A Feat on Feet: Ebony Hoiberg’s Quest for Zest
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It’s not often you hear about someone walking from one side of Australia to the other, but it’s a once in a blue moon event hearing that someone you know is preparing to embark on the journey.
My friend Ebony Hoiberg will take the first step of her adventure in Perth, in July 2017, with an end date of January 2018 and over 4000 km through the Nullarbor toward Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, and a finish in Sydney in her sights.
You are probably wondering what inspired Ebony to undertake such a massive journey. The name of the walk, A Quest for Zest, provides the first hint. Ebony is on a quest not only to find out what people in Australia are passionate about, but to rediscover what she is herself passionate about – she is motivated by a desire to reignite her zest for life.
“I really struggled with my mental health and wellbeing and lost my passion for the world. I felt incredibly lost and this walk is about reconnecting with me,” she explains. “I had started university so sure and optimistic but felt like I was finishing unsure of who I was and where I wanted to go, like I had lost my spark.”
Ebony had decided that she wanted to do something, but after researching into different trips she could take, nothing really clicked. Then she had a ‘fleeting thought’ to walk across Australia. While immediately dismissing it as stupid, Ebony couldn’t shake the idea and began secretly Googling it. After reading other peoples’ stories, she knew she had to do it.
“Every time I would sit down to research it a massive smile would spread across my face and it just filled me with excitement. I worked on it for two months without telling anyone, still not really seriously considering it. I was still pretty unsure about the idea so didn’t want to tell anyone in case they totally dismissed it.”
Doing the walk is one of the many ways Ebony aims to lead a zestier lifestyle. She is currently developing her new (and unexpected) artwork line, Zest and Honey. From what began as a promise to paint a few artworks for her housemates and friends, Zest and Honey has developed into an extensive range of artworks which is only getting bigger and bigger. With requests flying in from old, new, near and far acquaintances and friends, the artwork range is now accompanied by its very own website and Instagram page.
Like Ebony’s Quest for Zest, the painting project was born from a desire to reignite her passion for the world.
“I was emotionally really struggling and had a lot of free time. I really needed an outlet and I guess a way of getting out of my head for a bit. So I started painting. Initially, I was just making some pieces for my housemate, then it kind of grew from there and I started making some paintings for friends. It was really just a form of therapy for me and a way for thanking my friends for supporting me.”
Zest and Honey has been met with (what Ebony considers) surprising popularity, and has reached proportions she hadn’t initially expected. As something she was “just messing around with”, it must be thrilling to keep receiving requests for paintings.
There’s a common thread which underlies both the Zest projects and the numerous other projects and roles Ebony has taken on: improving mental health awareness. This is something which Ebony holds dear, even though she never really aimed to be a mental health advocate. Rather, it is something she has become passionate about over time, due both to personal experience and a desire to see change in attitudes commonly held around mental health.
The project Bloom (yep, there’s another project Ebony has been working on) comes as a result of this. Designed for university students, who as a group face an alarmingly high risk of developing a mental illness, Bloom is a website which uses positive psychology tools to encourage its users to recognise emotions and normalise discussions between friends to talk about what is going on in their lives. Ebony hopes to launch the website in 2017.
These projects are just the recent additions to her already innumerable accomplishments made in the realm of mental health awareness. She is the founder of the ongoing event ‘Fluro Fridays’, which gets people together on Friday mornings in their brightest active-wear, to go for a walk together and chat candidly about what’s going on in their lives. Through organising this, Ebony hopes to help remove the stigma around talking about mental health issues, raise awareness around mental health, and enhance the support networks available for those struggling with mental health (which, unfortunately, is probably a lot more of us than we think).
Ebony’s talent in this area has clearly been recognised, with the widely known mental health awareness organisation Batyr taking her on as a speaker and facilitator.
“Batyr played a big part in my story and I really do feel it’s an honour to work with them talking to University students and High School students talking to them about mental health,” she says.
So, with a bit of background aside, it’s time to get back to the finer details of the big walk.
As anyone who is familiar with the Australian continent will know, it is certainly no easy task to walk from one side of it to the other. There are countless things to consider, which Ebony is more than aware of. She expects it will take her six months to complete, with the aim of walking 42km per day (although this is dependent on conditions).
So what about when the day’s 42km is complete? Ebony plans on camping along the side of the road, and paying visits to roadhouses where she will replenish her food and water supplies. She won’t be dependent on the roadhouses for food and water, however, nor will she have anyone helping her transport her stuff. Ebony plans on doing the walk solo and unassisted. This means that all of her belongings will be carried in a trolley, which she will pull. Pretty amazing, we know!
While Ebony is willing to sacrifice physical assistance, she hopes not to forego mental and emotional assistance. She is hoping to receive messages from friends and family to provide her with support, as well as sharing her experience with the people she meets along the way. She will also document her experiences on a blog.
As far as the risks go, Ebony is aware that a lot of things may be out of her control, but she will do everything in her power to minimise potential risks. She has made a list of all the potential dangers, and figured out ways of best overcoming them or at least reduce the chances of them occurring.
“Currently the list is pretty long, but nothing yet that’s made me want to quit.”
Fluro Fridays
On top of the physical and mental exhaustion that accompanies such a massive feat, there is the unfortunate added danger that comes with being a young female taking on the challenge.
This is a danger Ebony is all too aware of. When she was working in the Norther Territory recently, Ebony was attacked. While being a woman made her more prone to such an event, it has also meant that Ebony (who is always one to see the silver lining in things) has been able to draw on her experience to inspire other women. In doing so, Ebony aims to encourage other women to overcome the various barriers which are more profound for women than for men, and to reach their goals and aspirations.
Taking on the challenging walk – which among other things was postponed due to the attack and its repercussions – is a key way Ebony aims to prove that women can overcome the barriers which they so often face. In keeping with this, Ebony hopes to raise funds over the journey for a range of charities which encourage and promote women’s education, health and wellbeing.
Like this and the various other challenges ahead, many of which Ebony says she probably hasn’t even thought of, she is confident she will be able to “face each one and keep going”.
Keep up with Ebony’s art and journey here.
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