Mt. Kilimanjaro

I have had this dream of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and it is my goal to do so later this year. I will be doing an internship (although I am not sure where or with who, if anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them!) with any luck in Africa. Once I am over there, which is the expensive part, I want to travel around a little and see some of the continent. My last destination before heading home will be to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Why you ask? I am afraid of heights. I want to test myself on my greatest fear, and push my body to limits it has not seen before because I believe I can. Mt. Kilimanjaro is a mountain in both the physical and mental senses. Getting to the top will show me what I am capable of.

For most people to find this point in their minds it is not a mountain that you ascend. For me it is because of my fear of it. We all have some fear the cripples us. Some people are able to cope with it better than others, and some don't even recognize just how debilitating the fear has actually become. Ask yourself this: "Do I do everything I want or does something stop me?" Now if it is your conscience or morals that stop you then you are probably ok, but if it is this little gut feeling that tells you your goal is something to be scared of or to fear then you have found your mental mountain.

Climbing your mental mountain is about more than just the feeling you will have after you accomplish your feat, it is about showing yourself you can believe in yourself. Everyone thinks that changing the world is about some grand event or large movement. The fact is that changing the world is incremental. Nothing happens overnight, it takes time and energy. The place to start is within ourselves. If we can break down our own barriers and start to live the lives we can imagine and start to see that our dreams can become reality, then we open the world up to the possibility that what is does not have to be. We need to start replacing fear and cynicism with hope and optimism. When we do this then change can begin to be made in leaps and bounds.

Our obstacle to a better world lies within us. We have the means to change the world every day and the best place to start is to defeat your fears. Reach the apex and show the world what is possible.

Fear of Failure

If there is one thing that gets me riled up it is the talk of failure. It seems that no matter who I talk to the mention of failure seems to scare people into a frenzy. I can't stand it when people speak as if failure is bad. It is my estimation that very little in the world would get done if people stopped at the thought of failing.

Talk of biting off more than you can chew, or not being ready, or "lets play this safe" - it is all just talk of people who have lost the will to succeed. JFK once stood in front of the world and said, and I am paraphrasing, "We choose to go to the moon. Not because it is easy but because it is hard." The biggest and best things in life happen because someone saw the impossible and made it possible.

I put a quote by Nelson Mandela at the bottom of my email, and have had it there for months, because I think it is my single greatest value. The quote reads, "It always seems impossible until it is done." It is true to the Nth degree.

I hold nothing against the people who play it safe and who heed advice, play the odds, and wait for the stars to align. It isn't for me though and if there is one piece of advice I could give anyone it would be to just go for it. Jump with both feet in and chase a dream. Call it the Maverick mentality (always love to throw in a Top Gun reference), bull headed, or even living with reckless abandon, but I can't wait to fail. Failure for me just represents a stepping stone in the right direction - and it also represents the creation of a path for the next person to succeed. For every success was built on the failure of many before.

If I fail in life it will be because I went for it and it didn't quite work out, it wont be because I just didn't try. That would be real failure. Dreams are meant to be achieved and whoever tells you they can't be is just someone who has been caught up in the trap of mediocrity. I wont go there, I wont join them. I will embrace my failures and enjoy them. The next time you hear someone tell you it can't be done, or it is impossible, tell them, "so what? I guess we should have given up on going to the moon too." Failure is the last thing that should be feared.