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Tanya Aldred explained that at this point in her life she's seeing where life takes her and, "kind of just floating with the breeze."
Aldred moved back to the Upper Peninsula last August and started working for the Northern Michigan University grounds crew. She stopped to talk in the middle of the working on trimming the grass around the campus sidewalks or "edging."
"I enjoy (it,)" she said. "You take pride in the jobs that you get done."
Aldred grew up in the U.P. and went to school in Ishpeming before moving to live across the country and world. A few years ago she moved to Australia for an environmental management trip where worked from Darwin to Perth along the northwest coast. She also spent time volunteering with the Australian Conservation of Land Management which she explained is similar to the United States' Department of Natural Resources.
When asked about her time in the backcountry she told a story about how she had seen a flying fox at the university outside of Darwin.
"I was walking around campus … and suddenly something came out of the trees and then flew. And I realized it was a bat. It had at least a five-foot wing span," she said.
Now that she is back in Michigan, she is looking into getting post bachelor's degree in psychology and changing her career path. She said that her own journey with mental health inspired her to learn more about psychology and move away from natural resources.
"I've been in therapy all my life and I used to kind of keep that quiet, but I realized there's nothing to be ashamed about that. People struggle through their lives. People healing from past traumas in their life and not realizing that their dealing with that. And finally I quit being afraid, you know? We're emotional beings and it's OK that we struggle sometimes."
She said she wasn't sure what her next step was, but concluded that "maybe I'm meant to be here." (Journal photo by Caroline Ray)