In 2017, stuck in a loop of codependency and people-pleasing, 32-year-old novice backpacker Nicole Antoinette sets off to find her self-belief and inner resilience by doing something she does not for one second believe she can actually do: solo- hike all 800 miles of the rugged Arizona Trail. The guiding question she brings with her is this: What do we find when we push ourselves further than we ever thought we could go? How To Be Alone: an 800-mile hike on the Arizona Trail is a cathartic adventure memoir that explores the privilege to be able to choose your own suffering, as well as the process of becoming a better friend to yourself along the way.