In her new book “Tough Broad,” author Caroline Paul profiles older women who are living proof of the benefits of exploring the outdoors

Turns out our mothers were right. Sure, they may have been motivated by the dream of uninterrupted child-free time when they said, “Go play outside! Now!” But they also intrinsically may have known that experiencing the great outdoors, specifically playing outdoors, was just as good for us as having an empty house for a few hours was for them. 

Getting outside is a behavior many women lose as they age. Decades of driving to and fro, along with putting others’ needs before their own, conspire to make many women less outdoorsy in their activities and, as a result, more risk-averse. 

That has got to change, says bestselling author Caroline Paul. She outlines exactly how and why in her informative new book, Tough Broad: From Boogie Boarding to Wing Walking — How Outdoor Adventure Improves Our Lives as We Age. 

“This is not just an adventure book,” she says. “This is really about how the outdoors marries with fulfilling aging.” Healthy aging, she notes (and she includes plenty of research in her book to back her point) requires community, novelty, purpose and good health. “The final [requirement] I’ve added is a positive mindset about your own aging,” she says. “It turns out that being outside is the perfect answer to all that. It keeps all those aspects in our life, which tend to fall away as we age.”

In her book, Paul profiles older women who are living proof of the benefits of exploring the outdoors. Like Paul — a former San Francisco firefighter who surfs and flies experimental gyrocopters — these women are grabbing aging by the horns. Dot Fisher-Smith, 93, is a hiker, while 80-year-old Louise Wholey is a scuba diver. Drew Brooks is 51 and a BASE jumper — as in someone who likes to jump off tall structures, like the 3,000-foot-high El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, and free fall until finally pulling a parachute cord. 

Virginia Rose, 64

Virginia has been using a wheelchair since a horseback riding accident when she was 14. She's experiencing the great outdoors through the nonprofit Birdability, which she created.

Meet the women who profiled in Caroline Paul's new book,"Tough Broad."

Photo courtesy Caroline Paul

Louise Wholey, 80

Louise began scuba diving in 1962, when the sport was just getting popular. If she maneuvers it right, she can still hoist her scuba tank onto her back from a sitting position.

Meet the women who profiled in Caroline Paul's new book,"Tough Broad."

Photo courtesy Caroline Paul

Cynthia likes to Google “something fun to do” when she travels. That’s how she discovered wing walking - climbing out of a biplane, attaching yourself to a cable on the wing, and staying there while the plane does loop-de-loops.

Cynthia Hicks-Mason, 71

Meet the women who profiled in Caroline Paul's new book,"Tough Broad."

Photo courtesy Caroline Paul

Dot Fisher-Smith, 95

A passionate solo hiker and camper, Dot recently took a three-day trip carrying a 20-pound backpack in the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area. In her 70s, she hiked on high-elevation trails in the Himalayas.

Meet the women who profiled in Caroline Paul's new book,"Tough Broad."

Photo courtesy Caroline Paul

Shawn Brokemond, 54

On Instragram, Shawn describes herself as a sport adventurer, a certified personal trainer, a top-ranked triathlete & entrepreneur. She's also a BASE jumper who catapults off El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.

Meet the women who profiled in Caroline Paul's new book,"Tough Broad."

Photo courtesy Caroline Paul

Caroline Paul, 60

“Outdoor adventuring in one fell swoop touches on all the pillars of healthy aging," says Paul, a former San Francisco firefighter who surfs and flies experimental gyrocopters. At right, she rides her Onewheel electric skateboard.

Meet the women who profiled in Caroline Paul's new book,"Tough Broad."

Photo courtesy Caroline Paul

While these women obviously like a touch of adrenaline with their outdoor exercise, Paul says you don’t have to be a parachutist to reap the benefits of spending time outside. “Just getting outside your front door [helps],” she says. “This book is all about how to adapt based on your outdoor experience. This is all about tiny steps, if that’s necessary.

“This book is full of science and psychology. It’s about fulfilling aging,” she continues. “This is a book about how to find exploration and exhilaration in this stage of life — and don’t we all want that? [Outdoor experiences] expand your whole life. Outdoor adventuring in one fell swoop touches on all the pillars of healthy aging.”

Virginia Rose, 64, who has been using a wheelchair since a horseback riding accident when she was 14, is just one illustration of Paul’s point that anyone can get outdoors. An avid birder, Rose created Birdability, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping people with disabilities get outdoors through the joys of birding. “Birding can fill an entire life, learning all the birds, learning all the songs, all the bird habitats, educating yourself on the mannerisms,” she says of her discovery of birding in her early 40s. “Nature, in such a unique way, offers that kind of lifelong purpose.” 

Paul admits meeting our bodies where they are can be difficult. She spent much of her 40s on crutches, she says, thanks to firefighting injuries. The body feeling as if it’s working against you, she says, “can happen at any age. But we blame too much on aging. We should stop that. That’s not a reason to be disheartened.” 

Our bodies may not be quite as agile as they once were but that’s no excuse for falling into negative internal ageism beliefs, Paul notes. Beliefs too easily influence behaviors, and it becomes “hard to directly counter your own messages. That’s why if you get outside, it will do it for you,” she says. “Being out there is a direct rebuke to all those false beliefs. At a certain point you can no longer believe you’re frail and boring if you’re playing in the waves in San Diego with 10 friends on boogie boards.”

“Every woman told me that being outside challenged what they thought they can and cannot do,” Paul says. “They started realizing, ‘What else can I do?’ The world opened up for them.”

Top tips for women who want to get back outdoors

• Bring a friend. Having a friend with you can make any challenge seem more doable. 
• Hark back to what you enjoyed doing as a child. “If you don’t know what that might be,” Paul says, “try something that would feel rewarding to you.”
• Start slow. “Even if there’s a little fear [about what you might try],” Paul says. “Fear is not a reason to say no. Sometimes it’s a reason to say yes.”

At top: 80-year-old scuba diver Louise Wholey. Photo courtesy Caroline Paul.

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