Episode 226 – Competing with Yourself featuring Dina Mishev
Dina Mishev is a journalist, world traveler, editor, skier, extraordinary athlete, and a Guinness World Records holder.
In this episode, Dina shares her story of moving to Jackson Hole to pursue her passion for skiing and her slight obsession with Harrison Ford. She talks about her decision to leave the path to law school and pursue writing. Dina discusses her world record and how training at Snow King helped achieve it. The conversation also touches on Dina’s stubbornness, her love for hiking off-beat trails in the Tetons, learning to slow down, tracking snow leopards, traveling to a solar eclipse, and her battle with breast cancer. Dina also opens up about how her diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis has affected her outlook on life, and how it continues to drive her to do more.
Learn more about Dina at DinaMishev.com
This week’s episode is supported in part by Teton County Solid Waste and Recycling announcing this year’s Christmas tree drop-off. Live Christmas trees can be dropped-off at the Teton County Fairgrounds, for residents only, or at the Trash Transfer Station at no cost until January 31 st . All trees must be delivered undecorated and absolutely no tinsel please, as they will be composted. Thank you for keeping these materials out of the landfill. For more information visit tetoncountywy.gov/recycle.
Support also comes from The Jackson Hole Marketplace. The Deli at Jackson Hole Marketplace offers ready-made soups, sandwiches, breakfast burritos, and hot lunch specials. More at JHMarketplace.com
Want to be a guest on The Jackson Hole Connection? Email us at connect@thejacksonholeconnection.com. Marketing and editing support by Michael Moeri (michaelmoeri.com)
Transcript
You are tuned into the Jackson hole, connection, sharing, fascinating stories
Speaker:of people connected to Jackson Hole.
Speaker:I am truly grateful for each of you for tuning in today and support
Speaker:for this podcast comes from:
Speaker:We all have things to learn from each other what we might seem
Speaker:as a tumultuous time in life.
Speaker:There's always a tumultuous time in history when you go back and and learn.
Speaker:And so for me, life is full of attributes and events which can spread, and it's
Speaker:your choice to choose what to share.
Speaker:Happiness and laughter can extinguish anger and business every.
Speaker:So it's up to you to choose which you would like to share
Speaker:with yourself and with others.
Speaker:That is for me, cuz I'm creating my own quotes nowadays.
Speaker:You should too, or give it a try.
Speaker:You might enjoy doing it for yourself.
Speaker:And you are listening to episode number 226 and my guest today is the amazing.
Speaker:Dina Che Dina arrived here in Jackson Hole with the intention of learning how to ski
Speaker:and while did she ever learn how to ski.
Speaker:and along with a list of other accomplishments, which you'll learn
Speaker:about today, which just seem hard fathom For a mortal like myself,
Speaker:and trust me, you're going to love hearing Dina's story today because Dina
Speaker:faces each life event with Determin.
Speaker:And as Dina has more experiences in life, she's learned how to view each
Speaker:experience through a different lens.
Speaker:Dina, thank you for joining me here today at the Jackson Hole Connection.
Speaker:It's, a super honor to have somebody of your, journalistic stature to,
Speaker:be on the show and take some time to talk to a little peon like me.
Speaker:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker:You're welcome.
Speaker:And I've known you for several years, many years, a few decades now, I think.
Speaker:I always enjoy having people on the show share their background
Speaker:and where they grew up.
Speaker:And so please start off, Dina, where did you grow up and how did you
Speaker:land here in Jackson of all places.
Speaker:Um, well, I grew up, my story is not, unique.
Speaker:I grew up on the east coast in Maryland, outside of Washington, DC
Speaker:and after I graduated from college in Chicago, Northwestern University.
Speaker:Um, I wanted to learn how to ski and I like the idea of living in the
Speaker:least populated state in the country.
Speaker:And I knew Harrison Ford lived in Jackson, and that was pretty much it.
Speaker:that was 1997.
Speaker:you're
Speaker:the first person to say that they wanted to move to the least populated
Speaker:state in the country and to the town where Harrison Ford lives.
Speaker:So that is unique.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:you've learned to ski, haven't you?
Speaker:I mean now that I've, I mean, it didn't take, like I've been here for
Speaker:25 years now, but within the first year of being here, I realize that
Speaker:like even if I think I'm an amazing skier, I know better than to call
Speaker:myself a great skier in this place.
Speaker:The skiers here are just absolutely amazing and beautiful.
Speaker:I can get down everything.
Speaker:I have fun getting down most things.
Speaker:and I enjoy it.
Speaker:So I would, I'm a capable skier and I would say it's still a work in progress.
Speaker:And for people who are listening, statement isn't just about skiing in.
Speaker:The boundaries of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.
Speaker:were also talking about skiing in the back country as well and or
Speaker:quite accomplished with some of the stuff that you've done out there.
Speaker:well, snowing is probably the place that I ski more than anywhere else
Speaker:because I live super close to it and I skin up it several times a week.
Speaker:but aside from snowing, like most of my days are in the back country, I really
Speaker:like skinning is as close as I can get to meditation, so I love, I love that part
Speaker:of the, I love that part of the sport.
Speaker:And we're gonna get off the skiing track here.
Speaker:Because there's a lot more to know for you to share about who you are and
Speaker:what the past 25 years have has been like for you, and how do you occupy
Speaker:your day you do that 25 years ago?
Speaker:Um, like a, a workday or a play day.
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Workday.
Speaker:a workday.
Speaker:get into that
Speaker:okay, so I, I moved here.
Speaker:I was the worst skiba in the world because I moved here with a job as a paralegal.
Speaker:working in the law office that I had previously researched was
Speaker:Harrison Ford's local attorneys.
Speaker:There might have been some mild stalking going on those early years.
Speaker:. So I, when I moved here, I, had no thoughts of be becoming a writer.
Speaker:I didn't take a single writing class in college.
Speaker:I studied, um, math and economics and statistics.
Speaker:, but then I realized that I did not wanna go to law school
Speaker:and I really loved Jackson.
Speaker:So I kind of went hunting for something that I enjoyed doing and
Speaker:stumbled upon writing with, with that.
Speaker:and so that was probably in like the late nineties.
Speaker:And then I, um, did an internship with Outside Magazine.
Speaker:which definitely like that kind of, that was sort of the kickstart to my career.
Speaker:And nowadays I do freelance for a variety of things.
Speaker:Then I edit some local magazines.
Speaker:And like a workday today is super fun for me because every day is different.
Speaker:And I actually, I love multitasking.
Speaker:And like, so, so far today I have, well first thing I did was I got my teeth
Speaker:clean, , then I went to the bagel shop.
Speaker:got a bagel in Espresso.
Speaker:but then I came home and I am, you know, interviewed someone at the National
Speaker:Museum of Wildlife Art for one story.
Speaker:I interviewed a local gallerist for another story.
Speaker:I set up a couple of interviews for next week, wrote a story about Western
Speaker:visions at the Wildlife Museum.
Speaker:so like that's, that's been my workday.
Speaker:It's just like a bunch of little things that I do to kind of fill the
Speaker:day and very often in it, I'll take a break to go skin up, snow King
Speaker:now, you ever been up s snowing more than once in one day?
Speaker:Skinning.
Speaker:yes.
Speaker:. I feel like you're asking me leading question here.
Speaker:Well
Speaker:if I re, I, I recall there was something that you did, but I don't, I don't want to
Speaker:to it, jump to a conclusion or misspeak.
Speaker:yes, there I did once go up Snow King skinned up it 10 times in
Speaker:one day, and that was just a prelude to the month after that.
Speaker:And we're, this is years ago at this point.
Speaker:It's gotta be PR 2009, 2010, 2008.
Speaker:I'm gonna go 2009, the month after that.
Speaker:Excuse me.
Speaker:I said that works.
Speaker:the month after that, I, competed in a race, the 24 hours of
Speaker:sunlight, which was an uphill race.
Speaker:it's down valley from Aspen at Sunlight Basin and there, it has a very similar
Speaker:elevation profile to Snow King.
Speaker:Each lap was about 1500 vertical feet, and I did 24 laps, and my goal was
Speaker:to set the world record at the time.
Speaker:For the most, most vertical feet skied uphill by a woman in 24 hours.
Speaker:and I did
Speaker:You are, I think, the only person I've ever spoken to that I'm aware
Speaker:of who has set a world record.
Speaker:Congratulations.
Speaker:Thank you very much.
Speaker:I'm very good at, um, Sports that require stubbornness and are races of attrition,
Speaker:now, are you good at other things that require stubbornness?
Speaker:I
Speaker:Um, well, I mean, I think like my first year trying to be a writer, I
Speaker:sent out 1,483 pitches to different magazines and newspapers and.
Speaker:Only one.
Speaker:I only got one.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So I would say that is actually probably much more, that required a lot more
Speaker:stubbornness than skinning for 24 hours.
Speaker:But it shows get your foot in the door to do something.
Speaker:And it just goes back to like Michael Jordan's of, I mean, everybody
Speaker:talks about the shots that he made, that he made, but nobody talks
Speaker:about the shots that he missed or
Speaker:you know
Speaker:the game-winning shots that he missed.
Speaker:You people only remember what was done
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:for awards.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so it's definitely,
Speaker:So you're an overnight success.
Speaker:Like everybody like Harrison Ford, right?
Speaker:exactly, exactly like Harrison.
Speaker:Yes
Speaker:We're gonna tie show back to Harrison Ford
Speaker:in so many
Speaker:Sweet.
Speaker:listen to.
Speaker:maybe
Speaker:Hmm
Speaker:I would never know if he did
Speaker:yeah, I've, it's been a while since I've, I've stalked him
Speaker:he's, a relief and to know that he's not being stalked.
Speaker:I mean, there's probably somebody else stalking him.
Speaker:possibly.
Speaker:here's
Speaker:Yes he is.
Speaker:Hmm
Speaker:mm-hmm
Speaker:No.
Speaker:For me, I was Indiana Jones like
Speaker:I was
Speaker:yeah, I was more of a Luke Skywalker girl, but he had me with Indy
Speaker:Did you ever walk around with a whip?
Speaker:no comment.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Fair enough.
Speaker:And so you put in 1400 pitches, you got a yes from somebody.
Speaker:Was that outside magazine?
Speaker:Um, no, it was not.
Speaker:It was, um, com air Navigator, the in-flight magazine for a hyper
Speaker:regional airline that like flew to places like in West Virginia,
Speaker:Kentucky, and Tennessee Maybe.
Speaker:and the pay for that story.
Speaker:So this was like 1999 that I sent all of these out.
Speaker:And the pay for that story, it was a feature story about whitewater
Speaker:rafting on the golly river.
Speaker:didn't even, wasn't even enough to cover everything I had spent on postage.
Speaker:because back then like email was still, oh, it's a fad.
Speaker:It's like, you know, not gonna happen.
Speaker:Make sure you send real mail to editors with story ideas,
Speaker:And now that I'm gonna call you a writer, cuz.
Speaker:I've seen a lot of what you've written and written, read what you've written.
Speaker:you call yourself a writer?
Speaker:I think anyone who, who writes as a writer, whether they get paid for
Speaker:it or, or not, I'm, I'm fortunate that through my stubbornness and
Speaker:being in the right place in the right time, I managed to make a living at.
Speaker:And it's even more than just making a living at it.
Speaker:Dina, you have traveled the world doing it as well, haven't you?
Speaker:Yeah, that's been, I still pinch myself every day, like crazy.
Speaker:is a location and a story that you would like to share today that you would recall?
Speaker:Was maybe life changing or sharing the story that maybe people haven't
Speaker:read, would not really know about.
Speaker:They're like, gosh, that's just not believable.
Speaker:I'm, can't believe that of what you've learned for traveling around the world.
Speaker:so I've.
Speaker:Two.
Speaker:for me there's kind of, there's very, there's actually many types of travel
Speaker:writing, but kind of two types of travel writing I do are about like going to
Speaker:somewhere cool and doing something cool.
Speaker:And then are ones that I kind of call more like first person
Speaker:narrative that are more about.
Speaker:kind of like something on that trip.
Speaker:There's some universal thread, that I either experience on that trip or
Speaker:revelation that I have, or something that I learn about myself that I
Speaker:think other people can identify with.
Speaker:And those are my favorite stories to write.
Speaker:they're harder to get published and they're, I mean, it's
Speaker:not like you can plan to.
Speaker:to have a moment of, you know, clarity or introspection on a trip.
Speaker:So it's like, I can't predict those stories in advance.
Speaker:but so one, uh, story that falls into the first category that was kind of just like
Speaker:an absolutely amazing adventure and I was like, holy shit, I'm doing this for work.
Speaker:was tracking snow leopards in Ladoc India.
Speaker:and this was actually my last big trip before Covid.
Speaker:And it was cool for multiple, really . So in kindergarten, before I knew such
Speaker:things were not possible, I wanted to grow up to be a snow leopard.
Speaker:I thought they were, they
Speaker:were
Speaker:of course, they could jump really far.
Speaker:They looked super cool.
Speaker:I loved that giant thick tail.
Speaker:but then my kindergarten teacher killed that dream.
Speaker:When you can grow up to be many things, but a different
Speaker:species is not one of them.
Speaker:and then I kind of just like had all of these and then, okay, so I moved
Speaker:on from wanting to be a snow leopard to wanting to be a veterinarian.
Speaker:And then I, like, I'm older and I like volunteered at a wildlife sanctuary
Speaker:and it's like, hmm, I'm actually.
Speaker:pretty afraid of animals.
Speaker:So veterinarian isn't good.
Speaker:And then I also discovered I'm allergic to a lot of animals, so it kind of
Speaker:like felt full circle, like, okay, I didn't get to be a snow leopard.
Speaker:I didn't get to like be a veterinarian to snow leopards, but okay, here
Speaker:now in my forties, I'm seeing them in the wild and writing about them.
Speaker:So it was kind of just like one of those things, it's like where you never know
Speaker:where life is gonna gonna take you.
Speaker:And it was just kind of cool.
Speaker:I felt that it did.
Speaker:, maybe not quite full circle, but it, like, it was kind of fun to
Speaker:tie back to a five year old Dina.
Speaker:That
Speaker:that is cool.
Speaker:and then a story that, it was actually the last story that I did for the Washington
Speaker:Post before their travel section morphed into something that doesn't publish
Speaker:first person narrative stories anymore.
Speaker:and it was about canyoneering in, um, San Rafael swell.
Speaker:And my husband and I had met some friends there, and the
Speaker:first day I like canyoneering.
Speaker:I mean, it combines so many things that, that I love.
Speaker:It's like rock climbing and scrambling and swimming.
Speaker:but it's also really, really cold.
Speaker:It can be really, really cold when you're swimming through, you know,
Speaker:water in these tiny canyons that.
Speaker:Most days don't get, the canyons don't get any light.
Speaker:but so we, we went on a canyon airing adventure with our friends, like
Speaker:day one of a three or four day trip.
Speaker:And I like I, despite having multiple layers on wetsuit on like three
Speaker:hours or so into like, when we're actually in the canyon, I was so cold.
Speaker:I started worrying about whether or not my friends were gonna have to rescue me.
Speaker:like that, I wouldn't be able to get myself out.
Speaker:I mean, I was shivering.
Speaker:I could barely, like we were repelling and everything and I was
Speaker:just, it was really hard for me to manage the, the rope with my hands.
Speaker:and I mean, this is kind of like part of my stubbornness.
Speaker:where it's like, I know through, I have some health issues.
Speaker:And, uh, multiple sclerosis was what was the problem this day.
Speaker:And one of my symptoms of that is that like my body has problems
Speaker:sometimes regulating its temperature.
Speaker:Like once I get cold.
Speaker:Sometimes my body, like I cannot warm up even if I start doing
Speaker:like jumping jacks or put on, you know, amazing amounts of clothing.
Speaker:And like that was something that I knew going into this canyoneering
Speaker:thing and I thought that I had prepared for it, but hadn't, and like
Speaker:my takeaway was that, I have limits.
Speaker:I mean, like, obviously everyone has limits and that sounds super obvious.
Speaker:but I think because of my stubbornness, I don't like acknowledging them.
Speaker:And this is, this was like an instance where I was like, wow,
Speaker:I could have like really put my friends in danger by, by doing this.
Speaker:And so the next couple of days I sent them off on adventures and I did non
Speaker:canyoneering things and it was great, it was a trip where I was like sad and happy
Speaker:and a little proud of myself I'm kind of like, oh, wow, you're being an adult here.
Speaker:I will come up with many different plans so that I can have my cake and eat it too.
Speaker:And this is one, this was a instance where, you know, . No.
Speaker:Like, I mean, may I'm, I could, I could get a dry suit and Ken near and a dry
Speaker:suit with like a down suit underneath it.
Speaker:but until I decide to do that, like I think Ken Nearing
Speaker:might not be the sport for me.
Speaker:And it's for someone who's always.
Speaker:I mean, persevered and you know, bumped her head up against the
Speaker:wall until she's broken through.
Speaker:Like that was a bit, a big lesson that I learned.
Speaker:and then so I wrote about that.
Speaker:And then also in this beautiful landscape of Santa Rafa as well.
Speaker:and did you share with.
Speaker:Your friends and husband a certain point, what you were, going through
Speaker:oh, they, they could, they could see like, and my husband had, he had given,
Speaker:he had given me his, his codes and like, I mean, he, he has seen, he had seen that
Speaker:happen to me before, so kind of knew.
Speaker:I mean, it wasn't like I had hid that this is something that could happen
Speaker:to me, but I hadn't like thought it all the way out to the end like, okay,
Speaker:we hadn't had a conversation like if this happens, this is what we can do.
Speaker:But they were definitely Okay of what was going on in the moment.
Speaker:I'm gonna have to look up that article I've, I'm not familiar with that
Speaker:Canyon, and I bet it is magnificent.
Speaker:I mean, just the center I fell swell is, I mean, amazing.
Speaker:And so like after I, you know, we did that canyon that first day and then like
Speaker:the, the next two days there are some, there are lots of old mining roads there.
Speaker:So there's, hold roads that wind everywhere.
Speaker:But it's kind of like a landscape that if you're comfortable navigating and
Speaker:have maps with you, you can kind of just take off and like be like see a feature
Speaker:in the distance and be like, I wanna see if I can get there and what it's like.
Speaker:And it's like that was, and there's like, do that for eight hours in a
Speaker:day and you don't see anyone else.
Speaker:And like that's just really cool to me.
Speaker:So even without the slot canyons, I mean, I think the swell is absolutely.
Speaker:What a magnificent place to be.
Speaker:Where for an entire day that you would not see anybody else and to be comfortable
Speaker:and happy about that situation.
Speaker:ev.
Speaker:Not everybody can do that.
Speaker:Well, and I, I mean, when I moved here, I.
Speaker:Terrified of being like, I mean, I wouldn't hike, I would hike like
Speaker:100 meters past the pet patrol cabin up Death Canyon, and then like
Speaker:where you kind of get into where there's thicker, thicker trees.
Speaker:And then I would, I was fine hiking to there by myself, but then I would
Speaker:turn around because I was sure Bears lived in the thick trees and were just
Speaker:waiting to eat I mean, like I had a full, full like year of hiking like that.
Speaker:. So I think it's something that I've just become more comfortable
Speaker:with the longer I've been here, and definitely now seek it out.
Speaker:And I mean like last fall, like my husband and I, we had two days in the Tetons
Speaker:where for 10 of the 12 or 14 hours that we were out, like we're in Grand Teton
Speaker:National Park and didn't see anyone else.
Speaker:it's almost now I look at.
Speaker:maps and I look at the trails and then I'm like, okay, what isn't?
Speaker:You know what looks like you could get to that trails.
Speaker:Don't go.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:There's some remarkable places back there.
Speaker:And when you get off the, the trail head for a few miles, you
Speaker:really don't see, see people.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:There was like, a basin up at the back of Death Canyon that like I
Speaker:had flown, flown over a CO for like, or like landing at the airport.
Speaker:I'd been noticing it for years and I was like, that looks really intriguing.
Speaker:I wonder if you can get there and like last September we figured out
Speaker:how to get there and like who knew that you could, like, you can connect
Speaker:Def Canyon to Alaska Basin directly.
Speaker:And that was just kind of fun, figuring that, figuring that out.
Speaker:And then the G, that kind of got me thinking like, why are the trails
Speaker:in the national park where they are?
Speaker:Like why, why didn't they build a trail into Alaska Basin from death?
Speaker:It was just then it sent me on like a, hi.
Speaker:There's the early days of trail construction in the
Speaker:park are super interesting.
Speaker:did you research that?
Speaker:I looked into it a little bit like, I mean, what's now kind of the,
Speaker:the Crest Trail was, I think the Skyline Trail or Sky Room trail,
Speaker:partially built by the C C, C,
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Yeah, it's fascinating.
Speaker:I, I do want to go back to the part about when you're in India
Speaker:and the snow leopards.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:curious question, do many people see snow leopards?
Speaker:no, they are known to be, I mean, they're, they're called ghost cats because
Speaker:they're so elusive and, I mean, not, they're so elusive that, I mean, the
Speaker:estimate of their population worldwide.
Speaker:, I mean, varies from 4,000 to 7,000.
Speaker:That's a pretty big, variance.
Speaker:did you actually see some
Speaker:on the very last day, yes.
Speaker:ah,
Speaker:and actually by the time I had seen them, like I had kind of already
Speaker:started to wrap my head around the fact that I wouldn't see any and was
Speaker:fine with it because the experience of.
Speaker:kind of tracking them was, I mean, super interesting and like
Speaker:the landscape that they live in.
Speaker:I mean, for me it was just like, I mean, you're just scrambling
Speaker:over rocks all over the place.
Speaker:so we were super fortunate to, to see them, but for me, it, like the best
Speaker:days of the trip were actually the days where I was out with the tracker.
Speaker:and he while they're hard to see, They actually leave signs of where, I mean,
Speaker:they, they cover a lot of ground and, they leave behind a fair amount of signs
Speaker:if you know what you're looking for to tell that, like, Hey, a snow leopard
Speaker:was here, and I mean, sometimes that's as obvious as a footprint in the snow.
Speaker:But then other times it's like, I mean a tiny, like they had peed
Speaker:somewhere and there was like a scuff mark or something and it was like
Speaker:cool learning from the tracker.
Speaker:Cause most of my early years.
Speaker:in the area were like, I was in the mountains, but it was all
Speaker:about traveling fast through them and covering a lot of ground.
Speaker:So not like stopping to look at the details.
Speaker:It was more like, , how fast can I run the crest trail versus,
Speaker:oh my God, the flowers in Alaska basin are really pretty right now.
Speaker:I'm gonna stop and enjoy them.
Speaker:so like going with the, the tracker we would cover no, no ground, but
Speaker:I would see so much, and that was
Speaker:just
Speaker:very, very different for me and I liked that.
Speaker:That's beautiful.
Speaker:We can certainly see a lot more when we slow.
Speaker:For
Speaker:sure.
Speaker:Dina, we're gonna take a quick break to get a word from one of our sponsors and
Speaker:then we're gonna come back cuz there's a lot more that you have to share with us.
Speaker:Thanks.
Speaker:Dina, welcome back the Jackson Hole Connection.
Speaker:You are one person that I have interviewed and I think I know
Speaker:that I set a world record.
Speaker:You're the only person that I know who has seen a snow leopard.
Speaker:and you have had some remarkable life experiences throughout life and
Speaker:challenges, and the first part of the show you mentioned that you have MS.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:you are also a cancer survivor as well.
Speaker:Correct.
Speaker:yes.
Speaker:And would you share with us which one did you learn about first, and
Speaker:how did this stubbornness help you continue with what you so much of
Speaker:being in the outdoors and adventure?
Speaker:to continue what you do.
Speaker:I would actually say that, I mean my stubbornness, I had talked earlier
Speaker:about, you know, skinning up, snowing 10 times and then my, how I got into
Speaker:writing, but it's actually, I think with my illnesses that stubbornness has.
Speaker:Hmm
Speaker:helped me the most.
Speaker:although I'm sure there are some people who might say it's, you know,
Speaker:hasn't been completely helpful because sometimes stubbornness, stubbornness
Speaker:is not necessarily a, a good thing.
Speaker:but so I was diagnosed with MS first.
Speaker:I was 30 years old.
Speaker:I did not know much about MS when I was diagnosed and I immediately went to the
Speaker:internet and one of the first things I read was that within 10 years, 50% of
Speaker:people who have MS are in a wheelchair.
Speaker:if you're not in a wheelchair, you're likely using a walker.
Speaker:and at 30 years old, as an outdoor athlete in Jackson Hole,
Speaker:that completely crushed me.
Speaker:But rather than
Speaker:thinking about my time in you know, , okay, I'm gonna be in a wheelchair.
Speaker:Or actually, I mean, I guess it's because I thought I could
Speaker:be in a wheelchair in 10 years.
Speaker:I mean, like my motto I started was like, I have to do everything
Speaker:that I can while I can.
Speaker:and that whenever I would do adventure races during that time, the teen name was
Speaker:always, you can sleep when you're dead
Speaker:Which.
Speaker:Oh gosh.
Speaker:which now I'm like a dedicated and highly committed napper, and I'm like,
Speaker:oh, sleep is the best thing ever.
Speaker:I, you know, look back at my 30 year old self and it's like, no,
Speaker:sleep is the most amazing thing.
Speaker:there were just so many I hadn't seen and things that I wanted
Speaker:to to do, and I was like, okay, I've gotta do and see them all.
Speaker:As soon as I can, while I still can.
Speaker:Um, so that was definitely stubbornness.
Speaker:And then kind of as, as I sort of learned to live with ms, I'm quite fortunate
Speaker:that I have a fairly mild case of it.
Speaker:but also I've.
Speaker:Neurologists tell me that based on the scans of my brain and spinal cord,
Speaker:where, so like MS causes lesions in your brain and then your, neurons can't
Speaker:communicate with each other anymore.
Speaker:but because I am constantly so physically active, I had a neurologist tell me that
Speaker:I'm as symptom free physically as I am because I am so active and I'm like,
Speaker:I'm not allowing my body to, like, if I'm losing a connection because I'm
Speaker:running or hiking or skiing every single day, like I'm making my body find a new
Speaker:pathway, as soon as the old one is lost.
Speaker:So that's kind of like reinforcement for my , for my stubbornness.
Speaker:but then I think, so then I was diagnosed with cancer in 2013.
Speaker:Actually, my, the nine year anniversary of my diagnosis was, December 19th.
Speaker:and I think during the cancer, it was breast cancer.
Speaker:I had stage three breast cancer.
Speaker:and during the treatment for that, which for me included, chemotherapy,
Speaker:a double mastectomy and radiation, my stubbornness was, maybe not
Speaker:the best for my physical body.
Speaker:Emotionally.
Speaker:I, I needed to keep getting in the outdoors and traveling
Speaker:to remind myself of who I was.
Speaker:but.
Speaker:, it's possible that like not allowing my body to to rest while
Speaker:it was going through chemotherapy perhaps wasn't the best thing.
Speaker:Like I might have lingering effects from that Now.
Speaker:Now, how come because you didn't allow your body to rest,
Speaker:are you lingering effects?
Speaker:How did that impact your body?
Speaker:So this is, it's, I feel like I've always defined myself as an athlete
Speaker:and that's always been how I hang out.
Speaker:You know, that's how I spend time with friends and interact with the landscape.
Speaker:and since, you know, I've been declared cancer free, like I haven't, my body
Speaker:has not, and I understand that, you know, I've been aging over this time
Speaker:as well, of course, but my body just there's just something that no doctor
Speaker:can tell me what it is, and I've gone and seen, seen doctors everywhere,
Speaker:but just my body doesn't have the oomph and energy that it once did.
Speaker:And travels and being an elite athlete, I consider you an elite athlete in my book.
Speaker:You're an elite
Speaker:athlete are there natural, homeopathic, meditative practices
Speaker:that you've put into your life?
Speaker:which have helped you.
Speaker:so can I address the elite athlete thing first because I think that's actually,
Speaker:that's where most of my problems.
Speaker:actually stem from the fact that I have this reputation and in the past
Speaker:personally felt that, you know, I, I was fast and could keep up with,
Speaker:with people and did some, you know, had some athletic accomplishments.
Speaker:then now I'm, you know, going on a run or a bike ride or a hike and it's
Speaker:like, people blow past me I mean, I'm, I can still go on a hundred mile rides.
Speaker:It just takes me eight hours now instead of five.
Speaker:And it hurts more than it does.
Speaker:I think it's, I mean, I'm trying to work on shifting my mentality, like just to
Speaker:be grateful that I can still do these things and not care about how fast I.
Speaker:doing them.
Speaker:So I've been doing kind of more mental work than I have.
Speaker:I mean, after, you know, seeing three or four doctors and when they hear
Speaker:that I'm still riding a hundred miles, they're like, you're totally fine.
Speaker:And then I feel like they don't listen to me anymore and I'm
Speaker:like, but I don't feel right.
Speaker:like that was kind demoralizing and would make me angry and sad.
Speaker:And it's like, that's not something that I can change, but if I can change
Speaker:my, my mentality and just embrace being slow and just, Hey, I'm outside, it
Speaker:doesn't matter how, how fast I'm going.
Speaker:I mean, and that's pure, that's like a total ego thing.
Speaker:and I mean, there's a lot of, there's a lot of amazing athletes in.
Speaker:Jackson and if they're not slowing down yet, they will they will be
Speaker:in the future as they get older.
Speaker:But it's not something that I ever hear many conversations about.
Speaker:It's kind of always, you know, the Radness and FK ts and a game that
Speaker:I've started playing with myself is.
Speaker:how slow can I hike up the boot pack?
Speaker:It's no King
Speaker:Mm.
Speaker:Well, you'll see more slower you go.
Speaker:yes.
Speaker:And so that's kind of like those, like the Ladoc trip that did help my outlook
Speaker:on, on this, you know, reduced speed.
Speaker:I mean, I kind, it feels stupid complaining.
Speaker:Complaining about it.
Speaker:but it is, I mean, for like all of the cancer treatments, I mean, they
Speaker:absolutely sucked, but I would say it's been, you know, that seven and a half
Speaker:years since treatment has, ended and like there's not the concrete, like I did
Speaker:everything that they said to make myself.
Speaker:but now there's still this, you know, thing going on and there's no longer
Speaker:a definite like, plan for it, or they're not even like, I can't even be
Speaker:told what it is that's wrong with me.
Speaker:So I'm working on the mental, mental and emotional part.
Speaker:I think you'll be there.
Speaker:I hope so.
Speaker:I'm getting, I'm getting better.
Speaker:I think we're all getting better if we put the intention into it.
Speaker:I mean be, I think being aware of it and then being open with others
Speaker:about, you know, your struggle and whatever's going on with you.
Speaker:I think that is super important as, as well.
Speaker:Certainly.
Speaker:That's, that's so true.
Speaker:Well, where's your next adventure to.
Speaker:Um, so my, my next adventure is to, East Timor, which, uh,
Speaker:has
Speaker:it is about an hour and a half flight north of Darwin, Australia.
Speaker:so far, Northern Australia, and it is an island, the western half
Speaker:of which is part of Indonesia.
Speaker:And then East Timor itself has only been a country since 2002,
Speaker:which makes it pretty interesting.
Speaker:and I'm going with a good friend who speaks Portuguese, and this is
Speaker:the last Portuguese speaking country in the world that he has yet to.
Speaker:Visit, and then I will be there during a, uh, full solar eclipse.
Speaker:I missed the eclipse here in 2017.
Speaker:on purpose.
Speaker:I thought it was gonna be such a junk show.
Speaker:I was like, I'm just going to get out of, get out of town.
Speaker:And my husband and I were backpacking in Greenland, but then I came
Speaker:home and it wasn't a junk show.
Speaker:And like all of my friends who were around for it was like, oh my God.
Speaker:It was like such a cool experie.
Speaker:So now I kind of wanna experience the full solar eclipse.
Speaker:So I'll also get to do that in East Tmore.
Speaker:And then the scuba diving there is really good.
Speaker:Well, I'm very happy to hear that you are still going after
Speaker:adventures and that you will get to experience a full solar eclipse.
Speaker:I got to experience
Speaker:it
Speaker:I'm gonna say, what?
Speaker:What?
Speaker:How would you describe it?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:in, in a, in several different ways.
Speaker:Environmentally.
Speaker:It was remarkable to feel drastic change in temperature.
Speaker:Celebratory wise, it was my birthday,
Speaker:Oh, Wow.
Speaker:What a cool gift for the universe to give you.
Speaker:It was, it was.
Speaker:And then my kids were young, and Louis my oldest, he was at the age where
Speaker:they were talking about it in class.
Speaker:I don't think William.
Speaker:We're talking about it much, but we camped out a friend's house.
Speaker:we were over at the McDermotts, and so we had unobstructed views.
Speaker:We camped out and then morning we were there.
Speaker:But to hear Lewis and the other kids, their excitement of the experience
Speaker:because they had been talking about it and learning about it in preschool was.
Speaker:Emotionally rewarding to be there and then also to be there with William
Speaker:and Laura and, and other close friends who I've known for so long.
Speaker:there, there's that connection that we shared.
Speaker:So there's several different ways to describe it and I'm, I'm glad we, we
Speaker:got to experience it and I look forward to hearing about your experience.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean like now.
Speaker:. I mean going back to like body temperature and ms, like I
Speaker:actually don't do well in the heat.
Speaker:So you know, and an island in the South Pacific is, isn't like
Speaker:normally where I would pick to go.
Speaker:My friend Jeremy, like the Portuguese speaker, he really wanted to go there
Speaker:and he knows that I'm always up for like a random travel experience.
Speaker:I'm where do you need meet me to be when?
Speaker:. So it, it would've been cool to experience in Jackson, but East
Speaker:Tmore, it should be still pretty cool.
Speaker:I think it'll be pretty cool.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:Well, Dina, I so appreciate you sharing yourself today and your experiences.
Speaker:if people wanted to reach out or learn more about.
Speaker:The, of the stuff that you've written, do you have a, a website
Speaker:that people could track and read some of the stuff and follow you?
Speaker:I do, it is dina mice.com, d i n a m i s h e v.com.
Speaker:and I'm pretty good about updating that with stories, but also just googling
Speaker:Dina Mise and the su most common name.
Speaker:So you can find a lot of my stories too, just by goo.
Speaker:Our old friend Google.
Speaker:Or old friend Google.
Speaker:And then of course people can just pick up an issue of Jackson Hole
Speaker:Magazine, which I'm the editor of, and read some stories in there.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Can we find you a microfiche?
Speaker:I,
Speaker:Probably not
Speaker:would be pretty amazing.
Speaker:is.
Speaker:Is there a micro fish machine in town still?
Speaker:I betcha the news and guide has one from those old.
Speaker:Old, unless they've digitized all their old
Speaker:Yeah, I, I mean, Jackson Hole Magazine is a Teton Media Works
Speaker:thing, but I, I don't know.
Speaker:I think I'm gonna have to email Kevin and ask
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We'll to find out.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, I'll let you get back to your day, Dina,
Speaker:Thank you so
Speaker:much for your time and you're, a remarkable, person who inspires people
Speaker:and brings great beauty to the world.
Speaker:Thank
Speaker:you.
Speaker:Oh, thank you so much.
Speaker:you.
Speaker:got it.
Speaker:See you soon.
Speaker:Bye.
Speaker:To learn more about Dina and her life full of adventure, visit the Jackson
Speaker:hole connection.com, episode number 226.
Speaker:Get out there and share this podcast with friends and family neighbors, and.
Speaker:You're a local coffee barista.
Speaker:Many thanks to everybody who helps keep this podcast going.
Speaker:My wife Laura, my boys Louis, and Willie.
Speaker:Willie just turned seven.
Speaker:Woo-hoo.
Speaker:And my editor and marketing director, Michael Morrie, I appreciate you sharing
Speaker:your time with me today, everyone.
Speaker:Cheers.
Speaker:Till next week when I see you right here back for another episode
