Resilience
The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties – I mean, quickly as in minutes and repeating it for hours – to toughen up and hanging in there no matter how tired you are. On the mountain, there is no way around resilience but failure or death. Life is about living or dying.
If we used resilience in our everyday lives – was that focused on our goals – We would never give up living our desired life for a mediocre existence. We might fail many times, but we would get up refuel with our new knowledge and continue until we succeeded.
Strong people alone know how to organize their suffering so as to bear only the most necessary pain.”
Emil Dorian
Not Stopping
If you get exhausted, you take a break – maybe you need some energy, so you eat something, and then you keep going before you get cold. it is all about momentum. If you stopped for a long time you would need warmer clothes or to get out of the wet clothes and your body would get cold, and that much harder to get started again. The mountain summit is getting closer – you just need to put one foot in front of the other. slow is fine – as long as you don’t stop.
If we used this way of thinking in understanding the tough periods of our lives, we would keep going when shit hit the fan and work our way out of the issues and problems that show up. Just keep going – do one task after the other – no rush, just don’t stop and lose momentum. That way setbacks are just learning steps; adjusting the journey towards success.
The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself
Mark Caine
Packing what you need to conquer that mountain
What you put in your backpack will help you reach the summit. Maybe you need ropes, snowshoes or skies, sleeping bag tent and enough food to get you up there. You would not bring a friend that has no interest in reaching the top, but just want to go for a walk. Your goals are not compatible – you would go with someone that has the goal and the backpack to go for the summit.
In life, we often set goals that are impossible to reach with the combination of knowledge we have, and people we spend time with. If you want to reach a goal, go find people that have similar desires, and who did what you want to do. Learn what you need to summit your mountain and focus on putting those things in your backpack – and you will get there.
Stay true to yourself, yet always be open to learn. Work hard, and never give up on your dreams, even when nobody else believes they can come true but you. These are not cliches but real tools you need no matter what you do in life to stay focused on your path.
Phillip Sweet
Level up the endurance of your body and mind
When you put yourself in a fight against the forces of nature – you are in the level up to be a better version of yourself game. The Physical as well as the psychological fight against ice and snow, the freezing cold winds and waters – it is not the equipment you carry in your backpack or the clothes you wear that makes or brakes you – it is the strength and forces you master in your body and mind.
Nobody said you would be great at something the first time you tried. To be good at something, you need to rehearse. The WINNING muscle needs to be exercised to be strong. Losing weight, building a business, or creating amazing relationships – it does not matter what it is. You need to work at it to be good.
Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning
Robert Kiyosaki
Experiencing the ultimate bliss
I call it “adjusting my point zero”. If I tell you that I promise you will be over the moon with bliss –
- going to bed in a tent
- on top of a mountain
- miles away from civilization
- on a freezing winter night
- in the snow
- without a shower,
- after sweating for 8 hours getting there,
The euphoric feeling is not something you will ever get going to bed at home, in a warm house, after a shower! If you don’t believe me – I deer you to try.
We are extremely adaptable. On my coolest adventurous hikes, I am over the moon with joy. because –
- After conquering the elements of nature
- pushing your body beyond its limit,
- being freezing cold every time you stopped to rest,
- the acid burning in your thigh and leg muscles
- rain or snow whipping your face,
- your mind is in survival mode
- your backpack gets heavier as you get more tired
When you finally reach that summit, and drop the backpack –
- Setting up the tent and being able to get out of the whipping snow,
- Getting out of the wet clothes and putting on dry warm clothes,
- Heating the soup you prepared and sitting in your warm dry sleeping bag, eating warm soup
- Coffee and a snaps to finish off the meal is the most amazing feeling.
And maybe (if the weather forecast is right) the sun will come out and give you the most beautiful sunset you`ve ever seen. And, the next morning seeing the sunrise from a summit in the morning is awe inspiring. It is impossible not to be filled with gratitude and happiness
We can work on consciously turning on our happiness. We can do It with meditation and filling ourselves with gratitude in the morning, or a number of other things you can read about here. But nothing turns on euphoric bliss like hard endeavors and not giving up until you reach your goal. No amount of money could ever pay for THAT feeling.
It is not the mountain you conquer but yourself
Trusting yourself, you got what it takes
It’s a mind game. If you believe you can or you believe you cant, you are right. If your goal is to climb Mount Everest, you would not ask your obese friend for advice on how to reach the summit. You would do proper research and find people that already made it, PT`s that had a track record for training people to get up there and advise on how to train your body and mind for the adventure. Chances are, you don’t know anybody who ever had that goal, so you need to trust yourself to find the resources you need to make it.
The same should apply for the rest of our lives. Why do we ask friends and family what they think about us quitting a job and going for our dreams if they never did it themselves? Do we need their permission? If they don’t feel your desire to get more out of life – how could they advise you on your dreams?
People don’t like change and along with your brain, your friends and family will try to keep you safe in the Status quo. If you want more from life – it will be up to you to seek out the knowledge and the people that can help you reach the lifestyle your aiming for. Leveling up often means losing some friends and seeking out more of the sort you wish to become.
Status quo, you know, is Latin for ‘the mess we’re in’.
The rewards of reaching your goal
AH; when you reach the summit and drop the backpack – THAT FEELING, is just pure bliss. Hours of fighting with your own mind and pushing your body to the limit – suddenly you are there. It is like all the hardship is forgotten and you just feel this amazing satisfaction and thrilling joy inside.
When you climb mountains and get used to THAT FEELING – you will be a goal getting junkie, and start collecting summits (whatever your summits might be). My advice is to use the same tools in all areas of life to pull out your happiness and success gene.
When you achieve your dreams, it is not so much what you get, but who you have become in achieving them
Henry David Thoreau
Can you think of any other reasons why backpacking will help you succeed in life? please let me know 🙂
