WEBVTT

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I have struggled with anxiety and depression my whole life.

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For me,

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I found hiking

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10 years ago.

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And it changed everything.

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It helped calm my brain down

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and most importantly it helped me feel good.

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I wanted to figure out how to bottle up the

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way hiking makes me feel and distribute it to everybody.

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I just jumped in

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and started a hiking club

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and I have had plenty of hiccups along the way.

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You can sit around and plan to try to do something for your community,

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but

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you're wasting good valuable time

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just

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do it.

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My name's Jeff Ganz.

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I am from San Jose,

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California,

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and I am the founder of No Worries Amigo Hiking Club.

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Our motto is hike more,

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worry less,

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feel good.

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OK,

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first time members,

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grab one.

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The whole thing is spawned from

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trying to help people in a fun,

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unique,

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and casual way.

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Yeah,

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good job.

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Let's go.

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I feel the wellness burning through my esophagus.

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When we first started,

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I just pulled out a cooler and started inviting people to come out and join me.

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The first hike,

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3 people.

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The 2nd hike 15 people.

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The third hike,

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35 people,

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and we got in trouble with the parks because we had too many people on the trails,

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which we didn't even know was a thing.

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And

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it's just snowballs and our community has grown to 10,000+ members,

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so

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clearly we're onto something.

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During COVID,

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I went through a really deep depression and coming out hiking

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has meant so much to me because

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I'm in community,

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I'm meeting people and I have things to do and I look forward.

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To getting out,

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I was in the Air Force and I found out I had PTSD.

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This group does a good job of incorporating things like

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mental health so where you feel comfortable talking about it,

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where you feel like more conscious about it

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and you're out here just enjoying yourself.

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I was somebody that

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could never find my community.

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I've had a really hard time connecting with people,

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but

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when I'm outdoors,

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it's the strongest community I've ever felt.

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It changed my life.

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All right,

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on the count of 3,

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everybody put your hands up in the air,

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make some noise.