The Aconcagua Story

It’s hard to believe that one year ago today I found myself adventuring out in Argentina for the first time, meeting a new team of mountain climbers and preparing myself to climb Aconcagua in the Andes Mountains, the 2^nd highest mountain of the Seven Summits and my second of the Seven Summits I hope to climb.

As promised, as the 1 year anniversary rolls around, I’ll be posting daily posts as to what happened on that day 1 year ago. As my life goes – it’s been a busy, full and fabulous 2014 and I already find the first week of 2015 behind me. I haven’t finished writing my Aconcagua story yet as promised (been far too busy living), but I’m working hard to get the days I haven’t written yet done so that I can post each day. The first few days are already written and ready to go, with photos to spice things up and to show you what life is like on the mountain.

This is the story about how we reinvent ourselves. It’s my story about how we test our will, our endurance. We test our heart. We test our limits. There are hardly any days off. No weekends. No holidays. When we feel like we want to give up that’s when we’ve got to take one more step. That is when, as you will read, we go after it and we give it all we have. If we lose at least we tried. If we fail it is 10 x more rewarding than “what if.” Because what if never achieved dreams. This is me living my dreams. This may be what they call courage. Every single day matters. It is a journey that shows all roads to success have pain. I guess, if it was easy, everybody would do it. In training, it only takes one extra work out. One extra mile. One extra effort. One extra something to get me to where I am going. This journey showed me over and over again, how worth all those extras were. To get there you have to go a little further than that someone trying to get to where you want to get. I knew it was never going to be easy but I knew too when I felt that pain going through my body, I knew what was going to take its place. SUCCESS.

Starting tomorrow, the story of a simple South African girl on a journey to climb the Seven Mountain Summits of the world, while raising funds and awareness for Cystic Fibrosis, begins. My Aconcagua journey is about to start from the very beginning ~ the highs, the lows, the joys, the tears, the drama, the excitement, the agony and the ecstasy…. I hope you will enjoy reading this journey as much as I enjoyed living it and now writing about it and sharing it with the world.

 ~ All Photos By Me, except of course those taken of me by my team mates with my camera! ~

Full Throttle Ahead

“Every life form seems to strive to its maximum except human beings. How tall will a tree grow? As tall as it possibly can. Human beings, on the other hand, have been given the dignity of choice. You can choose to be all or you can choose to be less. Why not stretch up to the full measure of the challenge and see what all you can do?“ ~ Jim Rohn

Everything is possible. In same way that scientists can find no end to the time and space, the same can be said for the mind. Where does it begin, where does it end? And if there are no limits, then what, or who, is holding us back? If everything is possible, then what, or who, is preventing change from taking place? It is only the stories we tell ourselves that prevent us from realising our full potential, and it is only our fear in letting go of these stories that prevents us from experiencing everything that is out there available for us to experience.

It is only

When we decide

That ‘ordinary’

Is an insult,

That we become

The exquisite

Miracles

We were born

To be.

What are you waiting for?

Full throttle ahead!

 ~ Happy ChooseDay Everyone, and whether you celebrating this festive season or not, may it be a blessed time with all those you love ~