Six years a mountain climber. Anything is possible!

Some days I love the Facebook history feed. Facebook reminded me on Dec. 3rd that I climbed my very first mountain six years ago. How awesome is that?!

I didn’t necessarily set out to climb mountains, nor did I understand fully at the time how life-changing it would be. I am now a happy, mountain-climbing gal – six years and counting.

Today’s blog is about marking this milestone for myself, and it’s for anyone reading this who thinks it’s impossible to climb mountains — or tackle any big, hairy, audacious goal in life. I am here as living proof that, indeed, anything is possible.

If you had told me six years ago — as I prepared for weight-loss boot camp weighing in at more than 360 lbs — that I would climb mountains, both literally and figuratively…That I would go on to become a mountain climbing gal six years in and crave the next climb and adventure… Or, that I would lose and maintain a more than -200 lb weight loss, living every day from the center of my equation…Well, I would not have believed you. I would more likely have asked if you’d been drinking, A LOT!

Yet, here I am today in that very place. No, in an even better place! Because more significant to me than losing all that weight and getting my health back on the outside, is the fact that I got healthy on the inside. I went from believing I wasn’t good enough and hiding behind the layers of fat for protection — living a “small” and “safe” life — to becoming a kick-ass adventurer, a mountain climber, a 2x business owner, lover of life, and someone who goes ALL IN and doesn’t let anything hold her back! That’s a pretty big swing on the spectrum of what’s possible. And it’s evidence that when decide what desire and that you deserve it, PLUS believe you can do it — that’s what makes the anything possible.

That internal self-love, acceptance and self-confidence is a greater gift to me than the actual weight-loss itself. Though both are admittedly great. I promise you, that this kind of life transformation — or whatever you desire — is available to you, too. And that’s my message today. Yes, we can. Yes, you can!

Today as I reflect on six years as a mountain climber, I’m incredibly and deeply grateful for the gift of my health and fitness. I am grateful to the Universe…to my friends and family and all of those who supported and believed in me along the way…to my immediate transformation team who will always hold a special place in my heart. And I’m grateful to those of you whom I’ve met in recent years along the way. It is you who raise me up to stand on mountains. Well, you all, and now I also know I can do it so that helps! (Watch my thank you & celebration video to the song You Raise Me Up.) 

Let’s celebrate with more mountain climbs…a BIG one!

To celebrate this milestone and my 5-year anniversary of keeping the weight off and living with Lori-in-the-equation (May 2017), I’m planning the next big adventure and the next mountain climb. It’s a doozy. My most challenging yet.

Next spring, I’ll celebrate by climbing my favorite mountains in Acadia National Park in Maine and the big kahuna Mt. Katahdin — the highest mountain in Maine at 5,627 feet and the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, located in Baxter State Park. Katahdin is out of my comfort zone and that’s the point. I am both excited and a little apprehensive. But, I’m all in!

Thanks for reading this blog…for sharing your struggles, challenges and successes with me. And finally, thank you for celebrating yet another milestone with me.

This journey of living healthy, happy and whole is not always easy. Just like the mountain those first few times, it can be really, really difficult and you may even cuss (A LOT!). Yet in the end, know that you will prevail. If not right now or this time, then the next time or the next. The key is to keep going. To keep believing in yourself, even and especially when you fall.

I have learned and come to appreciate that the real growth, strength building and personal evolution of one’s self almost always comes during the hardest things — during that unexpected weather or rugged terrain — and in the final stretch to get to the summit when you often have to rely on sheer will and determination. This is what climbing mountains in weight-loss boot camp first taught me and it’s what life continues to teach me as I put myself out there and live healthy, happy and whole. It is a gift I will continue to appreciate, even if sometimes in the moment it really sucks. 🙂

I leave you with a link to my very first mountain-climbing blog post from six years ago in weight-loss boot camp: Climbed a mountain and then some. When I wrote this I was exhausted, sick and in physical pain — and I was beaming inside with pride and perhaps some disbelief that I had climbed a mountain! Little did I know at the time, I would go on to conquer that Oberg Mountain 50+ times and develop a true love for the climb — both literally and figuratively.

Yep, I’m a mountain climbing gal. Here’s to the next six+ years of mountain climbs and adventures. Remember, we’ve got this!

“It is not the mountain we conquer, it’s ourselves.”

xo

Lori

Here are some of the blogs from weight-loss boot camp in 2010 about embarking on a journey to climb mountains:

• My personal journey to climb a mountain (Nov. 2010)
• Putting Lori in the equation (Nov. 2010)
• Goals and dreams…drams and goals (Nov. 2010)
• Day 1: 7 hours and going strong (survived my first plank and cardio workout in the pool) Nov. 2010
• Survived week 1 — stronger, smarter and sorer (Dec. 2010)
• Oberg Mountain — my new quest (Dec. 2010)