountains and just the vastness of this beauty. And I'm like, oh my gosh, my eyeballs are so lucky to see this right now. I want every little girl to see this and to know that she can do this and she can go do brave, intimidating things and she can get out of her way and go do this. And that's where strong Girls Travel was born, was sitting on that, on that roadside mountain. And, so now Strong Girls travel is all about empowering girls and girl families and young girls at heart to get out of their way and out of their heads and go define their adventure and figure out what it is. Chances are it's gonna be outdoors, because I just feel like there's that connection there for growth and for change. And, since then I've named my Jeep Willow because. Willow branches fall off and they just start growing wherever they land. They're like, oh, we're growing here now. Cool, great. I can do this. And I've named my popup camper, which I was never a camper. And now I have a popup. I've named her Juniper because junipers grow in unlikely places, like they thrive in the middle of a rock. And yeah. I love how you said earlier, connecting nature, what you experience in nature, and even what your daughter said about just being a part of something bigger than you. Mm-hmm. love kind of like the finding the message because none of this is new and Right. we can learn so much from just everything that grows organically. I love that you created a series specifically for girls and girl families to kind of, you said, have those 101 things that girls should know, but through the lens of nature. Yeah. how do you believe stories and storytelling and nature connect to creating better communities? I think that nature is like. The great bonding medium that we have in our world. You know, I think, and I think we try and women do this a lot, right? And May. Yes. The story, the series, I wanna say this to the series is strong Girls Travel. But, one of my closest friends, he has a son and he is bent on getting every single book that I'm, that I'm putting out. And he's like, I want my son to know girls are strong too. Like, and I'll run into a lot of people like, oh, I only have grandsons. I'm like, that's okay. They, they can still learn from the story and and there's not a little girl in the pictures, so like they can still relate. And I do think that nature is that great bonding medium. Regardless of who we are, what we look like, where we came from, we are all looking for the same. Maybe we're not looking for the same thing, but we find ourselves in the same place. I do remember being, I was hiking on my mission to learn something at every national park. Two, a little bit ago I was at Isle Royal, which is, a national park on an island in the middle of Lake Superior. Lake Superior is an inland sea, and so it is volatile and it is this 49 mile out, mile long island that has a visitor center at one side, a ranger center at the other, and the rest is wilderness. And it's the only one of the only places around that wolves and moose exist. They coexist without the presence of bears around. And so they've got this entire symbiotic relationship going on. And years ago they got rid of the wolves, or the wolves died off. I don't remember what it was, but they, the moose were there by themselves. They're like, great, they can finally have the place to themselves. And they started eating their own habitat away and overpopulating. And pretty soon the island was gonna be gone if they didn't reintroduce moose and or wolves. And. I have a point. So they brought the wolves back and reintroduced it and now there is balance again. And I think that when people are in nature, we tend to find that balance. I'm on Isle Royal and I'm comparing the first night, I'm comparing Maya pace to someone else's pace and it didn't take long. And a couple of falls on what rocks for me to remember, like this is about me and my journey and my connection here. It's not about me comparing to that person and me worrying about how fast they're going or how long they're staying and. And by the next morning it clicked. And you're out there and everybody is looking for the same thing. They're, they're noticing weather patterns, they're noticing moose tracks. They're just saying, hi, how are you? And they're just connecting because nature has just has that bonding. We take ourselves out of the story and just be there to see what we can learn. And I think that that has something to do for life too. And women, you know, we tend to wanna relate to each other all the time. Right. And I hear your story and let me tell you how I, and sometimes I think it's just an excuse to talk about ourselves, but if we stop and just listen, oh my gosh. The things that we can learn from each other if we take ourselves out of the story and out of the equation. And that's actually why my books don't have illustrations of little white girl running around in the woods because I want anyone. To be able to picture the park and see the park for who, who she is and, and what's out there. And imagine what their life could be like if they could actually be there and see it. And I don't know, I think, I think we got enough. We don't have enough space in our brains to keep worrying about each other so much. And nature kind of removes that and just gives us the space to just focus on us and our journey and our growth. I love that and I've felt that on my walks and, so here in Columbia I walk. I don't, I haven't, I know it's really bad. I'm born and raised in Columbia. I haven't actually been to Congaree yet, but I do walk along the river in the riverfront Mm-hmm. I'm working my way up to, I wanna go hiking so bad. But again, that idea of girls in fear, being outside, I'm like, I don't wanna hike by myself 'cause. Yeah. Yep, I get it. Yep. I'm like trying to heal that work and I love that. You found healing and grounding in nature and, what kind of you to keep creating these stories for girls moving forward and inspiring, them to be introduced to the national parks? Part of it could just be a little self competition of like, okay, well I've only got five books down. I've got what, 58 to go? Part of it honestly could be that, but I heard a quote not too long ago, and I don't remember who said it so I can't give credit, but it said, the only two people you really have to worry about impressing is your 8-year-old self and your 80-year-old self. And that has stuck with me since I read it in August. My 8-year-old self will be so fricking proud that I'm actually doing this. Because if you ask my mom, what did Amy wanna be when she was a little girl, it was always kids' book author, children's book author and illustrator. I am not the illustrator. I take zero credit for that. That is all Drew's work. But, but like, but I'm doing it and I. I chose to leave teaching. It had become too toxic for me to stay in anymore, and I can't compete as an English teacher. I couldn't compete with the test. But, but I'm doing it. And like my 8-year-old self would be really proud. And so for her and for the 8-year-old girl who wasn't an adventure girl, didn't go camping, didn't do all these things outside, I wanna prove to her that anything is possible and that you can rebrand even in your mid forties. And even the eight year olds who are 30 like me. Yep. Yep. And I do, if I can, if I can be so bold as to give you this little tip about Congaree when you get up the nerve as part of your healing journey, when you go there and you don't need your pass to get in, but when you go there, go to the visitor center, there's a boardwalk right off the back. It's super accessible. You're not gonna be out in the woods if you go to the visitor center and just do the boardwalk. It's a three mile boardwalk. You're on the boardwalk, you can't get lost. So, and it's just, it's just a loop. Yep. It's just a loop. And if it's flooded, 'cause sometimes it does that 'cause it's a flood plane. If the boardwalk is flooded, just turn around and take the boardwalk back. You cannot get lost. Okay, appreciate that. Because have been intimidated by the parts 'cause I'm like, I don't have anyone to go with like, what, Understandable. So. Okay. I'll Yeah, you can do the board. so what are your next upcoming books in the series? so just released, the Great Smoke Book. So pretty excited about that, and that's getting pretty well received. Next up is because I'm, I'm working on the east. I'm looking at a map over here. I'm working on the east side of the country first. I just, I know that the, when people think national parks, they think big ones, they think Utah, they think Glacier, they think Grand Canyon and that's great. But the number one most visited park in the country according to NP S's stats is the Smoky Mountains. And it's number one by about 6 million people more than park number two. And so that tells me. East side is just more accessible. You've got more families going to or going through. And so I really want to, and, and Congaree itself is, number, I think 51 out of 63, 1 of the least visited parks. So if I can get people out there, like on their way to the Smokies. You're only this far from mammoth cave. Go here. You're only this far from go visit this place too. And, so anyway, in my journey to do all the east side parks first, Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio is coming up next. And then probably Shenandoah in Virginia, and that will cover the bulk of the parks in the, that eastern part except for Florida and Maine. Those are pretty obscure. I have to fly to get there kinds of parks so far. But what I'm really, really excited about. Is I'm working with a business coach, actually tomorrow is my next call with her, and we are taking strong girls travel into real life, and I'm going to extend the strong girls travel brand as, as a solo travel itinerary coach and just working with women to, like you've said, you wanna do this your whole life. Let me walk you through it. Let me help, let me hold your hand. You can do this and watch you meet your goals. I'm also gonna be starting to do some group travel for solo travelers in the state of Wisconsin. Like women who are like, yeah, I wanted to try car camping, or I wanna camp by myself. And so, okay, let's, let's do this together. Let me help you and I'll look a group site and it will get you, you can do, go do this and you are on your own, but in a group. So you've got people there. If you're not really sure how to back up. Your rig. We've got enough women there to help you figure it out and let's learn from each other. And I'm super excited to, to see strong girls travel. IRL, I guess. I love that. Because I've done the whole solo travel, but meet up with a group and I feel like that is like so accessible Mm-hmm. people looking to do solo travel. Especially like I think of people like, two, my aunt and my uncle, they bought a RV a couple years ago. They were like, we don't have any idea what to do about anything, but. We're gonna just go around. Yes. And I love the idea of bringing together people in a group because a lot of people like me, I can't find people who wanna hike with me regularly. Sure. so. Getting that experience where it's less intimidating to learn how to do it on your own. I think Yeah. amazing. Yeah. I'm so excited. yes. And my last question for you is, what advice would you offer listeners who wanna make a positive impact in their communities? I would say pay attention and maybe don't feel like you have to relate all the time. Just listen, just listening to someone's story. What can you learn from them and appreciate the journey that they're on. it doesn't always have to be about us relating to each other. We can just stop and listen. I love that, and I think that's why I started Liberation is Lit because Mm-hmm. about a year ago that reading is great for strengthening that active listening muscle because. You, you can't respond unless Yeah. you can talk to a book, but Yeah, yeah, can't, you're not listen, you're just listening. You're not listening to respond. So I, I love that piece of yeah. Yeah. you so much, Amy, for being on the podcast. Where can people find you and keep up with all of the series that's coming out and the IRL stuff. Thank you for having me. This has been so much fun. So Strong Girls Travel. Is it? That's our handle on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. I joke that I'm too old for TikTok, but too young for Life Alert, but I'm figuring it out and, so those three, I'm, I, yes, you can get the books on big box stores, but I know you have Congaree liberation is Lit, has Congaree Bookstore or a book in stock. I work really hard to call local bookstores to the parks and try and get in there. And so if anybody's near a national park and. I can't get into the visitor center yet. They're corporate run, and I've been trying for a year, and I won't quit trying. But, if you're near a book, if you're at a bookstore near a national park, ask 'em if they have it. If they're connected with bookshop, they can typically get it for you, so thanks. Yes, and I will link the bookshop links too to the other books. So thank you again, Amy, for being on the podcast. This was a great conversation and just help me personally too, thinking about how I can more intentional about being outside. And thank you listeners for. Tuning in. If you have stories that you wanna share, wanna suggest any topics or just wanna connect, you can find us on Instagram, Facebook. TikTok at Liberation is Lit, or you can visit our website, liberation is lit.com. If you enjoyed the episode, please consider leaving a review. And remember, your voice matters and together through the lens of stories, we're gonna make a difference in the world. Until next time.