I love this quote by Marin Minamiya, the 20-year-old uni student who is Japan’s youngest person to scale Mount Everest. She is on a quest to climb all 7 summits plus the North and South Pole, and as of today, she only has ONE more climb to go to complete her quest: skiing to the North Pole in April!

Marin’s words resonate with me because isn’t it true that we are all trying to conquer some challenge or other?
Build a profitable and sustainable business, find a career we love, have loving and harmonious relationships with family and friends, have inner peace, feel healthy and energetic…

Some days, these feel as difficult and risky as mountain climbing.

We look up and the summit seems so far away – when will we ever get to the top?

We look behind and realize we we have come too far to turn back, so we must go on.

We may stumble in weariness, lose focus, lose our grip, take a tumble.

The higher we get, the greater our risk of altitude sickness, because our bodies are not used to the thinner air, and our understanding of survival, comfort, and safety will be stretched beyond what we have ever experienced.

And when we finally reach the summit, what will we see?
How will we feel?
What will now be possible as we look behind and realize how far we’ve come?
I imagine we will all agree: “It was worth it!”

So keep climbing.

Keep putting one foot in front of the other.

You will get there.

And the view will be worth it.