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Chapter 1

From Ordinary to Extraordinary

We are all extraordinary. I invite you to step out of an ordinary life and experience an extraordinary life. Through the insights in this book you will be given the opportunity to claim your dreams and the power to succeed in actualizing them. You will choose the direction you will go. I invite you to go beyond your current life, beliefs, and limitations. I invite you to claim, act on and, achieve your greatest goals.

I had the opportunity to live my dream of actually climbing and summiting Mount Everest. Admittedly this is an extraordinary accomplishment realized by few people. But my story of climbing Mount Everest serves as an inspiring metaphor for you to use as you work towards reaching your big dreams; it will remind you that big dreams are attainable. We all have metaphoric mountains to climb that lead us eventually to successfully accomplish our dreams. Your personal Mount Everest will be different from mine, but if you continue to climb towards your dream you will see the world as if from the highest peak on earth. Another metaphor that I use is “climbing gear,” which refers to the tools that you need to achieve success.

I am only the sixth woman from the United States to successfully summit Mount Everest from the North Col Route, most noted for the three steps that guard the peak of this majestic mountain. The degree of exposure one is subjected to on these steps requires unstoppable courage, physical strength, and expert climbing skills. The route is hard and cold and the lack of oxygen makes every step challenging. Because of this, the majority of climbers opt to summit from the Southern Route. The steps that I took to attain my goal included tools, skills, and strategies that are important for reaching all goals, large and small. Courageous stories from my experience appear throughout this book to inspire you to climb higher, to take another step, and to succeed in achieving your dreams

Imagine yourself standing on the top of the world, feeling your own boots and the beat of your heart. You have done it, accomplished your goal, and more. You have not only achieved your goals, you have surpassed them. What does it feel like knowing that you have succeeded? Imagine your inner guide congratulating you with “well done.” The culmination of my eighteen month plan had paid off. Your plan also will pay off if you outline and follow realistic steps, design appropriate strategies, and develop a time line that fits your purpose.

On the summit I must have felt fatigue; however, that was not the focus of those moments, as the wave of euphoria enveloped my total being. I do recall that life seemed to be in slow motion. I experienced mental images in frames and fragments that were filled with the day-by-day, step-by-step effort of following my plan of purposeful actions. All the incremental accomplishments related to this goal over the recent years came together in a kaleidoscopic vision. I had climbed Mount Everest. I had actually done it. And now I was required to go beyond.

As I returned to the present moment, I quickly became aware that gravity was pulling on me while the altitude disoriented me. A heavy and cumbersome oxygen mask offered breathing relief, but at the same time it further weighed down any sense of freedom of movement. Of necessity my thoughts turned to the steep and dangerous descent. I needed to focus on my next goal, to arrive safely at Camp Two.

After a fleeting thirty-five minutes on the summit, our expedition advisor noticed that my oxygen was dangerously low. Initially I experienced fear; fear is the thief of energy that can rob you of life. On Mount Everest fear could take that last bit of reserve you need to stay alive. I knew fear had to be turned away. As I checked in with myself and acknowledged that my oxygen supply was limited, I consciously slowed my breathing. Then I began the process of descending as quickly as possible.

The controlled movement down the mountain brought a sense of calm that took over my body, my mind, and my breathing. I was doing exactly what I needed to do. For the next thirty minutes I concentrated on breathing as slowly as possible while exercising the practiced feelings of disciplined serenity and self-enforced focus that had been part of my training. During the descent I thought deeply about my daughter, my community, and all that I wanted to do in my life. This gave me the motivation needed to conserve my breath, trusting that it would allow me to have a supply of oxygen until I reached the spare bottles. By the time I reached the spare oxygen bottles my tank was empty. My life had been saved in a precarious situation. I am fortunate to be alive.

How did I master these life saving skills? My life experiences in the world of competitive sports, endurance running, adventure racing, and mountain/river guiding that lead up to climbing Mount Everest taught me how to manage my time, energy, and resources. These activities helped build the skills that I needed and helped me attain the goal that I worked so hard to achieve. As the sixth woman from the United States to summit the North Col Route, I felt a sense of awe and affirmation that my process of setting goals works. You have this same opportunity to turn dreams into reality through a simple series of steps presented in the following pages. Willingness and persistence will lead you to great achievements.

People have often asked me questions such as: “Who would be crazy enough to put their life at risk and leave their family just to climb a mountain? What in the world possessed you to climb and to summit Mount Everest? What propelled you to go through the pain and discomfort that it would take to reach the summit of Mount Everest or any of the other great peaks on this planet?”

Who would take such a risk? People who are awake to their dreams. What would possess them? Passion. What would propel them forward? Purpose. Who would allow their dreams, passions, and purpose to drive them to boldly climb their Everest, to attain their dream? Yes, it is you, and now is the time to embrace your dream.

We all have the opportunity to live fully and passionately. We were all born with the possibility of doing something distinctly our own, of transforming ourselves into the person we would like to be, of contributing to the world around us or participating more fully in life. Living is often what we make it. Living proactively, living your life inspired by your own calling, creates purpose in your life. Imagine yourself waking up each day secure in the knowledge that on this day you will be engaged with life and aligned with your heart’s greatest desires.

Are you limiting your vision to being average? Are you beginning to recognize what you are doing in your life? Are you willing to allow the blinders to be peeled away, to live proactively? Are you ready to wake to your true dream and courageously step out of the average into extraordinary?

Surrender and let the debris of unfulfilled dreams, goals, and desires begin to fall away. As you come to this moment in time, reading these words, allow yourself to feel your body, mind, emotions, spirit, and heart waking up. Allow yourself to begin realizing that limitless potential resides within you and is waiting to be claimed.

The first step on this journey of awakening to your potential is to take a good look at your current life. Whose dreams, goals, and visions are you living? Are they yours or someone else’s? Do you have your own vision of what you want out of life? This part is crucial because you need to focus your time and energy to pursue goals that are the most motivating for you.

My parents wanted me to choose a comfortable life, one they could be proud of. They wanted me to choose a safe career with long-term prospects, a secure income, and a good retirement plan. They both had degrees in teaching and had hoped I would follow in their footsteps. It was also important to them for me to marry earlier rather than later, have a couple of children, and enjoy the country club lifestyle.

I tried for many years to live the life my parents wanted me to live. I continued to try to get their acceptance. I majored in psychology and recreation therapy, although it did not exactly promise high financial rewards in the end. I got degrees and credentials in elementary education and in addition, I received credentials to teach children with special needs. I had various jobs in education that created an illusion of security. But because I was not in synch with my true passions, I kept veering from this path. Instead of playing it safe I began to explore challenging sports such as adventure racing, which involves multi-day, multi-sport, nonstop racing, often in a four person format. I also took summer jobs as a Class 3, 4 and 5 white water rafting river guide on the American, Kern, and Klamath Rivers. I was exploring my own “boots.” I was working towards recognizing the increasingly demanding parts of myself that I had denied in an attempt to please my parents.

So for awhile I decided to fragment my life. I chose to do a part of what my parents wanted me to do, be in a career that represented security, and the other portion of the time I followed my heart and explored the adventure that was more in alignment with who I am. Examples of this included: bike touring in the United States and overseas, multi-day backpacking trips, multi-day river trips, and competitive endurance sports. Finally, when I was in my late thirties I’d had it with the fragmentation. I became secure enough in myself that I decided to do life my way, to hike fully and freely in my own boots regardless of anyone else’s desire for me. I had discovered what should have been obvious, that you can waste a great deal of time trying to do the right thing with someone else’s dream for you, but after all the effort, in the end you are the only one left feeling empty.

Every moment in life is a gift. The choice is yours to receive the moment or to reject or deny it. You can let it live or you can suffocate or stuff it.