Episode 5
Ep 005. Top 5 Lessons Learned From Life & The Mountains (Birthday Podcast, I’m Turning 35)
I'm turning 35 tomorrow and wanted to do a special birthday podcast episode.
Last year I created a list of 34 short-and-sweet lessons I’ve learned from life and the mountains during my 34 years around the sun so far and sent it as a newsletter to my email list. So this year I decided to revamp that list and add one new lesson.
In today's episode, I'll be diving deep into 5 of my TOP lessons from that list.
If you want to read the full list you can go to https://www.shedreamsofalpine.com/birthday to check it out.
🎉 SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT 🎉 On November 18th-21st we are opening up enrollment to my signature coaching program, The Backpacking Badass Program (our online course, community and coaching program where we teach you everything you need to know about backpacking and being safe and self-sufficient anytime you hit the trail).
For many of our clients, this program was the difference between “maybe one day” and 👉 going on their first (of many) backpacking trips.
Our Black Friday is a perfect time to join us in the program and go ALL-IN on your goals to start backpacking more confidently in 2025 and beyond.
This is our FINAL enrollment of the year, and we are going BIG with our deals, bonuses, and giveaway prizes during that week.
Early Birds get EARLY ACCESS to our deals (some are limited!). Plus, when you join our early bird list, we will also email you a Sneak Peek Guide of our bonuses and prizes for that enrollment. 👇
>> Join the Early Bird Waitlist here.
Where to learn more about Allison:
🎁 FREE GIFT: Grab the Outdoor Backpacker Starter Kit for FREE here to get started on your journey with backpacking.
🥾 BACKPACKING COURSE WAITLIST: This is our signature program where we teach you how to become a safe, confident, and self-sufficient backpacker. It's an online course, coaching program, and community to support you in your journey to becoming a confident backpacker and step into your adventurous identity.
Transcript
You're listening to the Adventurous Reinvention podcast. I'm
Speaker:Alison Boyle AKA She Dreams of Alpine and this is the
Speaker:show that's dedicated to all the adventurous spirits out there who have either
Speaker:been transformed by the outdoors or interested in what it
Speaker:looks like to step into a new adventurous and courageous kind
Speaker:of identity in their life. It doesn't matter what your background is in the
Speaker:outdoors, what age you're starting at, or where you grew up. If
Speaker:you're curious about the outdoors and using adventure as a way to
Speaker:reinvent yourself, you're in the right place. I'll be
Speaker:sharing all kinds of personal adventure stories, lessons I've
Speaker:learned from the mountains, teaching what I know about the outdoors and leadership,
Speaker:and interviewing some amazing adventurous women all along the
Speaker:way. I've been coaching women on becoming safe, confident, and
Speaker:self sufficient backpackers and leaders of their own adventurous lives
Speaker:since 2018. And I know exactly what
Speaker:big fears and self doubts can pop up along the way. I have
Speaker:so much to share with you, so let's dive in. Okay.
Speaker:Before we get started, I wanted to kick off this podcast episode with
Speaker:a very quick announcement. So very soon on
Speaker:November 18th through 21st, which is this upcoming November,
Speaker:we are going to be opening up enrollment to my signature coaching
Speaker:program, the backpacking badass program. This is our online
Speaker:course community and coaching program where we teach you everything you
Speaker:need to know about backpacking and being safe and self sufficient
Speaker:anytime that you hit the trail. So for many of our clients, this
Speaker:program, the backpacking Badass program, was the difference between maybe
Speaker:one day and going on their first of many
Speaker:backpacking trips. And this is our very special
Speaker:only happens once a year Black Friday enrollment
Speaker:and it's our final enrollment of the year into this program. So
Speaker:we're going big with our deals, our bonuses, our giveaway prizes
Speaker:during that enrollment week. So if you've been wanting to
Speaker:start backpacking or become more self sufficient and confident on your
Speaker:backpacking adventures, then our Black Friday enrollment is a perfect
Speaker:time to join us in the backpacking badass program because you'll be able to
Speaker:go all in on your goals to start backpacking more confidently
Speaker:in 2025 and beyond. So we have a very, very
Speaker:special early bird wait list for that enrollment event, which
Speaker:is which if you go to she dreams of alpine.com/bird,
Speaker:you can join, and I will also drop that link into the show notes as
Speaker:well. That's shedreamsofalpine.com/bird. And
Speaker:the reason that you want to be an early bird is because
Speaker:our early birds for our Black Friday enrollment get early access
Speaker:to all of our Black Friday deals, bonuses, and
Speaker:giveaway prizes, and some of our bonuses are very limited. So you are
Speaker:gonna wanna be on that list. And if you join that list
Speaker:at shedreamsofalpine.com/bird, my team and I
Speaker:created this really special PDF guide. It's
Speaker:a sneak peek guide of all of our Black Friday bonuses and
Speaker:prizes for that enrollment, which we've never done before.
Speaker:We've never given a sneak peek. Usually, you'll only find out when you are coming
Speaker:up to enrollment. But this peek. Usually, you'll only find out when you are
Speaker:coming up to enrollment. But this year, we wanted to show you what you can
Speaker:expect so that you can take a look at what we're
Speaker:doing this year and make a plan for which bonuses enrollment
Speaker:is different than any other kind of enrollment we usually do and it's, like, got
Speaker:a lot of things going on. So we want you to take a look, make
Speaker:a plan, ask questions, and all the things. So, again,
Speaker:you can get on that early bird list for our Black Friday backpacking
Speaker:badass enrollment by going to she dreams of alpine.com/bird.
Speaker:Okay. So now let's get on to our actual
Speaker:episode. This is episode 5 of the Adventurous
Speaker:Reinvention podcast. Welcome. Welcome.
Speaker:So excited that you're here, that you're listening. If you're you're coming back to
Speaker:another episode, you've listened to a past episode, welcome. Thanks for
Speaker:being here. So tomorrow is
Speaker:my birthday and I will be turning 35 years
Speaker:old. I am officially in my mid thirties.
Speaker:Tomorrow, personally, I'm gonna be heading to celebrate my birthday, I'm
Speaker:gonna be going to Moab. I was, like, this year, I wanna spend my birthday
Speaker:in the desert. So I'm gonna be going to Moab in the van with,
Speaker:I'm gonna be meeting my family there, and I'm also be
Speaker:going with my husband, Michael, and we're gonna be camping in one of our favorite
Speaker:areas. We're gonna do some, like, day hiking. My dad has
Speaker:never been there before, so I'm really excited to show him the desert.
Speaker:I'm hoping the weather is really great. Maybe do a little bit of climbing with
Speaker:Michael, but really just, like, enjoying being there
Speaker:and kind of unplugging from the world and all the things
Speaker:and just getting to, like, spend time in one of my favorite places just sounded
Speaker:like a perfect way to spend my birthday. So
Speaker:this episode in particular is about some of the
Speaker:lessons that I've learned from life in the mountains. And I'm a pretty
Speaker:reflective person especially at this time of the year. So, like,
Speaker:birthdays and holidays sort of bring out the
Speaker:introspective side of me in in full force.
Speaker:And even though, like, I'm a really firm believer that
Speaker:the best time to start pursuing your dreams and goal is now
Speaker:no matter what time of the year it is. Like, I don't prescribe to the
Speaker:whole if it's a new year, that's when you can reset your goals. Like, you
Speaker:can reset your goals at any time. But I also love that
Speaker:birthdays and, like, certain holidays, especially around the New Year's, they
Speaker:kind of remind me to slow down, to reflect
Speaker:back, and maybe even it's a call to refocus on
Speaker:what I want to create in my life and experience in my life and
Speaker:just kind of bring that back to my attention because life can go really
Speaker:fast. You know, like, I don't even know how we're already in
Speaker:November of 2024. It feels like it just started.
Speaker:Especially as I get older, I feel like the years go by faster and faster.
Speaker:So I just love doing this. And, you know, 35
Speaker:feels like quite the milestone in my life. Like, I've never
Speaker:I remember when I was, like, in my teens thinking 35
Speaker:years old sounded really old and now I'm here. The mid
Speaker:thirties. I'm officially a mid 30 year old woman. And honestly,
Speaker:I think I feel pretty calm about it. I think going into my thirties felt
Speaker:tougher for me. When I was going from my twenties to my thirties, I'm like,
Speaker:what does this mean? But me being in my mid thirties, I don't know. I
Speaker:feel I feel pretty calm about it. I like a lot about my
Speaker:life now and even though there's still a lot of things that I
Speaker:wanna do, a lot of things that I feel maybe even uncertain
Speaker:about still and I'm, like, still figuring out because I don't feel
Speaker:like that ever really stops. But, you know, for instance, like
Speaker:having kids. Like, I don't have kids yet, and I actually don't know if I
Speaker:wanna have kids. But I'm kinda just letting that be okay for now.
Speaker:I've really dropped a lot of my drama around it.
Speaker:And just in general, like, I've really enjoyed the person I've become.
Speaker:I have been really intentional in creating this person and I feel like each year
Speaker:I get to know her a little bit better and I just see that getting
Speaker:better with age. And like I know personally for me
Speaker:at least that no matter whether I have kids or I decide not to have
Speaker:kids, my life is going to be really
Speaker:exciting and filled with adventure because I know how to create
Speaker:that for myself. So that's something I feel
Speaker:very calm about, and, yeah, I'm just excited to see
Speaker:what, you know, going into older age means for me.
Speaker:Last year, I created a list of 34
Speaker:short and sweet lessons that I've learned from life in the mountains during my
Speaker:34 years around the sun, and I sent it to my
Speaker:email newsletter. You know, definitely encourage you to join my
Speaker:email list. I send all kinds of goodies. But this year, I decided to revamp
Speaker:that list and I also added a new lesson for my 35 years.
Speaker:So I did kinda go through it. I was like, do these fields still applicable
Speaker:to me? I updated some. I removed some, all the things.
Speaker:And, I've I've put that out there for you to
Speaker:read the full list. In this episode, I'm going to
Speaker:focus on 5 of some of the ones that are most impactful
Speaker:but also the ones that I feel like most relate to life and the mountains.
Speaker:So I kind of pulled those out and I wanna walk talk through
Speaker:some of my top five ones that really have have made a big
Speaker:difference in my life. But if you want to read the whole list
Speaker:of 35 lessons that I've learned from life in the mountains, you can
Speaker:read that full list by going to shedreamsofalpine.com/birthday
Speaker:to find the full list, and that's just on my blog. You don't have to
Speaker:opt in to anything. It's just there on my blog and you can read through
Speaker:the whole list, and these are on that list. But I'm gonna be kinda going
Speaker:into these top five ones in a little bit more detail in this lesson.
Speaker:And one day I hope I get to, like, write a 100 of these.
Speaker:So maybe we'll do a yearly lessons
Speaker:learned podcast. I don't know. But
Speaker:let's dive in. Let's dive into lesson number 1. Okay.
Speaker:So lesson number 1 is
Speaker:life is 5050. So this is a concept
Speaker:that I learned from one of my coaches where she taught me that life is
Speaker:fiftyfifty, meaning it has both its good moments
Speaker:and its bad moments. So being a human means that we
Speaker:navigate both ends of the spectrum. It doesn't mean like we're ever
Speaker:always happy or always sad. We're kind of oscillating
Speaker:between these, and we we get that full experience. Right?
Speaker:And what I found most interesting when I first heard
Speaker:it phrased in this way that, like, life is 5050 and I learned
Speaker:that concept from my coach is that I recognized
Speaker:that the mountains had taught me this concept first, especially,
Speaker:you know, because when I had first heard this from my coach, I think I
Speaker:had been hiking and backpacking for 6 or 7 years at this
Speaker:point, mountaineering, climbing, all the things. Right? And I
Speaker:saw that concept, and I was, like, I love this concept. It's such a beautiful
Speaker:concept. The mountains have taught me this. And the
Speaker:mountains taught me that adventure lies within both the
Speaker:highlights and the low light lowlights. So, like, adventure
Speaker:is 5050, backpacking is 5050, any activity that you love
Speaker:to do in the outdoors is 5050. It has
Speaker:its good moments and its bad moments just like
Speaker:our lives do. So if you're only imagining
Speaker:or interested in especially when you're thinking about like getting
Speaker:outdoors and and backpacking and all the things if you're only imagining
Speaker:the highs, the epic summit views, the panorama vistas,
Speaker:the fall colors, the fields of wildflowers, the big
Speaker:cheesing smiles, like the friendships and camaraderie, well,
Speaker:you're going to be disappointed and that's because it's
Speaker:only half the story for any great adventure. And for
Speaker:me, like, this is really great news. Like, I love that
Speaker:the mountains have taught me this lesson because this is what I experience
Speaker:in life as well. So first, you
Speaker:know, to have that experience in the mountains, it
Speaker:really grounds my expectations for my life, especially when you have big goals. Like, when
Speaker:you're setting big my
Speaker:expectations for my life, especially when you have big goals. Like when you're setting big
Speaker:goals you are going to for sure feel the rub between the
Speaker:5050 because you are going after something that is unknown,
Speaker:is risky, is hard, you're going to be feeling it, right? And second, is risky,
Speaker:is hard, you're gonna be feeling it, right? And secondly,
Speaker:it helps me normalize the low moments that no matter what path
Speaker:that I choose it will always come with its own flavor
Speaker:of fiftyfifty experience. And for me with
Speaker:this knowledge, like, it lets me better celebrate and
Speaker:embrace all of those moments of life and look at them like this
Speaker:beautiful story or this beautiful adventure that we're writing about our life
Speaker:and how we can continue on bravely with our human
Speaker:journey and our human experience. And for me, it brings me, like,
Speaker:a lot of peace, and it also encourages me to choose the
Speaker:5050 kind of life that I would rather be living.
Speaker:So for example, what I mean by that is, like, if
Speaker:you have listened to my episode on how I reinvented
Speaker:myself from going being a full time engineer to an
Speaker:outdoor adventure educator, I had reached
Speaker:a point in my engineering career where the fiftyfifty of being
Speaker:there and staying there, which was the good side was,
Speaker:like, stable good income, but on the opposite end of
Speaker:the spectrum it for me became this boring kind of
Speaker:uncreative work that I didn't feel challenged by, I wasn't feeling
Speaker:compelled by, it was I decided it was not the
Speaker:5050 I wanted to be experiencing. So
Speaker:that doesn't mean when I jump into entrepreneurship that it was just
Speaker:roses and daisies and unicorns there was a
Speaker:fiftyfifty trade off there, right? So I traded in my spreadsheets
Speaker:for a new fiftyfifty kind of life with entrepreneurship.
Speaker:So on the positive side it's creative, life
Speaker:changing work. I get to work intimately with people to help them
Speaker:see themselves in a new way, to identify more adventurously, to feel confident in
Speaker:the outdoors. This is work that really fulfills me.
Speaker:But on the other side of that, right, I have the
Speaker:responsibility of running a company to make sure I pay myself and pay my
Speaker:employees. I have a lot more pressures. I work harder than I've
Speaker:ever worked in my life. Like, there are trade offs. There is
Speaker:fiftyfifty in both choices, right? So
Speaker:whenever you think about your hard moments in life, remember
Speaker:that it's part of our human experience. This is the
Speaker:5050. When you are going through a tough moment, you're
Speaker:like, remind yourself of this concept, and we know
Speaker:this to be true because the mountains taught us first. Now I
Speaker:wanna do, like, a bigger podcast on this one day because I think this is
Speaker:worth diving into a bit more, but I'm just gonna end that lesson
Speaker:here to go on to the next lesson. So lesson
Speaker:number 2 of lessons I've learned in life and the mountains
Speaker:Loop in the Grand Canyon and it was, like, 4 day backpacking trip and it
Speaker:was one of the hardest backpacking trips that I had ever done.
Speaker:It's remote, it's super rugged, it's very
Speaker:physical, and it required a lot of technical skill and know how
Speaker:more than any other backpacking trail that I had done.
Speaker:And I think it's funny because when you read about this trail online like here's
Speaker:how the National Park Service describes this trail. They say, this
Speaker:hike offers about a 1000000 ways to get into serious trouble in a
Speaker:remote part of the Grand Canyon. And for me, like,
Speaker:me and my friend, we described this trip in one
Speaker:short phrase. We called it the no fall zone trip.
Speaker:So there were so many moments on that trail where you're just like, don't trip.
Speaker:Don't fall. This would be bad. Right? And, like, just as
Speaker:a public service announcement here because this is an outdoor adventure
Speaker:kind of related podcast. This is in the trail that I would
Speaker:be, like, recommending to most of my clients. It's it's something
Speaker:that you want a lot more skill, a lot more experience,
Speaker:technical skill, more experience with pivot, more experience
Speaker:with heat. There's so many things that we could go into on, like, what you
Speaker:would need to have to embark on this trail, but
Speaker:that's for another day. So I just wanna say it's a really cool trail, but
Speaker:probably most of y'all aren't ready to do it yet. And if you
Speaker:are, then you'll know kind of what things you need to be looking
Speaker:for. For my friend Meg and I,
Speaker:this trip was a 100% in our wheelhouse. We We both
Speaker:collectively, between her and I, to get like, both ourselves
Speaker:have 10 plus years of experience with all those skills that I've mentioned.
Speaker:And we completed this route, like, so
Speaker:successfully and smoothly, and I was really proud of
Speaker:ourselves. It was a really high consequence trail, but we were really
Speaker:prepared for it. We were safe with our decisions on the trail. We made pivots
Speaker:and adjustments when needed. We were communicating really well with each other,
Speaker:which is important in a really high stakes sort of situation or
Speaker:adventure that you're going on, is to trust and feel like you can
Speaker:listen and talk to your partner. We leaned on each
Speaker:other's strengths. We both had strengths and weaknesses that we kinda had
Speaker:to, like, ebb and flow between, and we supported one another
Speaker:in tough moments. So for me, this trip
Speaker:felt like this full circle moment as an outdoor educator in
Speaker:particular. So these exact educator in particular. So these exact
Speaker:these are, like, exactly the skills that I'm aiming to
Speaker:teach my clients inside of the backpacking badass program, which is,
Speaker:like, safe decisions, knowing your limits, communicating
Speaker:well, knowing how to make pivots because oftentimes
Speaker:you have your plan, which I want you to learn how to make a really
Speaker:rock solid safety plan and trip plan, but you need to know
Speaker:how to make pivots within that plan, how to, like, adjust when
Speaker:things happen, right? So these are things that I aim to teach my clients in
Speaker:the Backpacking Badass program and they also come from experience.
Speaker:So testing myself with my friend on one of the most technical
Speaker:backpacking routes in the Grand Canyon, it reinforced so
Speaker:much for me. Like and
Speaker:for the full circle moment, like, I never would have imagined
Speaker:ever doing something like the royal arch loop 11 years ago when I
Speaker:was brand new to backpacking. But it's like doing
Speaker:this trip this year I was like, yes. It was challenging?
Speaker:Yes. I had some self doubt? Yes. But it was completely
Speaker:within my wheelhouse. And it felt really good to see the
Speaker:growth in myself and it felt good testing my skills even
Speaker:though the trail leaned more on the hard side rather than the fun
Speaker:side in the traditional sense. So the challenge for that
Speaker:trip is kind of what made it fun for me and my friend. We were,
Speaker:like, doing it because it was hard, and to see my growth in
Speaker:that area so tangibly was really, really
Speaker:satisfying. It was like this badass adventure
Speaker:with one of my good friends, testing our skills,
Speaker:being, like, just 2 women in the mountains, like, using our grit and
Speaker:mental strength the whole way. It was an experience I'll never forget. Right?
Speaker:So the lesson, don't ever count yourself out like I wanna
Speaker:bring it back to that. So I was
Speaker:if you listen to my the reason why I did these stories at the very
Speaker:beginning of our podcast, my reinvention stories, if you go back to, I
Speaker:think it's episode 2, my reinvention story on how I became
Speaker:outdoorsy, I was not adventurous or outdoorsy
Speaker:at all when I first found backpacking in my mid twenties.
Speaker:And, you know, like, if you want to
Speaker:be an adventurous, like, a bad bitch but you've
Speaker:never gone hiking before I want you to know there's no
Speaker:reason that you can't be that woman. Like, I don't care how
Speaker:old you are, I don't care what state you grew up in, I don't care
Speaker:how scared you feel about it right now, how awkward you might
Speaker:feel right now being new to it because we always kind of feel awkward doing
Speaker:new things, especially if we're starting a new adventure or
Speaker:hobby in our older age, we can tend to feel like I don't belong here
Speaker:kind of energy. I don't care if you're divorced. I don't care if
Speaker:you have no outdoorsy friends or partners in your life yet
Speaker:or you've always wanted to do this kind of thing but like maybe you had
Speaker:kids or career or life happened and so you haven't been able to focus on
Speaker:it until maybe now. I want you to know to never count
Speaker:yourself out and it's never too late to go for it. So
Speaker:if you drop the it's too late for me story
Speaker:that's when we can get to work on crafting like the most incredible
Speaker:adventurous version of you that exists out there. So I
Speaker:want you to be infinitely curious about what could be possible for you even
Speaker:if you can't see exactly what that would look like and
Speaker:take that next step. Like, get a mentor and a coach. Learn the
Speaker:skills. Be willing to feel some fear and
Speaker:uncertainty around all of it and be willing to take some risks and be willing
Speaker:to be uncomfortable, be willing to be awkward because
Speaker:no transformation happens without being willing to face some of
Speaker:that. So for me, I just wanna encourage you
Speaker:that if you wanna do this kind of thing, refuse to give up on your
Speaker:dreams, shake things up, explore a new identity for
Speaker:yourself, see what you can create
Speaker:from this big, beautiful life that we have as
Speaker:humans, our time here on this world, play a little bit more, don't
Speaker:take yourself so seriously, and don't be afraid of a challenge.
Speaker:And, you know, consider the things that you've
Speaker:always been told about yourself or you maybe you've already always told
Speaker:yourself about you, like, that you can change them and that you're
Speaker:tougher and more resilient and fierce than maybe you grew up believing.
Speaker:And don't count yourself because you could have a full circle moment like I
Speaker:did like 11 years from now 5 years from now where
Speaker:you're like wow 5 years ago 11
Speaker:years ago I never would have thought I'd reach this point where I'm just so
Speaker:confident in this skill that I thought I was so awkward at, so new at,
Speaker:all the things. Okay. That was lesson number
Speaker:2. So lesson number 3.
Speaker:Some of these are, like, kinda related but I feel like they're worth going into.
Speaker:This lesson is discomfort is the currency of our
Speaker:dreams. This is another quote from one of my coaches
Speaker:that she says all the time and something that it's easy for me to remember
Speaker:so I love that phrase. Discomfort is the currency of our dreams. It's something that
Speaker:I've often had put on a sticky note on my, you know,
Speaker:computer just to remind myself of this. And this one kind of goes along with
Speaker:that concept in lesson number 1 about life being
Speaker:5050, but I feel like it deserves its own special distinction.
Speaker:So embarking on an adventure that
Speaker:is outside your comfort zone in any kind of way is
Speaker:going to be uncomfortable at least
Speaker:for part of the time. So like first there is the self doubt discomfort so
Speaker:can I even do this? Will I be at the back
Speaker:of the pack? Will I be the slow one? Will it be too much for
Speaker:me? Will I get along with the group, right? Or am I going to be
Speaker:the oldest one? I get along with the
Speaker:group? Right? Or am I gonna be the oldest one? There's that
Speaker:self doubt discomfort. And many people don't even make it to a
Speaker:trailhead because of the overwhelming the overwhelming
Speaker:amount of discomfort that they feel from self doubt that they're
Speaker:experiencing from those kinds of questions. And then if you do make
Speaker:it to the trailhead, there is the on trail discomfort.
Speaker:There's the altitude if you're going to the mountains. Right? There's
Speaker:the uphills, there are the rugged terrains, there's the
Speaker:weather conditions, there's the heat, all of the things.
Speaker:But here's what I know is true that if you're willing to let
Speaker:it be okay that you have some self doubt discomfort,
Speaker:keep going anyways, and you're willing to accept that there will be
Speaker:moments that you feel physically uncomfortable on the trail because both of these
Speaker:things are true in my experience on most trips that you're going to go
Speaker:on. If you're willing to do that, that is when we
Speaker:open ourselves up to the possibility, the growth, and the magic that
Speaker:can come from doing hard, somewhat uncomfortable
Speaker:things. So when you're willing to open yourselves up to the
Speaker:discomfort, you can do things you never thought you could do. You
Speaker:get to raise the bar for you on what's possible.
Speaker:You can see things that you never would have been able to see and go
Speaker:places you never would have imagined you could go. You get to make connections
Speaker:and friendships with others that you maybe never would have made before. You
Speaker:get to feel alive in a way that sitting on the
Speaker:couch watching your favorite Netflix show can never compare
Speaker:to. You get to taste even more freedom because
Speaker:you've blasted through so many of your perceived limitations.
Speaker:You get to blow your own mind. You get to experience an
Speaker:identity shift internally, and you get to connect with that side
Speaker:of yourself that is unstoppable and, and quite frankly
Speaker:like a badass kind of person, right? And that's not
Speaker:even, like those are kind of a lot of like the internal things, that's
Speaker:not even talking about the other tiny beautiful things that you
Speaker:experience when you're willing to show up to discomfort and embrace
Speaker:discomfort like sunsets and alpine glow
Speaker:and crystal blue lakes and time away from
Speaker:your phone screens, right, rest for your
Speaker:soul, peace for that constant, like, mind chatter going on.
Speaker:Summit. Sometimes you'll get a summit, and sometimes it's just, like, the
Speaker:simple joy of watching, like, a tiny cute marmot on a
Speaker:rock in the mountains. Right? These are all the
Speaker:things that we get to experience when we're willing to
Speaker:embrace discomfort as part of our join journey. And we have to
Speaker:remind the brain that it's okay to move towards
Speaker:discomfort just like we do on the trail. So on life and on mountains,
Speaker:it is the same. And I want you to approach your life with the same
Speaker:conviction that discomfort is the currency of
Speaker:your dreams and that concept can change everything for you.
Speaker:Okay. So lesson number 4,
Speaker:if you have big dreams and goals but you're scared,
Speaker:do it scared. Now this is something you may have heard
Speaker:before. I know it's like I'm not the first person to ever say do it
Speaker:scared, but I feel like it's worth mentioning, especially in the context
Speaker:of adventure. If you're listening to this hoping to step more into an
Speaker:adventurous identity but you have a lot of fear, this concept
Speaker:will really help you. In my experience, there is no fantasy land where you are
Speaker:fearless. And in fact, as you grow as a hiker and backpacker,
Speaker:what I tell my clients is what will normally happen for most of them is
Speaker:they'll reach a point where clients is what will normally happen for most of
Speaker:them is they'll reach a point where it's like new level, new devil.
Speaker:So you're always growing, always evolving, and therefore you're gonna
Speaker:be always pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and
Speaker:therefore you're always gonna be encountering new fears. So
Speaker:stop waiting to be fearless. Fear is not a problem.
Speaker:Fear is a human emotion. We can work with
Speaker:fear. And sometimes fear is, like, really important. It's doing its job.
Speaker:So we need to learn how to distinguish between fear that is, like,
Speaker:telling us to do something and fear that's just our brain being uncomfortable
Speaker:with the unknown. But most importantly is, like, fear doesn't have
Speaker:to be something that defines you or defines how you
Speaker:show up. So, of course, when you're new to backpacking and, like, outdoor
Speaker:activities, in the beginning, there's this point where you wanna make sure
Speaker:that you are doing things safely, you're learning the skills, you need to be safe,
Speaker:and, like, you have that kind of baseline confidence in what you're
Speaker:doing. But most people, there is a point where you
Speaker:do know you have that knowledge, you've been practicing some of those things,
Speaker:and now you're ready for the experience side of things. Like you're ready
Speaker:to go out there, test your skills, and you're gonna have to do it
Speaker:scared. And I often teach this to my
Speaker:clients by helping them embrace more of their duality. And
Speaker:I kind of call this concept living living in the and. So if
Speaker:you could see me, I'm, like, putting quotations quotation marks around and. I
Speaker:call this living in the and. And living in the and kinda sounds
Speaker:like I'm scared and courageous.
Speaker:I'm lazy and hardworking. I am
Speaker:sometimes sad and happy. I am
Speaker:lonely and I enjoy my solitude. I have self
Speaker:doubt and I'm gonna do it anyways. So I find
Speaker:that embracing duality helps us release
Speaker:so much judgment, helps us release shame, and it helps us,
Speaker:like, release some of the pressure, right, on trying to be perfect. Like, when
Speaker:we're trying to remove fear entirely, it's
Speaker:kind of us being perfectionists. We're like, I need to be perfectly
Speaker:confident and that is not true. We can be fearful
Speaker:and courageous, right? And I
Speaker:think that embracing duality reminds us that we're so much more
Speaker:than our fear and our self doubt. And one more note
Speaker:like kind of related to this topic, I just wanna also
Speaker:encourage you that you will get better at handling the emotion of fear. The more
Speaker:you practice, the more experiences that you have, the more the emotion of fear. The
Speaker:more you practice, the more experiences that you have, the more that you do it
Speaker:scared, the better that you'll get at processing the emotion of fear and practicing the
Speaker:emotion of being brave and courageous. So bravery
Speaker:and being adventurous and being courageous, these
Speaker:are and being
Speaker:courageous, these are just skills that can be learned and practiced just like any other
Speaker:skill, just like outdoor navigation. These are skills that
Speaker:you will get better at. For me in my experience,
Speaker:I mean there
Speaker:there are some people that are out there that have this kind of like
Speaker:natural ability to just be brave but for me
Speaker:it's not something you have to be naturally good at. Like I
Speaker:wouldn't call myself a naturally brave person.
Speaker:I am a practiced brave person. It's
Speaker:a skill that I've honed now with over 11 years of hiking and
Speaker:backpacking and climbing and mountaineering. And, like,
Speaker:with that example of when I did that big backpacking trip this past April that
Speaker:I was just talking about in a couple of lessons,
Speaker:I still had a lot of fear and self doubt going into that trip.
Speaker:But, like, the brain, it just likes to question everything, but I know
Speaker:that now. Like, I know
Speaker:that I know how to work with the fear, how to recognize
Speaker:it when it's more valid to pay attention to when it's not, and I've learned
Speaker:the process of, like, how to move through it. And that has only come
Speaker:from years of doing it scared. So now for me, like,
Speaker:fear feel feels more like this softer,
Speaker:duller sensation in my body. It's less panicky, and it's more like,
Speaker:okay. Like, my senses are heightened. What do I need to do to
Speaker:be safe here? What can I rely on? What skills can I pull on from
Speaker:my toolbox? What resources do I do I have, like, to help
Speaker:me here? How can I regulate this sensation in my body? And I can
Speaker:move forward with more focus and calm decision making, which that is the
Speaker:skill I really want you to practice is learning how to make your fear your
Speaker:superpower and focus and make calm
Speaker:decisions and safe decisions even in the face of fear. And
Speaker:that is, like, so much that's, like, a such better skill to
Speaker:have than going into something fearless is knowing how to process fear
Speaker:when it pops up. But for me, all of this started with first doing
Speaker:it scared. Okay. And finally, this one will be a
Speaker:little bit shorter, but lesson number 5, I wanted to
Speaker:share this one last insight from the mountains that has also applied so
Speaker:much in my life. And this final lesson is that
Speaker:summits are just a bonus. So when you
Speaker:start to approach your adventures and your life with that kind of mindset
Speaker:that summits are just bonus, you're going to finally open
Speaker:up to the magic of the present moment. When we're only when I'm
Speaker:using summits here, but you can insert anything. But when you're only focused on
Speaker:the summit, like, the end point, you miss out on all
Speaker:the beauty that happens in between, the growth, the friendships, the
Speaker:little moments. These are what make a life. These are what
Speaker:make an adventure an adventure. Right? It's not the summit. It's
Speaker:not the end point. Summits to me
Speaker:or you can insert big goal here big goals,
Speaker:summits, these are just coordinates to point our compass towards to get us motivated to
Speaker:do the growth to do the hard thing to embrace the discomfort
Speaker:discomfort, to embrace the 5050. The adventure,
Speaker:the actual adventure in all of it is in the
Speaker:becoming the person who creates
Speaker:the who creates the ability to hit the summit, who reaches that
Speaker:summit point or hits that goal. That is where the true
Speaker:adventure lies. And so just remembering that summits are just
Speaker:a bonus and a cherry on top to everything
Speaker:is such like a calming and important thing to embrace in
Speaker:your life and in the mountains.
Speaker:So okay y'all that is all for today
Speaker:and again if you wanna read my whole list of 35 lessons,
Speaker:this was just 5 of 35, you can go
Speaker:and look at my whole list at shedreamsofalpine.com/birthday
Speaker:to find the full list. I hope that you've enjoyed this episode.
Speaker:If there was a lesson that resonated with you in particular, I'd love to
Speaker:know. You can always reach out to me in the DMs on Instagram at she
Speaker:dreams of alpine. I'd love to hear from you. And I'm off y'all.
Speaker:I'm gonna go officially close-up and
Speaker:start to enjoy my birthday weekend. I hope you have a wonderful
Speaker:week, and talk to you next week. Bye.
Speaker:Hey. I wanted to thank you real quick for tuning in to the show and
Speaker:listening all the way to the end. If you love this episode and you want
Speaker:deeper support in becoming a safe, confident, and self sufficient hiker and
Speaker:backpacker, then head over to shedreamsofalpine.com/waitless
Speaker:to learn more about our backpacking badass coaching program, where I teach
Speaker:you absolutely everything you need to know to be self reliant on the
Speaker:trails and stop waiting around on others for the adventure
Speaker:invite. So I'd love to help you more in your journey of stepping into
Speaker:your adventurous identity, and that program is the
Speaker:absolute best place for us to start working together. So, again,
Speaker:that's she dreams of alpine.com/waitlist, and you
Speaker:can learn all about it there. So that's it for today, folks. I hope
Speaker:you get to spend some time outside this week, and I'll be back very
Speaker:soon with a brand new episode. Bye.
