Time to conquer your mountain

08 May, 2016 - 00:05 0 Views
Time to conquer your mountain James W Whittaker

The Sunday Mail

YOU are not held back by any mountain or challenge. Every challenge you face is neutral, and it is what you do that makes a difference.
You are not held back by what you are. You are held back by what you think you are not. Never feel inferior in the face of any challenge.
You have more power residing in you than you think. There is potential in you to rise above any challenge and to live the life you have imagined.
Rise to your greatness and challenge your mountains.
There is something that is magnetic about mountains, challenges and edges. For some mountains are imposing, challenging and best avoided.
For others, mountains are a challenge to be conquered. Reaching the summit is a goal to be desired.
Physical or otherwise, we all have mountains to climb. Fight your battles, outlive your challenges and outrun the things that are trying to hold you down.
Refuse to be held back by the past and to be enslaved by things that no longer exist. You have a bright future, believe it and see it. Never let the current problems cloud the possibilities ahead.
Never let the noise drown the voice of destiny that is calling within you. There is something in you that is so strong that cannot be defeated and muted.
Let the giant within you be unleashed.
Before you start running, reflect on what you are running away from and where you are running to. Do not run away from your opportunities because they are shrouded with problems.
Do not run away from your mountain. Face your mountain with courage and boldness. Climb it and if you have to crawl up slowly, so let it be.
You see the end game and the possibilities. Those who do not see the ultimate are scared by the immediate.
Mountain climbing is a challenging and addictive sport. Every mountaineer knows that you do not really conquer the mountain you are climbing, but you conquer yourself.
The mountain is simply a proxy of your internal growth journey.
James W Whittaker (born February 10, 1929) was the first American to reach the summit of Mt Everest on May 1, 1963. Although he and his team ran out of oxygen, they reached the summit.
Over the years, he has been involved in many expeditions and inspiring other climbers. He is well-known for some of his sayings that inspire all climbers in life.
Among them are the following:
“Being out on the edge, with everything at risk, is where you learn and grow the most.”
“You don’t really conquer a mountain, you conquer yourself. You overcome sickness & everything else — your pains, aches, fears – to reach the summit.”
“If you’re not living a life on the edge you’re taking up too much space! You learn the most when you’re out of your comfort zone!”
I draw much inspiration from these statements and in this instalment share my inspiration.
Trusting that you will be further inspired and spurred to climb higher, faster and further. There are possibilities ahead and it is up to you to look up and not down, to go forward, not backwards.
“Being out on the edge, with everything at risk, is where you learn and grow the most.”
If you are not growing, you are dying. If you are fighting to preserve the status quo, you are presiding over death.
Pursue growth because that is the business of life. Position yourself for growth. In your lean seasons do not forget the growth to come.
You may also be at your edge, with everything seeming lost and almost gone. Do not give up or lose heart.
Do not fear and do not be dismayed. When you are at the edge, you learn the most and the fastest.
Under pressure, you optimise the use of your time and resources.
Some pressures are not bad, they just help remove the insanities of the past. Challenging times are times of the fastest growth. Growth is best when it starts within you. Challenges are not the most emotionally palatable things, but they are the best growth stimulants.
Your moments of pressure are growth presents. They are your moments and opportunities to grow.
Put your problems in perspective. They are a testimony in the making. If you do not grow fast under pressure, you may never grow under any other circumstance.
“You don’t really conquer a mountain, you conquer yourself. You overcome sickness & everything else – your pains, aches, fears – to reach the summit.”
Always keep you goals in sight. Mountains and challenges were there, will be there and you can never finish them.
You do not conquer the mountain, but yourself. You conquer your own fears, hesitation and laziness.
In any crisis stop blaming the crisis or others. Never get so locked up in insane arguments that you forget who the real enemy is.
Look inside you.
Fight the battles that matter and do the things that matter. It is in crisis moments that the ugly parts in you are revealed. When you see yourself in the mirror, do not take out your anger on the mirror or break the mirror. It is not the mirror’s fault. Breaking the mirror will not improve your face. Fighting against reality will not change the reality.
The way you think determines what you do. Until you change your mindset, every other change will be short-lived.
Nothing is more dangerous than a mountain person, with a valley mentality. Conquer within to change anything without. Quit the blame game because it will never take you anywhere.
Take responsibility and address the reality that is facing you not the one you wish you faced.
“If you’re not living a life on the edge you’re taking up too much space! You learn the most when you’re out of your comfort zone!”
The comfort zone is not a zone of life but death. If you are not living on the edge, as Whitaker said, you are taking up too much space.
Get off the lazy pedestal and move out of the comfort zone. Take responsibility and realise that no one owes you a living.
You cannot sit around hoping that someone will bring you a solution.
The price of greatness is taking responsibility.
If you do not take responsibility, nothing will happen. You cannot forever blame the past for the present. Do not be so obsessed with the past that you do not have an agenda for tomorrow.
Quit expecting that someone will turn up with a magic fix. There are no instant solutions to problems you created.
You are accountable for your life and the consequences that you have created. Change comes when you accept responsibility and you commit to being a part of the solution.
You learn the most when you are out of your comfort zone. The search for comfort is a numbing drug that drowses people into mediocrity.
Take up the challenge. Confront your mountains.

Milton Kamwendo is an international transformational and inspirational speaker, author and coach. He is a strategy, innovation, team-building and leadership facilitator. His life purpose is to inspire people to be great. Feedback: [email protected], Twitter @MiltonKamwendo and WhatsApp +263772422634

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