Nothing says “coping” like altitude sickness and a 16-hour hike through life metaphors.

I read somewhere that when life is overwhelming and you have too much on your plate, you should add one more goal. I’m not sure that I agree with that little gem, but I desperately needed something, anything, else to focus on other than work… So, Mount Whitney it is! Because nothing soothes a frazzled soul quite like voluntarily ascending into oxygen deprivation. Other people do yoga or book a spa day. I decided to flirt with hypothermia at 14,505 feet.

Now getting a pass to climb Mount Whitney is no small feat in and of itself, so the challenge actually began there, three years ago. I fully believe the Universe took one look at me and said, “Oh honey, not yet.” This year, though? The stars aligned. I was granted a pass. And since I know no one else nuts enough to accept this challenge with me, Ryan it is!

Training: Or, How I Learned to Hate Staircases

Any spare moment I have, I spend researching the climb, reading blogs on other’s experiences, digging into ChatGpt for training schedules, gear lists, and what to eat the day of the climb. As if obsessively Googling “How not to die on Mount Whitney” will somehow make my thighs less vengeful after the 12th mile. Spoiler: it won’t.

I chose the one-day pass, and from what I can gather, we are staring down an average of 16 hours of hiking. Straight through.

I also enlisted the help of my friend Jaye who has succeeded in summiting this mountain eight times. EIGHT TIMES. She was kind enough to send me the stadium stair workout she used to train. I use the word “kind” very loosely as it was absolutely anything but. Somewhere around the sixth set, I began having vivid hallucinations of living a different life—one where I made normal decisions, like learning to knit or joining a book club that doesn’t meet on a trailhead.

A Beautiful Metaphor Wrapped in Sweat

It struck me as I stumbled up my 4th set of stair runs, cursing everyone from Jaye to God to anyone who dare look at me sideways, that this training for Mount Whitney, not just the stairs but every hike and hour spent researching, mirrors life in this season.

We get up every day and work our asses off with no guarantee whatsoever that we will succeed. We throw everything we have into this business, sacrificing vacations, social engagements, weekends not knowing whether we will be rewarded in the end. Maybe, just maybe, the Universe gives us mountains not because we’re ready, but because we’re too exhausted to fight back. Or say no. Or form coherent thoughts.

I read only one-third of day-hikers will summit. And though I can’t know if we will join that club, all I can do is train and prepare to the best of my ability so that I do not look back on that day thinking I could have done something more.

It is in direct correlation to the life of an entrepreneur. No matter what happens in business, I refuse to look back on this time with regret.

And so, we continue to wake up, 7 days a week, and grind. Will we make it? Will we finally have the security that we have been striving for all these years? No one knows. But we will not stop fighting daily to ensure, at least for me, that success or not, I won’t look back on this time and wish I had tried harder.

Join the Climb (Metaphorically or Literally):

Are you in the middle of your own metaphorical Mount Whitney? I’d love to hear about the mountains you’re climbing—business, life, or actual granite beasts. Send a comment and let’s commiserate together.