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Posts tagged ‘challenge yourself’

Hiking under the Arizona sun

You almost LOST ME at rattle snakes, scorpions & tarantulas!

Last week I got to spend some quality vacation time with family and friends under the warm Arizona sun. I’m an ocean-loving girl, so it’s been more than nine years since I’d been to Arizona.

The last time I visited, I was at my all-time heaviest weight of 381 lbs and it was a very different trip. Needless to say, I was more of a passive observer of the Arizona mountains on that trip. I had trouble walking even short distances and couldn’t imagine actually getting out in the wilderness and hiking.

But this year, as a fit and healthy girl, it was important to me to get out in the dessert and experience it up close and personal via my favorite outdoor activity — hiking the mountains. At least that was my plan UNTIL I learned that rattle snakes and tarantulas frequent the trails! Eeek. Literally, my worst nightmare and one of my biggest fears. That said, my desire to hike was greater than my fear of reptiles and creepy crawly things (barely). So, off we went.

We had a host of hiking recommendations in the Superstition Mountain Wilderness — including the Siphon Draw Trail and Flatiron. But, after hearing my 20-something niece and nephew describe the difficulty of these hikes, we decided our inaugural dessert hiking trip would start with something simpler — the three mile round trip Hieroglyphic Trail near Gold Canyon. Read more

When was the last time you challenged yourself?

…REALLY challenged yourself. What happened next?

ITE_Quote2Most of us live inside our self-defined comfort zone. Often that means we play it safe or live masked by fear of going for what we really, really, really want in life. For some of us, that fear can mask itself in excuses and rationalization.

I know this because I lived in a safety net of fear and a default mode of “not going for it” for most of my adult life. But when I found the courage to push past that fear; when I figured out what I REALLY wanted and went for it — well, amazing things happened. That’s when I realized that I can do anything! And that’s when I started living from the default of “going for it” instead of playing it safe.

It’s not easy to challenge yourself to do hard things. But I find that every time I do, I not only feel a sense of pride for the accomplishment, but it ups the ante of what I’m capable of and what I attract in my life. And that is the coolest thing! Read more

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