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Living Outside my Comfort Zone at Camelback Mountain

Apr 25, 2023
I looked up, out of breath, wishing I had better shoes, feeling defeated, and determined at the same time. Before the hike, I thought I would be worried about needing to pump, pumping was the last thing on my mind, I think the same went for my body lol lol.
 
If you don't know Camelback Mountain (I didn't- google it), it's not a hike like Hocking Hills y'all. It's a literal mountain climb. I kept looking up to the top, doubting myself, my balance, my strength, my ability... I also kept thinking about the fact that I'd have to come back down.
 
You might think this is a story of me saying I conquered my fears, and made it to the top with tears in my eyes. That's not the case, well except the tears in my eyes (LOL). In my typical Jess way, I let everyone in front of me. I didn't want to hold anyone up or to make a fuss about me. I did that so well, I ended up far behind the group and met a friend who was equally feeling like WTF did we get ourselves into.
 
We got to this section. This very boulder in this photo. I looked at the ways I might be able to get up. My new friend asked if I was joining. I told him to go ahead. I really wasn't sure. I sat on a rock looking up at not just this section that terrified me, but I had so much more mountain to climb than where I was right there.
 
It was then I realized, in life we focus so much more on the whole, giant goal or task we have to accomplish that we forget that there are necessary, smaller steps to take first. If I would have started at the bottom of Camelback and only focused on the elevation (2,704'), I wouldn't have even started. I decided to focus on what was right in front of me, and got to the top of this super scary section.
 
I felt accomplished, proud. I made it up further. I chunked my goal of getting to the top of the mountain into smaller segments and felt like the Queen Boss that all women are. It was at that point, I decided I didn't need to prove anything by going to the tip top. I didn't feel comfortable and frankly didn't want to.
 
Living outside your comfort zone is so important. I highly recommend. The beauty of it is you get to determine to what point you push yourself. Pushing yourself is amazing, brings huge growth, gets you in better places in so many ways...but pushing yourself to the point of burnout, exhaustion, illness, etc. doesn't serve you or anyone you love.
 
This is your reminder that:
-You can do hard things
-You don't have to be everything for everyone and do everything just perfect
-You can say no
-You can take risks
-You can be fully and completely you
 
So here I am sharing that I hiked Camelback Mountain and I didn't make it to the top. I couldn't be more proud.
 

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