FEATURE
Aiming high - resilience is key .
Institute Chartered Financial Planner programme , to name a few , I feel we were as prepared and skilled as possible to deal with what was thrown our way this year .
Had we not invested in ourselves , I ’ m sure our experiences and outcomes during Covid would have been very different .
My second analogy with climbing Kilimanjaro is about resilience , and especially mental resilience . Adrenaline alone gets you through the first few days on the mountain – perhaps in the same way as it did during the early days of lockdown . That “ new ” experience quickly disappears once the enormity of the task becomes clear , however .
We first saw the summit on day two or three . An eerily sunny , still and cloud-free day showed us how far we still had to go . It was huge ! The battle was then mental , rather than simply physical .
Kilimanjaro was at times a lonely and very dark place to be , especially when pushing towards the summit on the last night .
We had already walked all day before setting off from Kibo Camp at midnight . With only head torches and the moon to light our path , we began shuffling up the mountain , one foot at a time .
It was at least eight hours to the top and you cannot talk because the air is so thin , and you need every ounce of oxygen to simply catch your breath .
It ’ s just you , the elements and your thoughts . The only way of stopping the pain and loneliness is by throwing the towel in – but if you do , you ’ ve failed ! Sound familiar again ? I thought like this many times during spring , and you might have too .
At 7.58am , we finally reached the summit , one team member short , taken back down with altitude sickness – which is an extremely kind term . Our friend collapsed and if she wasn ’ t taken to a lower altitude immediately , was at risk of a cerebral oedema !
Emotions were , therefore , mixed – proud , exhilarated , elated , yet exhausted , struggling to breathe and daunted by the almost immediate trek back down . More energy was needed , but from where ? I had nothing left !
My words probably don ’ t do it justice , but when three fabulous mothers in our group say the pain was worse than childbirth , you get the gist !
I never thought I had mental resilience until that night . I thought of myself as “ normal ”, maybe even weaker than many . Perhaps that ’ s just our Teesside trait of not believing in ourselves ?
I proved to myself that not only am I capable of getting through some dark and challenging times , but also how resilient the human body can be in such extreme conditions .
Thankfully , we don ’ t often get the chance to test ourselves to this extreme level , but 2020 has pushed many of those same buttons for me as Kilimanjaro did back then .
What I haven ’ t mentioned yet is that I had climbed the mountain before , in 2011 . However , I was the one who was taken back down after collapsing on the midnight push for the summit . My body simply couldn ’ t cope with the altitude . I ’ d given my all , but it wasn ’ t enough .
That time I had not prepared as much or focused on the challenge . I fell into the trap of thinking that if others could do it then so could I .
Unlike my first attempt , my 2018 climb was with a group of close friends , who cared about each other and had each other ’ s back , no matter what . We were all climbing for the same cause and were together during the difficult times and to celebrate the successes , too . We were a team .
I firmly believe the business community of Teesside is also one of real friends and we should be proud to use the support on offer . Our community has many great , inspiring and normal people willing to help , you just have to reach out and make the most of it .
Asking for help is no weakness , it is a strength . I would not have got up that mountain without those around to push and support me .
Finally , it would have been easy for me to use this space to simply promote what we do here at Active and why . However , after the year we ’ ve all had , I felt it important to show solidarity within the business community .
Preparation , resilience and solidarity got me to the top of Kilimanjaro and through 2020 . I ’ m confident these qualities will also help get you through these challenging times . Do send me a message if I can help in any way . Let ’ s get through 2021 together .
I ’ ll leave you with a quote from the great Sir Edmund Hillary : “ It is not the mountain we conquer , but ourselves .”
The voice of business in the Tees region | 59