My Story

Laurie Kilarski- Founder

I didn’t create Hiking & Happiness because I had happiness all figured out. I created it because I had to learn how to find it again.

Several years ago, I found myself in a season of major change, asking a question I hadn’t really stopped to ask before:

What actually makes me happy?

For me, part of the answer was getting outside. Hiking gave me space to think, reset, challenge myself and reconnect with parts of myself that had gotten a little lost along the way.

But it didn’t stop with hiking.

I started saying yes to new experiences, meeting new people, trying things that stretched me, and becoming much more intentional about how I spent my time and energy. Along the way, I realized that sometimes finding more happiness starts with simply taking a step forward.

That idea became Hiking & Happiness.

Today, I bring that personal experience together with decades of coaching, mentoring and developing people professionally to help others get unstuck, reconnect with what matters to them, and take practical steps toward creating more of the life they want.

I’m not here to tell you how to live your life or pretend I have all the answers. I’m here to listen, ask good questions, help you see things from a different perspective, and encourage you to move forward with intention.

And despite the name, Hiking & Happiness isn’t really about hiking.

Hiking happened to be one of the things that helped me find my way forward. Yours might be painting, traveling, changing careers, reconnecting with people, learning something new—or finally doing the thing you’ve been telling yourself you’ll do “someday.”

The point isn’t the hike.

It’s taking the step.