Traverse Beyond

Day 1. Kigali, Rwanda. 🇷🇼

There is something about waking up in a new country. I can’t fully explain it. Everything is just a little different. The light. The sounds. The smells.

I caught myself a little tense this morning. The weight of leading a trip, the logistics, the responsibility. And then I just stopped. Took a breath. We made it. We are here. Time to let it unfold.

So we did.

No plan. Just yes. Art that stopped us in our tracks. Good wine. A massage that my body had been begging for since somewhere over the Atlantic. And then a group dinner with the volunteers from Kids Play International.

Day 1 and Rwanda is already moving me.

Stay tuned for this adventure. It’s just beginning. 🌍✨

I feel alive. ✨

It’s so easy to get into a rhythm at home. Same routine, same streets, same version of every day on repeat. Then you land somewhere new with a 17 hour layover and something in you just wakes up.

Small upgrade on the flight over, landed in Amsterdam rested, and met one of the women joining me in Rwanda for the first time. Quick bag drop, then straight to the train into the city. No plan at all.

That was the whole point. No plan.

We just went with the energy of the moment. Bakery first, obviously. Then a random detour for French fries. We took whatever road looked good and ended up winding through the canals, which honestly had this familiar feel, kind of like Venice in places. Made it to the Anne Frank house because that’s just something you have to see. And somehow ended up walking through the red light district taking it all in.

No itinerary. No schedule. Just two of us letting the city happen.

My feet were done by the end of it. The energy was not. 🌍

This is the thing about travel. A random 17 hour layover and I feel more alive than I have in weeks.

Rwanda, here we come. 🦍✈️

Electric energy. A wave of calm. And the knowing that I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

That’s what it feels like when I speak.

I’m Courtney, keynote speaker, conscious leadership facilitator, and founder of Traverse Beyond.

I speak on conscious leadership, playing with fear, and life’s journey through adventure and travel. And everything I do is experiential.

The stage is where it often begins. But the work goes deeper.

I facilitate leadership trainings, lead badass trips overseas for women and host transformational retreats all designed to move you from where you are to where you are truly capable of being.

Real conversation. Real experience. Real transformation.

If you are looking for a speaker for your next corporate event, conference or women’s event, or you are ready to go deeper, I would love to be in your room.

📩 DM me or visit traverse-beyond.com to connect.

The best classroom I have ever been in has no walls. 🌿

I just finished teaching a Wilderness First Aid course to the Utah DNR and whenever we could, we took the lessons outside. The scenarios. The real work. All of it done in the environment where it actually matters.

And something happens when you learn that way.

You stop going through the motions. You start actually feeling it. The ground beneath you, the sun overhead, the pressure of a real scenario playing out in real time — it wakes something up in people that a whiteboard and a PowerPoint simply cannot touch.

That is the power of experiential learning. It is not just information. It is understanding. It lands differently when you are doing the work in the environment it was designed for.

But here is what I love most about facilitating this way. It builds something beyond skill. People start trusting each other. They communicate. They figure it out together. A group of individuals becomes a community in real time right in front of you.

That is what Traverse Beyond is built on. The belief that experience is the most powerful teacher there is.

Whether that is on a mountain in Mongolia, a jungle in Rwanda or the Utah backcountry with a team of people learning to show up for each other.

The outdoors is not just a setting. It is the lesson. 🏔️

She has never once told me to play it safe. 🤍

Well. Once. When I told her I was moving to Oman to guide trips and didn’t know a single soul there or where I was even going to be living. I just had a 1 way flight. 😅

And honestly? Fair enough, Mom.

But that was it. One time. Every single other crazy idea, every leap of faith, every flight to somewhere most people can’t find on a map — she never blinked.

My mother is the kindest, most thoughtful woman I know. And somewhere in between all of that warmth and grace she raised a daughter who books flights to Mongolia, leads trips to Rwanda and says yes to adventures that make most people raise an eyebrow.

She has had my back through all of it. When I doubt myself she is already in my corner cheering me on. When I can’t see what’s next she somehow always believes I will figure it out.

That kind of support is not small. It is everything.
And the best part? She is down for an adventure herself. Open to new experiences. Present for all of it. She didn’t just raise me to go out and live fully. She lives that way too.

I would not be the woman I am without her. I would not have the courage to keep going without her.

Happy Mother’s Day to my mom. I love you so much. 🌍🤍

I said yes. And the day of I was fully prepared to bail. Then went anyway. 😂

A client’s black tie event on a yacht in New York City. A boat full of people I didn’t know in an industry that I am completely unfamiliar with… beauty. 😂

Honestly? I felt completely out of my world.

But here is the thing about experiences. It is not always the big adventures that stretch you. Sometimes it is the unexpected invitation. The event that feels just slightly off from your normal. The room where you walk in alone and have to figure it out.

Those ones count just as much.

I got dressed up. I got on that yacht. I watched the New York City skyline from the water and it was stunning. I met some genuinely cool women. And I got to show up for a client I really care about.

All of it happened because I didn’t talk myself out of it at the last minute.

Say yes. Go anyway. The discomfort is temporary. The experience stays with you. 🌊🖤

Something is building. And I can feel it. 🔥

I have been on stages lately sharing my story and something happens every single time I step up to that microphone. The room gets quiet. People lean in. And I am reminded that the experiences I have collected over a lifetime of saying yes to the world — Mongolia, Rwanda, the places still to come — are not just mine. They belong to every person in that room who has ever dreamed of doing something that scared them a little.

That is the magic of telling your story out loud. It gives other people permission to tell theirs.

And right now? Traverse Beyond is alive in a way that genuinely takes my breath away.

Trips for women that go beyond the itinerary. Destinations that change you at the cellular level. A partnership with Kids Play International that ties purposeful travel to something so much bigger than ourselves. Speaking engagements that are opening doors I did not even know to knock on.

This is what I built Traverse Beyond for. Not just to see the world. But to help others experience it in a way that stays with them forever.

I am just getting started. And I could not be more energized about what is coming. 🌍✈️

If you have been watching from the sidelines, now is a great time to step in. Follow along. Reach out. Come with me. 🤍

Most people think they’re taking responsibility.

But if you’re explaining, justifying, or blaming…
you’re not actually taking it.

For a long time, I didn’t see this in myself.

I would say things like
“Well that happened because…”
or
“I didn’t follow through because…”

And it felt like responsibility.
But it wasn’t.

It was subtle avoidance.

Real responsibility sounds different.
It sounds like:

I didn’t follow through.
I avoided that conversation.
I created that result.

No story. No defense. No blame.

There’s a shift I talk about in this episode:

👉 Life is happening to me
vs
👉 Life is happening by me

When it’s happening to you, you’re at the effect of everything.
When it’s happening by you, you start to take your power back.

And here’s the part most people don’t talk about…

There’s usually a payoff for not taking responsibility.

You might get to:
• avoid fear
• stay comfortable
• hold onto control
• keep a familiar story

So the question becomes:

What is actually at risk if I take full responsibility?

In the newest episode of Explore Beyond, I break down what full responsibility really looks like and how to shift into it in real life.

🎙 Listen now — link in bio
⭐️ Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Curious to hear from you:
Where are you still explaining instead of owning?

I closed my eyes. ☀️

Just for a minute. Sitting outside, in the sun, the kind of warm spring day that feels like a gift after a long winter.

And I thought about how easy it is to stop noticing this. How spring becomes summer and the warm weather just becomes the weather. How a beautiful day becomes background noise to a full calendar and a long to do list.

How many perfect moments have I walked right past because I was already thinking about the next thing?

So today I just sat. No phone. No agenda. Just the sun on my face and the sound of the world doing its thing around me.

It cost nothing. It took five minutes. And I felt like a completely different person afterward.

I think this is the practice. Not a big grand gesture. Not a trip or a plan or a resolution. Just the intentional decision to pause. To notice. To let a perfectly ordinary moment be enough.

The day is beautiful. It will not wait for you to be less busy.

Close your eyes. Feel it. 🤍