My next-door neighbour climbed Everest. He also climbed the seven peaks and walked to the North and South Poles. He knows something about tackling challenges. When I asked him how proud he felt for climbing the Everest (he hadn’t gone to the Poles yet), he answered quite matter-of-factly that it was just a challenge he had felt like tackling, and now that it was done, he felt no big deal about it.
He wasn’t being snobbish or using false modesty to get praise. He was just honest. I was surprised by his reaction, and he felt a need to elaborate. Very simply, he told me,
“It doesn’t matter what your Everest is, as long as you climb it.”
This thought has stayed with me and pops up in my mind now and again. It is so simple but so true. Our greatest challenges are always internal. The way we deal with a challenge, how we feel, what we do and how we do it. Whether it is a simple task like mowing the grass or dealing with a life-changing decision, it is how we deal with the challenge that determines the quality of our daily experience – the sum of which is our life.
Many times I feel like postponing mowing the grass. And all that I get is a higher grass to mow, besides that lingering and annoying guilt. In 2016 I had a difficult and life-changing decision to make. It had profound implications for my future, and it would impact other people that are close and whom I cherish. I was struggling with it and somehow was pushing it forward. When my wife invited me to go with her and a group to do a walk in the Camiño de Santiago, I thought it would be a great opportunity to forget about this decision for a while. I didn’t know it then, but I was participating in a pilot of the Walking Mentorship immersive program. And guess what?
It was just what I needed to make a thoughtful and clear decision. When I came back, I had the difficult conversations that I needed to have to implement my decision. They were difficult conversations, but my decision was absolutely clear and very well-grounded, guaranteed that these talks were honest and respectful.
As difficult as the decision was, had I not taken it and I would still be carrying that weight, my life, my family, and probably my health would be paying a heavy toll. And the fact that I took it opened a number of possibilities that have made my life so much better.
Do you have an Everest in your life?
Maybe a Walking Mentorship program can help you deal with it. But whatever you do, make sure you climb your own Everest because waiting at the bottom only makes you feel less able to climb it.
We are really happy to be back on the road with new programs and long, very long walks towards the best version of ourselves.
The kick-off school year at Católica Porto Business School blessed with a few drops of water
Km 2,00 with Hovione Team, six months after finishing the Destination You program with incredible views, a celebration of the achievements and gaining perspective into the future…and of course a visit to the rhinos farm.
Nuno and Joao celebrated their 49th anniversary on the same day :), marked a new route in Colmeal for the Year-End program and finished a book.
SHOULD WE WALK TOGETHER?
Walking Mentorship is a labour of love that helps you gain deeper insight and equips you to create a meaningful impact in your life and those around you. How can we work together? We keep things simple by offering Immersive, short-term and Corporate programs. Check the best fit for you.
Keep walking with me,
Nuno Santos Fernandes
Partner of Walking Mentorship
Ps* If you enjoyed the 0,00KM, please share it with others. If you received the 0,00KM from a friend, send us your e-mail, and we will add you to our mailing list.
