Walking the Talk

“Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing.”

~Unknown

I mentioned last Thursday in a Facebook post that I was being "forced" (by my own choice) outside of my comfort zone. Way outside.

I didn't have time to get into details or post a full blog about it then, but basically I said I was taking my own advice and choosing to LIVE, fully, despite the fears.

Let me tell you what happend. My overworked husband and I had planned a long weekend trip to go camping and boating with some friends. Our destination: about 7 hours north of where we live, near where we used to live.

A 7 hour tow with our Suburban (over 200k miles on it) and our 21' jet boat, over the steep hills and curves of I5 in Southern Oregon, north through Eugene and then traffic heavy Portland, and then up into the foothills of Mt. Saint Helens to Lake Merwin, is a long tow.

Our plan was for hubby to work in town that day (he covers a HUGE area of Southern Oregon) and hopefully get on the road a bit early from home. That was the plan.

And then the pager went of. Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep!

My hubby is on call 24/7. When the Beep Beep goes off hubby has go to go. He had worked the 5 previous weekends straight. This was to be his one off call weekend over a span of 9 weeks. Yah, he is overworked.

Hubby had to go north, to Roseburg, Oregon...about 2 hours north of here.

That left me at home and hubby 2 hours away.

So where does the fear facing, walking the talk, LIVING life part come in??

With this:



About 40 ' of Suburban and Boat



I hauled our boat up I5 for over 100 miles, through the twisty hills, by myself.

Yes.

I have towed the boat around a bit here and there, at the boat docks when we pull out of the water, mostly. I have also hauled a car trailer around a bit, here and there.

But I have never hauled our boat trailer up the freeway for over 100 miles totally alone.

It was SCARY to contemplate BUT it was amazingly empowering to accomplish!

Luckily I had no problems.

I saved my poor hubby from having to drive 2 hours north, work all day, drive 2 hours back home just to get in the 'burb and drive those same 2 hours all over again, plus 5 more!

It was exhilirating. Empowering. Amazing.

Talk about a confidence booster!

THEN, while we were camping, not only did I pull the boat out of the water, but I also BACKED it up into our campsite!

Amazing.

I also drove the boat some this weekend on the lake, which is normal, but I keep practicing pulling up to the dock, and this time, up along side of our friends boat so we could raft up.

Other things that I realized this weekend about how DOING conquers fears:

I used to be massively nervous about driving I5 in S. Oregon due to the series of very steep hills and tight corners. I now have done it so often that even though I was hauling the boat, I had no fears about the road itself.

Also, I used to get very nervous if I had to drive my husbands truck because it has a canopy on the back that you cannot see out of at all. Again, I have done it enough now that it didn't even create a second thought in my mind.

It is incredible to me how many of our fears can be overcome just by the doing, the living, the being, the actively participating in our lives.

There are fears I have never overcome, even though I have been exposed to them time and time and time again, so I don't believe that exposure to a fear ALWAYS breeds comfort, but it is empowering to know that it is *possible*.

It is possible that what you fear today will become completely insignificant tomorrow, if you focus on living your life and facing your fears.

My weekend was an amazing, and ongoing, lesson on how living my life really does impact my outlook on life.

There were many lessons; many examples of times when I could have chosen to live or to wilt like a wall-flower.

I choose to live.

Today.



Goddess of the Sky

“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”

~Sir Edmund Hillary

(source)

Mt. Everest, located along the border between Nepal and Tibet, is the world’s tallest mountain. The peak rises 29,035 feet above sea level. In comparison, Mt. Rainier in Washington State rises 14,411 feet above sea level, and Mt. Hood in Oregon State rises 11,240 feet above sea level, meaning that the peak of Mt. Everest is more than twice as tall as these local mountains.

When I think of climbing an incredible mountain, THE mountain of mountains, I think of Mt. Everest.

Mt. Everest was named after Sir George Everest in 1865, the British Surveyor General of India. This is the English name.

Did you know that the Nepalese and Tibetans have different names for Everest?

In Nepal she is known as "Sagarmatha", which translates to "Goddess of the Sky."

In Tibet she is known as "Chomolungma", which translates to "Mother Goddess of the Universe."

How appropriate is it that THE mountain of mountains, the one that calls to climbers and adventurers the world over, the one that inspires them to conquer their own fears, to conquer physical and mental limitations, the one that calls out to them to reach the summit, is known by those that have lived in her shadow for hundreds of years as a goddess?

I would say very appropriate.

Sir Edmund Hillary, quoted above, is the first recorded man to summit Sagarmatha, in May 1953, along with his Sherpa Tenzig Norgay. Hillary is quoted as saying "It is not the mountain that we conquer but ourselves." A wise man.

I believe that whenever we set out to ascend a mountain it is ourselves that we must overcome to reach the summit. Of course, the word "mountain" here is used as a synonym for "challenge" or perhaps "goal" or "dream".

Each of us, within us, has a goal or mountain or a challenge that we want to achieve. We may not have admitted it fully to ourselves yet. We may not have allowed ourselves to dream that big dream yet. We are afraid. We fear what will happen if we allow ourselves to dream the big dream. Will we have to work hard? Will we succeed? Will we fail? If we do succeed, will we be *too* successful? What will happen if we do reach the summit of our big dream mountain and all of our life's dreams are fulfilled?

Scary stuff to think about. Big, scary, amazing, powerful, inspiring dreams...

Whatever our dream or mountain, we must first overcome ourselves, conquer our own fears, our own mental limitations, in order to begin the climb. Usually the climb to the summit is not a direct route. There are often zigs and zags over the mountain; some parts are very treacherous and some parts take our breath away with their beauty.

But most importantly, we must get out of our own way! We must keep our focus. We must stop fretting about what happens when we get there, we must simply start the process of making it happen. Preparing for a climb on Sagarmatha takes years of preparation and training. The climb process itself takes months. The climbers must first climb to the lower base camp, where they must stay for some time to get acclimated to the thinner air and less oxygen. They then climb again to a higher base camp, where they again have to get acclimated. The process takes weeks to months. No one looks at these climbers as if they are failures for having to stop and catch their breath; or having to stop and get acclimated to their new surroundings.

WHY do we feel when climbing our own mountain that the path must be linear? WHY do we feel that stopping to catch our breath or get acclimated to our new surroundings is unacceptable?

All of the starts and stops, pauses, zigs and zags, treacherous ice fields and breathtaking views are a part of the process of summiting our mountain. There is no failure in pausing. There is no failure in slipping. There is no failure in taking the South Col route instead of the South East Ridge route. Failure only occurs when we refuse to continue, when we allow our own fears of success and our own limiting beliefs to prevent us from continuing the ascent.

We must conquer our own demons and fears in order to reach the summit. We must not allow a day or two of altitude sickness to send us packing back down the mountain to the lower base camp. When we have altitude sickness, we must rest, pause, take some oxygen, look around at the view of how far we have come, how high we have already made it and be awed by our own amazingness. We must look both up at the challenges to come and down at the challenges already overcome and use those to propel us forward.

With each step higher on the mountain we prove to ourselves that it IS possible; it CAN be done. With each step we conquer a little more of the naysayers in our heads. With each step we achieve more power and strength. With each step up the slippery slope, when we swing our ice pick into that slippery surface and say I AM NOT SLIPPING DOWN, we conquer a little more of our own disbelief. With each step we conquer a bit more of ourselves.

Each day as I look at my mountain, my big dream, my challenge, I must conquer fears, limiting beliefs, and the lies I tell myself about how I can't do it. Each day as I look at my mountain I must remind myself of my strength that I have gained by climbing as far as I have. Each day as I look at my mountain I must simply take the next step higher. I must simply continue the ascent, for I will never achieve my goal by looking back down. I will never reach the summit if I do not press on.

I, for one, plan to join Sir Edmund Hillary at the summit of the mountain... my very own Everest.

"It is not the mountain that we conquer but ourselves." ~ Sir Edmund Hillary

Information Source

Overcoming Fear

 

 

"I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise..."

 

~ Dawna Markova

(source)

 

 

 

 

"Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy."

 

~ Dale Carnegie

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'
You must do the thing you think you cannot do. "

 

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

 

 

In light of my recent resurgence of anxiety attacks, these quotes are meaningful for me today. This is how I am attempting to live my life. I will not sit back and let life pass me by due to my unfounded anxieties. I will look fear in the face and take steps to overcome it, go under it, around it, and sometimes I will just have to go through it.

 

I refuse to give in to the fears and live a shadow of a life. I will get out there and live the life I want, today. I will not wait and I will not allow fear or anxiety to prevent me from seeing, doing and living the amazing life I know I can have.

 

I will inspire my own inner light and use that light to guide me through the times of darkness and fear.

 

I have the power and the light. I create my own inner peace. I am the inspiration of my own light.

 

 

Light is Power

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

 Actually, who are you not to be?..." 

 ~Marianne Williamson

Let Your Light Shine

Inspire The Light Within



(image source)