What’s Your Mount Everest?

I noticed that the red light on my blackberry was blinking just before I went to bed last night. That light is always blinking between my personal and work emails I can easily receive about 80 a day. On the weekends it’s normally pretty tame, just sales emails from vendors or the occasional workaholic project manager. But as a habit I check it every time I notice it that frantic light. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I received a comment on my latest blog entry. Normally, all my comments come from family and friends (all of which of which are greatly appreciated) but this one came from a man named Jake Norton. Jake is an accomplished climber who has conquered Everest twice, McKinley once, and Kilimanjaro three times! He is also a photographer, motivational speaker, and keeps The MountainWorld Blog. In fact, he felt so inspired by my journey that he dedicated an entry in his blog to me and my story! Needless to say, I am incredibly flattered and honored that a person such as himself took the time to write about me. So, Jake, thank you so much for encouragement and words of wisdom… maybe one day I can join you in climbing an actual mountain!

In Jake’s blog he writes,

“We all have our own Everest, a metaphorical mountain we need or want to climb in our lives. These mountains take many shapes – some are mental, such as building self esteem, dealing with mental trauma. Other Everests take the financial form: buying a house (or selling one in the current climate), starting a business, retiring, putting kids through college. Some people are climbing physical mountains as they fight back from and injury or disease.”

Which brings me to a point I have been meaning to write about for some time now… Mount Everest as metaphor. Back in January I started researching weight loss and I read one tip that said to set a goal for the amount of weight I would like to lose. I immediately thought ‘well, I need to lose about… half of me!’ Once that number crept into my head I just couldn’t shake it. I became discouraged at the thought of losing such a daunting amount of weight and it popped in my head ‘it’s like trying to climb Mount Everest!!’ At the time when those initial thoughts came to me Mount Everest was the most impossible feat I could think of. But once I really thought about it, it occurred to me that Mount Everest has been scaled and more than once by exceptional people like Jake Norton. I realized that with the proper amount of determination anything is possible and I needed only to look to the strength I already possessed to attain my goal.

In my 28 years on this planet I have seen my fair share of struggle. A lonely childhood, the loss of my stepfather at 19 followed immediately by the death of my estranged father at 20, being diagnosed with cancer when I was 21, learning that I cannot naturally conceive a child at 26, and after much effort losing a much-wanted pregnancy later that same year just to name a few. However, I know that losing this weight will be my greatest struggle to date. Much of what I have been through just happened to me whether I was ready for it or not and I was thrust into situations that demanded me to step up. But I am knowingly and willingly taking on this struggle and knowing the strength I have been able to muster in the past, I know I can beat this. And in doing so, I know that once I reach my goal it will be my hardest fought battle and my proudest accomplishment.

We all have that one goal that seems so far out of our reach that they appear impossible. It’s only those who push away the self-doubt and fear that can reach the summit of their mountain and become extraordinary. So, what’s your Mount Everest?