As I begin this new year and blog, I wanted to start things off by looking back to a trip I took up the mountain. Early in fall, I successfully summitted Mt. Huron, a 14,000 foot peak located twenty miles outside of Leadville, Colorado. I got to the top but not without some struggles. When reflecting on the lessons learned, there were some ideas that stood out as being important for making it up the mountain and, really, for achieving any goal.
You talkin’ to me?
My mind can be a tricky one. It likes to tell me that I’m not physically or mentally capable enough to do something. (I know, I know… your mind doesn’t do such devious and self-defeating things!) While normally ignored at lower elevations, something about the lack of oxygen on the mountain amplifies this small voice and makes it much more convincing. This is when I rely on a combination of methods to help me deafen that mind-noise of negative thinking. Part of me simply ignores the bad stuff while another part of me begins to remember the numerous times that I’ve pushed myself and succeeded. Doing these in equal parts along with a sprinkling of cheesy theme music and I’m suddenly making the choice to not listen to that voice.
Now, you…you are talking to me
Massage school taught me how to listen to my body. Before that, I’d ignore the pain I felt, the tightness of certain muscles and the knots that indicated more than tension. But the thing is, once you start listening to what your body has to say, it’s hard to stop. On the way up the summit, my lungs were telling me that they wanted more oxygen while my legs were letting me know they didn’t appreciate the steepness of the trail. By tuning in to these messages, it became easier to figure out how I was really doing. As the sum of many parts working together, I like to listen to my body because it always has something important to say.
Repeat as needed
Breathe. Looking back on every physical challenge that I’ve undertaken, from running a marathon to backpacking 500 miles, remembering to breathe has been critical in my successful handling of difficult situations. When you’re above 13,000 feet, the air is much thinner and there is not much to be had. If you forget to breathe, you start feeling dizzy right away. It sounds silly, but with that kind of instant physical and mental feedback, you have no choice but to breathe as much as you can.
Ain’t nothing too small to celebrate
At about 13,500 feet, I started hitting my wall. I wasn’t feeling well but could see the summit. Adam suggested taking a short break to drink some water. As I sat down, he pulled a Payday candy bar out of his pack. The angels started singing and suddenly I felt like maybe, just maybe, I was going to make it. While I hadn’t made it to the summit yet, celebrating the achievement of making it that far helped me to muster the strength to get to the top.
Wear a skirt
Make it fun. Dress it up. Put yourself in something that makes you feel like kickin’ ass. Whatever the challenge, having your superhero outfit on (metaphorically or literally) helps you to play the part. I wore a dress up the mountain because I loved how I felt in that dress. The wind between my legs was exhilarating and motivating as I hiked the trail in my summit skirt. When you feel good about what you’re wearing, you can accomplish anything. Just because I hike with boys doesn’t mean I have to look like one. (I’m a big fan of the local company, SkirtSports, that makes an awesome line of functional and funky fitness skirts. This was the same dress that I wore to run the Denver half-marathon!)
With a little help
The support system that you surround yourself with is critical. Not only will they show you where to go but they will also point out the best way of getting there and help if needed. With extreme physical challenges, your support crew is of utmost importance. You want to have people around that you trust, like and can still deal with if frustrations run high. Friends and strangers alike helped me to summit Mt. Huron, reminding me along the way to take it one step at a time. After we got off the mountain, the celebratory beer tasted even better with the knowledge that we had bagged the summit together.
All of the above lessons are ones that resonated with me as I tried to put some meaningful thought into what I want this online space to be. As a mission statement/clarification of purpose, talltara will be a place to document my offline adventures, whatever they may be, and to experiment creatively, whatever that might mean. Some of my initial goals…
In 2008, I’m returning to the stage to indulge my stand-up tendencies. I thought it would be interesting to share tales of my comedy journey and stories from the stage.
On the photographic front, I’m participating in Project 365, which involves taking a picture a day for all of 2008. I’ll be showcasing my daily photos here but will be continue posting other pics on Flickr.
Other topics I’m interested in pursuing and playing with…backpacking trips, triathlon training, sustainable design, community building, learning to juggle, conscious consumerism, and whatever new projects/obsessions/passions happen to cross my path.
Thanks for joining me and my work in progress. And a super big thanks to James Carrington for the pictures and to the Remabulous Caroline Donahue, for a much-needed creative kick in the pants.
