Thank you for visiting Inspired Life Expeditions!
Inspired Life Expeditions is here to provide support for nature lovers, dreamers, and soul seekers who want to live much more than a mediocre life and experience the freedom that comes from following your heart. That’s where you find your power and it’s the path to health, wellness and true fulfillment. If you’re looking to be a part of a community who explores our true potential while taking care of ourselves, each other and our planet…you’re in the right place!
What inspired Inspired Life Expeditions?
As an occupational therapist for the last 19 years, my path started in healthcare and over time I realized there needs to be a better approach to wellness. Healthcare centers have become a revolving door and while we’re trying to fight diseases and find cures, we don’t seem to be any better off. My sense has been that in addition to treating symptoms or finding another miracle pill we need to tend to the underlying causes which, I believe, begins with looking within.
I decided to start with myself and began observing and questioning my own symptoms, fears, beliefs, self-imposed limits and emotions in the hopes of releasing what isn’t serving me. On this journey I’ve immersed myself in the worlds of self-improvement and spirituality, indulged my passion for nature, and watched my world as I knew it fall apart in a lot of ways. Now I’m picking up the pieces and rebuilding my life from what inspires me instead of what’s expected of me by others and my past.
In the process I hope to push boundaries, be more curious, and connect with my real passion and purpose in this life…to live my truth so that you can be inspired to join me and live yours too.
Who is Megan Shumaker?
Podcaster
The idea for Free: The Podcast has been many years in the making but it wasn’t until recently that I had the courage to take action and make the idea a reality. I’ve been both entertained, educated and inspired by many podcasts over the last couple years and it became clear to me that it is the perfect platform to share my journey to what I hope to be a more fulfilled and sustainable way of living. I’d be honored if you would check out Free: The Podcast.
Occupational Therapist
I’ve alway been a helper by nature so it was logical to enter a field where I could be of service to others in need. Occupational Therapy (OT) is one of those professions that have been around for over 100 years that few people actually know and understand what it entails. OT practitioners believe that individuals have the ability to affect the state of their own health through participation in meaningful activities or occupations. We are one of the few professions that consider peoples’ psychological, social, and physical conditions as well as their beliefs and spirituality when planning treatment. Our role is to empower people at any age of the spectrum and any level of ability to live a life of meaning and purpose.
Over the years, I’ve worked in several inpatient hospitals and skilled nursing centers, rehabilitation hospitals and nursing homes. I’ve taught OT and OT assistant students and was the full-time fieldwork coordinator for an Occupational Therapy Assistant Program for 5+ years. Although I love my profession and appreciate all the experiences I’ve had in traditional settings, I find they can often be limiting in a way that doesn’t provide as optimal of an experience for the client or the practitioner. I’m a huge advocate of shifting to a more community centered, wholistic approach in settings considered more nontraditional which includes the outdoors.
Nature Lover
Speaking of outdoors…any time I can be in the open air, I’m a happy camper. I grew up spending the summers on my dad’s sailboat with my family on Lake Erie and that love for lake life has never left me. I still spend a lot of time hanging out with my dad in Sandusky Bay on that same boat he got when I was two years old. In addition to sailing, I’m an avid hiker and backpacker. I feel most alive when I can be in nature whether it’s on the boat, a trail, or floating down a river in a kayak. If it’s outside, I’m game.
Long Distance Hiker
I have no idea where the desire to start backpacking came from. Nobody in my family had ever done it aside from my dad’s experiences in the army before my time. We never even had a car camping trip as kids, but despite this, I was drawn toward camping and eventually backpacking. I took my first guided backpacking trip through Outward Bound when I was around 24 years old and became somewhat obsessed with getting back out there.
My second backpacking trip happened after I quit my job, moved out of my rental home and hiked the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in 2004. It was my first time without a guide. I had no cell phone, no GPS and almost no experience but completed the 2000+ mile trek in just over 6 months. That trip changed my life in more ways than I could ever have imagined. I thought it was a once in a lifetime experience…until I decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).
In 2010 I hiked from Mexico to Canada on the PCT so to say I love backpacking might be an understatement. This time I embraced technology and documented the trip with an online trail journal. I wrote almost every day so my family could keep up with my travels and just to be able to look back later and remember the experience. It’s been 10 years since that trip and I feel like a different person from the one who hiked these trails but if you wanted to check out my journal, it’s available here.